WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump hammered Republican lawmakers behind closed doors on Tuesday, urging the party to drop specific demands and pass his massive budget framework before the end of the week.
Trump attended House Republicans’ weekly conference meeting in a last-ditch effort to get his agenda through Congress, pressing GOP holdouts to accept negotiations with party leaders so that he can begin enacting key components of his agenda.
His pleas come as GOP leaders have negotiated for weeks with certain factions of the party over Trump’s massive budget framework that would advance his priorities on border, energy, national security and tax cuts.
“He’s frustrated with the pace of our progress, he made it pretty clear,” Rep. Dusty Johnson, R-S.D., told reporters after the meeting. His message was that “we need to quit screwing around and we need to get the one big, beautiful bill passed.”
GOP leadership aides told reporters in a briefing on Monday morning that about 95% of the budget framework is agreed to among the conference. However, a handful of issues remain that must be hashed out before the House Rules Committee meets at 1 a.m. EDT on Wednesday, which will establish rules for debate and floor proceedings before it can be voted on by the full House.
Sticking points in ‘big, beautiful’ bill
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., acknowledged last week that the biggest sticking point at the moment is the issue of federal deductions for state and local taxes paid, also known as SALT. The policy mostly affects high-tax states, but the handful of Republicans in these states have repeatedly threatened final passage if a higher deductible is not included.
Republican leaders offered to increase the current deduction cap to $30,000 — up from the current $10,000 limit — and incorporate a new $400,000 income limit. Inside the closed-door meeting on Tuesday, Trump urged SALT proponents to accept that deal and not ask for more, according to lawmakers inside the room.
Trump even went so far as to call out some lawmakers by name, including New York Rep. Mike Lawler, one of the most vocal advocates of raising the SALT cap. During the meeting, Trump told Lawler he “know(s) your district better than you” and that the expansion would not be that big of a deal for his reelection prospects.
However, Lawler did not seem convinced.
“The president can say whatever he wants, and I respect him, but the fact is, I certainly understand my district,” Lawler said after the meeting. “I’m one of only three Republican members that won in a district Kamala Harris won, and I did so for reasons.”
Another top issue among conservatives is new work requirements for Medicaid beneficiaries. The bill would require able-bodied adults without dependents to work at least 80 hours a month or complete some other activity such as community service.
However, those requirements wouldn’t kick in until 2029 — a stipulation that conservatives say must be moved up or else they won’t support the final package.
Similarly, Trump told Republicans demanding more on Medicaid to accept the current proposal — even telling lawmakers “don’t (expletive) with Medicaid.” Instead, the president said to only focus on eliminating “waste, fraud, and abuse” from the program.
However, it’s not clear if that message was enough for conservatives on the House Freedom Caucus, who emerged from the meeting still adamant to accelerate the timeline.
“We’re still a long ways away, but we can get there. Maybe not by tomorrow, but we can get there,” Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, R-Md., said. “The president, I don’t think, convinced enough people that the bill is adequate the way it is. The president called for eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse in Medicaid, and we have not eliminated waste, fraud and abuse.”
The House is expected to vote on the reconciliation bill as early as Thursday, but that timeline could shift if leadership is not confident support will be sufficient.
Because of Republicans’ slim majority, they can only lose three lawmakers’ support, assuming full attendance and all Democrats vote against the measure. GOP leaders already have one solid no: Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who has said he would not vote for the bill in any form because it doesn’t reduce the nation’s deficit.
Trump called out Massie by name on his way into the meeting, telling reporters he doesn’t “understand government.” Trump singled Massie out behind closed doors as well, but that did little to convince the Kentucky Republican.
“If this vote were based on intuition or likability of the president, I might vote yes. But it’s not,” Massie said. “There’s real consequences.”
Still, Massie predicted the remaining holdouts would likely fold to Trump’s pressure and support the bill on the floor.
“I predict they get the bill passed. He was very personal, very persuasive,” Massie said. “I predict that the president persuaded the Freedom Caucus and these blue-state Republicans to give up their fights.”