White House pushes for quick approval of ‘big, beautiful bill,’ but key hurdles remain

WASHINGTON — House Republican leadership is pressing ahead toward a vote on landmark legislation that would codify President Trump’s agenda this week, the first major push to pass his “big, beautiful bill” since he resumed office.

The bill would overhaul the tax code and extend many of the tax cuts passed during Trump’s first term, while increasing spending on defense and border security — costly policies that would be offset by new work requirements and conditions on Medicaid, cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, and the phasing out of green energy tax credits.

Success is far from guaranteed for House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who is navigating negotiations with fiscal conservatives and coastal moderates within his caucus to secure enough votes within his razor-thin majority. But the bill did take one procedural step forward Sunday night, clearing the House Budget Committee in a rare weekend vote.

Four members of that committee voted “present” and have not committed to ultimately vote in favor of the bill. Those four alone — Freedom Caucus members Reps. Chip Roy of Texas, Andrew Clyde of Georgia, Josh Brecheen of Oklahoma and Ralph Norman of South Carolina — are enough to sink the bill in a final floor vote.

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More moderate Republican lawmakers from states such as California, New York and New Jersey, where residents face higher state and local taxes than in much of the rest of the country, are pushing for an increase in the state and local tax deduction cap, known as SALT, to be included in the bill — a provision that is opposed by the Freedom Caucus. They also are pushing back against efforts to wind down green energy tax credits that are popular with their constituents.

The debate puts two wings of Johnson’s caucus on a collision course this week, with neither side appearing prepared to back down.

Roy, of Texas, wrote Monday on X that there are positives to the legislation. “But it also (currently) leaves half the green new scam pumping, judges blocking deportations, Medicaid scams funding illegals & the able-bodied at the expense of non-expansion states like Texas, & massive deficits over first 5 years,” he said, listing several concerns with the bill in its current form. “Quite the dilemma.”

On the other ideological side of the caucus, Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), a member of the House Financial Services Committee, told Fox Business that talks are still underway over several aspects of the bill.

“We’re still in negotiations with the speaker and leadership, and the White House, on lifting the cap on SALT further than is outlined in the bill — I suspect we will have made some progress today into tomorrow,” Lawler said. “Obviously, there are still some issues to work out.”

“Look, this is a very complex bill, and there’s a lot of aspects to it, where the details still need to be adjusted a bit. And that’s what we’re going through the process of doing, and ultimately advance the bill forward. Failure is not an option here — we all understand that. We all understand there’s going to be a need for compromises.”

The Congressional Budget Office issued a preliminary estimate that new conditions to Medicaid coverage built into the bill would result in at least 7.6 million people losing health insurance by 2034. The CBO has yet to release a full assessment of the bill’s effect on the debt and deficit.

Johnson has said that the bill will go to the House Rules Committee on Tuesday or Wednesday. He then aims to put the bill to a vote on the House floor on Thursday.

The White House has been involved in the negotiations in recent days.

“Passing this bill is what voters sent Republicans to Washington to accomplish,” Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, said Monday. “That’s why it’s essential that every Republican in the House and Senate unites behind President Trump to pass this popular and transformative legislative package.”

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If Johnson succeeds in passing the legislation, the bill will then move to a Senate filled with Republicans who have expressed skepticism of the House legislation.

“Not only myself, but a number of us in the Senate have been very clear: We have to reduce the deficit,” Republican Sen. John Curtis of Utah said in an interview with CNN. Asked whether he wants serious changes to the House bill, Curtis said, “Yes.”

Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) said he didn’t believe that people who voted for Trump “thought that we’d continue spending at President Biden’s levels.” And Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) also questioned whether the House bill would result in a significant increase in the debt ceiling.

Speaking with reporters on Capitol Hill, Republican Sen. Susan Collins of Maine said that, “as you know, I’ve been very wary of cutting Medicaid.” And earlier in the week, Republican Sen. Josh Hawley of Missouri said the House bill represented “real Medicaid benefit cuts” that he would not vote for.

“I can’t support that,” Hawley said. “No Republican should support that. We’re the party of the working class. We need to act like it.”

In a statement Monday on social media, Johnson called the bill a “once in a generation opportunity to help restore our economy to greatness.”

“The One Big Beautiful Bill Act will bring the historic relief and prosperity President Trump and Congressional Republicans promised the American people,” he said.