Republicans’ drive toward the “big, beautiful” bill is starting to hit some big potholes.
As lawmakers get into gear on extending President Donald Trump’s tax cuts, cracks are deepening on critical issues, including Medicaid, food aid and even lower-profile issues like transportation funding. Lawmakers are also getting impatient for more details about the plans from leaders, including on lifting caps on deductions for state and local taxes.
“We’re in the seventh or eighth inning of this game. At some point in time, leadership and/or the committee need to reveal part of their hand,” Rep. Nick LaLota told reporters, adding he expects a number on how much leaders are planning to lift the SALT cap from a meeting Wednesday. “[It’s been] mostly pleasant the last few months, mostly because we haven’t been specific.”
Here are the key headaches they have to solve:
MEDICAID — House Speaker Mike Johnson has a deepening challenge on his hands: How to deal with the safety-net health program millions of Republican voters rely on. Couple that with blue-state Republicans’ push to boost the SALT cap, and he’s got a big math problem that could delay the GOP’s bid to extend Trump’s tax cuts.
Key vulnerable House Republicans like David Valadao and Don Bacon are raising red flags about the extent of potential spending cuts, as POLITICO reported Tuesday afternoon.
LaLota told reporters Tuesday he wants to hear more from Energy and Commerce Chair Brett Guthrie about how capping federal spending in states that have expanded Medicaid would impact recipients.
“My sense is that would be a cut, and I’m not in favor of that,” LaLota said. Guthrie is huddling with concerned members Wednesday.
SNAP — The White House won’t support a proposal to push some nutrition program costs onto states, House Agriculture Chair G.T. Thompson said Tuesday. That throws a wrench in his plans to scale back federal funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in order to reach their target of $230 billion in spending cuts.
Now he’s waiting to see if Republican leadership lowers the savings target. “If it’s $230 billion, I don’t think that’s an appropriate number” absent the cost-sharing arrangement, he said.
VEHICLE FEES — Johnson and other Republicans are also hesitant about a proposal to create a $20 annual fee on passenger cars in the Transportation and Infrastructure portion of the package. (It would be even higher for hybrids and electric vehicles.) The speaker said it wasn’t his “priority.” Fiscal hawk Rep. Chip Roy was more direct in his opposition, calling it a “gimmick.”
“Are you out of your fricking mind? Like, the party of limited government is gonna go out and say we’re gonna have a car tax?” Roy vented to reporters Monday.
FEDERAL PENSIONS — On Oversight, Rep. Mike Turner said he would oppose the committee’s proposal to slash federal employee retirement benefits as a way of offsetting the cost of the larger legislation. The panel is tasked with finding $50 billion in savings, much of which is expected to come from changes borne by the federal workforce.
“These pensions are not giveaways — they are promises to federal workers in exchange for their dedicated service,” Turner said in a statement.
CARRIED INTEREST — House Republicans might be souring on Trump’s proposal to kill a tax break favored by Wall Street. Ways and Means has privately indicated it’s not leaning toward closing so-called carried interest loophole in the package, according to one House Republican and another person familiar with the private conversations. One House Republican said they are “talking about it” but indicated it’s unlikely to survive.
What else we’re watching:
– Judiciary markup: House Judiciary will mark up its portion of GOP megabill Wednesday, which includes more than just the expected immigration provisions. The bill hands Trump a new swath of executive powers: It would consolidate the federal government’s antitrust enforcement powers at the Justice Department and supercharge the GOP’s deregulatory agenda. House Oversight, Financial Services and Transportation and Infrastructure will also mark up their portions of the GOP party-line bill Wednesday.
– Tariff talk: Senate Majority Leader John Thune is cracking down on members of his conference still squeamish over Trump’s trade strategy as Democrats and GOP Sen. Rand Paul push a vote Wednesday to reject the president’s use of emergency powers to impose blanket global tariffs. After four Republicans joined Democrats in rejecting the emergency Trump was using to justify his tariffs on Canadian imports, Thune warned GOP senators in a private lunch Tuesday with U.S. Trade Representative Jamieson Greer not to cross party lines again.
– Dems 100 days in: Democratic leaders Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries will continue hammering the second Trump administration’s first 100 days in a joint appearance on the Capitol steps Wednesday afternoon. But even as Democrats cast Trump as their unifying force, fissures remain in their resistance strategy.
Benjamin Guggenheim, Meredith Lee Hill and Grace Yarrow contributed to this report.
