House Republicans have planned a slew of meetings this week that they hope will resolve huge political battles over their massive domestic policy bill as they race the clock on a Memorial Day deadline.
Republicans on the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee are planning to convene on 10 a.m. on Tuesday and 9 a.m. on Thursday, in addition to their weekly noon lunch Wednesday, according to a person granted anonymity to share the private plans.
The so-called Big Six Meeting — run by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, with GOP leaders and the House and Senate tax committee chairs — is slated to convene late afternoon on Wednesday at the Treasury Department.
Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee are planning to meet from 10:15 a.m. to noon on Tuesday and from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. on Wednesday as they work through an internal fight over Medicaid spending cuts.
Energy and Commerce Chair Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) is planning to drop by a meeting with Main Street Republicans on Monday night amid growing tensions between moderates and conservative hardliners over the scope of Medicaid cuts in the party-line bill.
The committee’s target of $880 billion in spending cuts remains a huge political flashpoint for the GOP conference.
The meetings come as House GOP leadership is racing to finalize the sweeping border, defense, energy and tax bill by Memorial Day. In order to meet that very ambitious goal, panels like the Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce, and Agriculture committees would have to vote next week on the most politically sensitive portions of the agenda.
It’s looking to be a tall order, and several key power players, such as Bessent and Senate Majority Leader John Thune, say they are now targeting July 4 to pass President Donald Trump’s “big beautiful bill.”
Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.) and a hardcore contingent of Republicans from blue states still have to resolve an ongoing fight over a proposed expansion of the state and local tax deduction. Despite a flurry of negotiations next week, the so-called SALT Republicans have yet to come to a consensus on how to expand the $10,000 cap on the deduction.
The committee must also determine how much it is able to spend on the expensive tax deduction.
Tax writers are also looking to sunset most or all of the clean energy credits implemented by Democrats’ 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which a group of 20-plus moderates have pushed back against.
The House Agriculture Committee, meanwhile, is navigating politically sensitive discussions over how to find the bulk of $230 billion in spending cuts in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, while also adding billions of dollars in crop reference prices and other farm bill pieces.
Republicans on the panel are set to meet Tuesday as more controversial proposals circulated by GOP lawmakers have stoked private concerns from those who represent districts with many low-income families relying on the program.
Ben Leonard contributed to this report.
