Speaker Mike Johnson is scrambling to negotiate with competing factions of his conference as the clock ticks to advance President Donald Trump’s agenda through the House next week.
Here’s a sampling of what each group is gunning for:
THE SALT-IES: The so-called SALT Republicans are at an impasse with GOP leadership over the state-and-local-tax deduction.
House Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.) told reporters Wednesday there’s only about $50 billion to work with — putting Johnson in a difficult spot to placate the mostly blue-state members who are pushing to beef up the $30,000 cap currently in the bill.
“The window is closing” for a deal, said Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.), a SALT and Ways and Means member. “The closer to Memorial Day we get, the low-sodium diets of many of my colleagues on Ways and Means is growing.”
THE HARD-LINERS: Conservatives are livid that the current language in the GOP megabill doesn’t start work requirements for Medicaid until 2029. (It’s one of the many ways Trump’s megabill would dish out the perks now and postpone the pain.)
Johnson wouldn’t comment when asked if he’d be open to their demands to begin the work requirements earlier: “We have lots of discussions ahead,” he said.
The speaker will meet with a cross-section of these two warring groups at 10 a.m. in his office.
THE CLEAN ENERGY MODS: More than a dozen House Republicans are pushing to undo a rollback of Inflation Reduction Act clean energy credits. Led by Rep. Jen Kiggans (R-Va.), the Republicans warned in a statement that an abrupt stop of the tax credits, implementation of new restrictions and changes to provisions that help fund projects could smother investments in new energy technologies.
However, they’re up against hard-liners pushing for even greater rollbacks of clean energy credits. Some want a full repeal.
THE MEDICAID MODS: A group of Republican centrists not on Energy and Commerce were surprised by some of the Medicaid provisions included in the committee-passed bill.
One area of concern is over a requirement for some Medicaid beneficiaries with incomes at or just above the poverty line to start paying for a portion of their care.
“That was a new element that … had not been discussed with us before,” GOP Rep. Ryan Mackenzie (Pa.) told POLITICO. The group of centrists plan to meet with Johnson on Thursday morning.
Watch for whether House GOP leaders make progress in various meetings Thursday and during their conference-wide reconciliation meeting at 2:30 p.m. The megabill then heads to the Budget Committee on Friday and the Rules Committee next week.
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What else we’re watching:
— SNAP cuts are in, for now: House Agriculture advanced legislation down party lines on Wednesday night that would cut up to $300 billion in food aid spending to pay for Republicans’ domestic policy megabill and some farm programs. But Chair John Boozman (R-Ark.) quickly released a statement hinting that the SNAP cost-share plan might not fly in the Senate.
— Will the crypto bill return next week?: Senate Majority Leader John Thune said Wednesday that the upper chamber is unlikely to begin considering landmark cryptocurrency legislation again this week as negotiators close in on a deal. “They’re still working at it,” Thune told reporters Wednesday afternoon, though he left the door open to floor action next week.
— Child online safety bill is back: Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) reintroduced a popular kids online safety bill after successful industry efforts to kill the legislation last year. The Kids Online Safety Act, a measure that would require social media companies to design their platforms with more safety guardrails for children, stalled last time after House leaders balked over free speech concerns. But Johnson has promised this Congress will pass legislation to make online spaces safer for kids.
Jordain Carney, Jasper Goodman, Meredith Lee Hill, Ben Leonard, Ruth Reader, Josh Siegel, Jennifer Scholtes and Grace Yarrow contributed to this report.
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