Tuesday was all about the SALT Republicans. Now, it’s the conservative hard-liners’ turn to make noise.
After the impasse over the state-and-local-tax deduction boiled over Tuesday — more on that below — several GOP hard-liners emerged late Tuesday night expressing their own dissatisfaction with the megabill to pass President Donald Trump’s agenda.
Rep. Paul Gosar said “not nearly enough” is being done to win conservatives’ votes. Rep. Eric Burlison told POLITICO parts of it are “disturbing” and that he isn’t satisfied with the Medicaid numbers. Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris said in a post on X“the proposal to stop waste, fraud, and abuse in Medicaid will do little to achieve that.”
“What a joke,” he wrote.
Expect hard-right pushback to come to a head on Monday when Speaker Mike Johnson has to get the bill through the Rules Committee — and, more specifically, win the support of conservative panel members Chip Roy, Morgan Griffith and Ralph Norman.
It’s not just a House problem. Sen. Ron Johnson is also threatening to tank the megabill if he doesn’t get several trillions dollars in additional spending cuts. It’s a troubling sign for Senate GOP leaders who can only afford to lose three votes. The Wisconsin Republican has a history of forcing leadership to bend to his whims; his hardball tactics during Republicans’ last reconciliation bill secured a new deduction rate for pass-through businesses.
But at the moment, the House speaker is focused on solving a different problem: working out a SALT deal with a handful of blue-state Republicans after failing to reach agreement in a Tuesday night huddle.
“More sizzle than steak in that meeting,” Rep. Nick LaLota said, while acknowledging they made progress. Johnson said similarly leaving the meeting.
Reminder: The current Ways and Means proposal would triple the existing cap to $30,000. But SALT Republicans are demanding a number closer to $60,000. To close the gap, they’re pointing to the additional fiscal breathing room from the GOP’s tax bill coming in underneath a $4 trillion cost target, according to two Republicans with direct knowledge of the matter.
“The number that we have in our bill, I advocated for,” Chair Jason Smith said Tuesday night. “Most of the committee wanted 20 [thousand]. It covers 95 to 98 percent of every one of their districts. That’s the truth. I think 30’s a good deal.”
Maybe so, but expect the SALT crew to hold out for a number starting with a “4.”
Meanwhile, an update on some key markups overnight:
— Ways and Means is still ongoing, with Democrats continuing to accuse Republicans of seeking to pair tax cuts for the rich with slashing health care benefits for the poor, our Bernie Becker writes in. Republicans have so far defeated a range of Democratic amendments, including four that would have cut off tax cuts at certain income thresholds and one that sought to extend premium tax credits and expand Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act.
— Energy and Commerce is also going strong after getting off to a dramatic start when at least 26 people were arrested for protesting Medicaid cuts outside the meeting room. The panel began debate on the health policy section of the draft bill a little before 1 a.m., our Ben Leonard reports. So far, Democrats have honed in on the GOP’s proposals to institute work requirements in the program, arguing they would do little to boost employment while leaving millions without coverage; Republicans have countered there are plenty of exceptions and minimal red tape.
The committee late Tuesday approved the bill’s energy and environment titles, which would claw back billions of dollars in unspent funds from the Democrats’ 2022 climate law and speed up permitting for fossil fuel projects. And shortly after midnight Wednesday, the panel cleared the communications portion of the draft legislation that would most notably institute a 10-year moratorium on state AI legislation — a provision that might not pass the procedural smell test in the Senate.
— Agriculture paused debate last night around midnight with plans to resume work at 10 a.m. Committee Republicans are appearing to fall in line behind a plan to cut $300 billion in spending for the nation’s largest anti-hunger program, which the panel’s chair, G.T. Thompson, attributed to “member education” on the issue. Democrats delivered emotional pushback against the overhaul.
What else we’re watching:
— RFK Jr. testifies on the Hill: Expect lawmakers to hammer HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. over sweeping staff cuts during his testimony before both the House and Senate today, even after the Trump administration asked some of the thousands of federal public health workers it laid off to return permanently.
— Zeldin takes the hot seat: Lawmakers are also expected to grill EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin when he testifies today in front of Senate Appropriations. Appropriators will zero in on proposed deep budget cuts to the agency, including energy and environment programs that have broad bipartisan support.
— Contentious emissions vote: Senate Republicans could vote as soon as next week on a controversial proposal to nix federal waivers allowing California to set its own emissions standards, although Senate Majority Leader John Thune hasn’t committed to that timeline. Some GOP senators remain wary that the chamber’s parliamentarian is backing a Government Accountability Office finding that the waiver isn’t subject to the Congressional Review Act.
Jordain Carney, Sophie Gardner, Meredith Lee Hill, Alice Miranda Ollstein, Andres Picon and Sean Reilly contributed to this report.
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