Hmmmmm?
And this just the House Republicans….
The Senate?
President Trump’s forceful pitch for House GOP lawmakers to rally around the party’s “big, beautiful bill” fell flat Tuesday, as two groups of holdouts — hard-line conservatives and moderate blue-state Republicans — are still demanding changes to win their support.
During a nearly two-hour meeting in the Capitol basement, Trump urged Republicans to support his agenda bill as Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) self-imposed Memorial Day deadline for passing the package inches closer.
The trouble was, he didn’t seem to change the minds he needed to.
“The president I don’t think convinced enough people that the bill is adequate the way it is,” said Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.), the chair of the conservative House Freedom Caucus. Several members of the Freedom Caucus are among the loudest critics of the legislation.
“I can’t support it the way it is right now,” he added. “We’re still a long ways away.”….
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President Trump pressed House Republicans on Tuesday to fall in line behind a massive bill containing key pieces of his agenda, giving lawmakers clarity about where he stands on some of the package’s biggest sticking points during a rare trip to the Capitol.
Trump pushed moderate Republicans from blue states to give up their fight over the state and local tax (SALT) deduction, while warning members not to “f‑‑‑ with Medicaid” as some lawmakers eye changes to the program.
“It’s not a question of holdouts. We have a tremendously unified party,” Trump said before his meeting with the GOP conference. “There are some people who want a couple of things that maybe I don’t like or that they’re not going to get.”
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act has run into a series of hurdles in the House as different factions within the conference clash over priorities. Deficit hawks have pushed for changes to avoid adding to the debt, while moderates have sought an increase in the SALT cap.
A White House official said Trump made clear in the meeting that he’s losing patience with all holdout factions of the conference, including the SALT Caucus and the House Freedom Caucus, and he insisted every Republican should vote “yes.”…
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While Republicans are expected to make further changes in the coming days, here’s a rundown of what’s in the bill…..
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“Speaker Mike Johnson cautioned the Senate in a closed door lunch on Tuesday not to make big changes to the reconciliation bill,” Axios reports.
“Johnson told senators ‘we’re going to land this plane’ and to expect a vote on Wednesday night, according to one attendee.”
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“President Donald Trump was supposed to unite House Republicans. Instead, he came to the Capitol to rail against blue-state Republicans and hardline conservatives, leaving the two groups more dug in than ever,” Punchbowl News reports.
“The meeting was especially brutal for the SALT and Medicaid holdouts. That’s ironic because without the SALT Caucus, Trump would have been dealing with a Democratic Congress. And members of the HFC are among Trump’s most ardent supporters.”
“It’s too early to tell definitively, but we are hearing that this is backfiring. Several GOP members of the SALT Caucus texted Johnson and told him they would vote against the bill after the presentation. One member of the SALT Caucus feels as if Johnson ambushed them.”
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