Washington — President Trump’s domestic policy bill hit a major snag on Friday after conservatives blocked it from advancing out of the House Budget Committee.
Republicans have yet to resolve several disputes that have threatened to derail what Mr. Trump calls his “big, beautiful bill” as more conservative members and blue-state Republicans dig in on their demands.
Five Republicans — Reps. Chip Roy of Texas, Ralph Norman of South Carolina, Lloyd Smucker of Pennsylvania, Josh Brecheen of Oklahoma and Andrew Clyde of Georgia — voted against advancing the legislation on Friday when the Budget Committee met to merge the various parts of the reconciliation package that have been produced by other committees into a single bill.
Conservatives said the legislation does not go far enough to slash federal spending. Among the demands conservative members have made are moving up the work requirements for Medicaid recipients without disabilities and children. The requirements would not set in until 2029 under the current bill and conservatives want them to kick in as soon as the legislation becomes law.
“This bill falls profoundly short. It does not do what we say it does with respect to deficits,” Roy said during the meeting, adding that “this bill has back-loaded savings and has front-loaded spending.”
Clyde also said the bill “falls short” and “substantive improvements are needed.”
“Sadly, I’m a hard no until we get this ironed out,” Norman said.
Smucker, who changed his vote at the last second, said he supports the bill but voted “no” for procedural reasons. Smucker can later make a motion to reconsider the legislation once Republicans have sorted out their issues.
The Budget Committee can’t make any changes to the bill, but it could still be updated if it comes before the Rules Committee. The plan was for the Rules Committee to meet Monday to tee it up for a floor vote later next week if it advanced out of the Budget Committee Friday.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, remained committed to putting the legislation, which would extend tax cuts from Mr. Trump’s first term while temporarily enacting new ones, on the floor before Memorial Day despite the disagreements between some factions in his party. The tax measures, as well as increased spending on the military and border security, would be offset partly by cuts to Medicaid, food stamps and clean energy subsidies.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, a Louisiana Republican, Scalise that they are considering moving up the effective date for the work requirements to get more members on board with the final product, but added that the final details have not been worked out.
“We’re all in agreement on the reforms we want to make,” Scalise said. “We want to have work requirements. We want to phase out a lot of these green subsidies. How quickly can you get that done? It’s not as quickly as saying, you just turn it off tomorrow.”
Meanwhile, a group of Republicans from blue states have threatened to withhold their support in a floor vote if the bill does not raise a cap on state and local taxes that can be written off on federal tax returns. The bill increases the cap on the deduction from $10,000 to $30,000, but several New York Republicans have insisted on raising it even further.
Rep. Mike Lawler, a New York Republican, on Thursday called the cap “unacceptable” and said the group has made clear to leadership that “none of us are going to support that as it currently stands.”
Mr. Trump, who is on his way back from the Middle East, called on Republicans to unite behind the bill. Scalise said Mr. Trump had been following the issue closely.
“We don’t need ‘GRANDSTANDERS’ in the Republican Party. STOP TALKING, AND GET IT DONE!” Mr. Trump wrote Friday as the Budget Committee meeting was underway.
Johnson spent Thursday meeting with the opposing factions and said they would continue to negotiate through the weekend to resolve the remaining differences. He can afford just three defections, if all members are voting, in a floor vote.
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