Trump pushes House GOP holdouts to get behind the massive bill for his agenda
Trump urged blue-state Republicans to relent on SALT and warned conservatives, “Don’t f--- around with Medicaid.” But it's unclear if he swayed any of the party's skeptics.
WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump traveled to Capitol Hill Tuesday morning to deliver a message to House Republicans impeding a massive bill for his domestic agenda: Stop fighting and get it done as soon as possible.
In a closed-door meeting with rank-and-file Republicans in the basement of the U.S. Capitol, Trump took aim at a bloc of blue-state Republicans who’ve been pushing for a higher cap on the deduction their constituents can take for state and local taxes, known as SALT, while warning conservative hard-liners against steeper cuts to Medicaid.
Trump’s appearance at the Capitol came at a critical time for Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who is aiming to steer the party-line, multitrillion-dollar bill through the narrowly divided House in the coming days. But key divisions lingered even after Trump's visit and it is not yet clear that Johnson has the votes to pass the bill.
Standing alongside Johnson, Trump told reporters it was a "meeting of love."
"Let me tell you, that was love in that room. There was no shouting. I think it was a meeting of love," Trump said.
"I think we're going to get it done," he added. "I'm not losing patience. We're ahead of schedule."
At a news conference after the meeting, Johnson called this moment the GOP's "best chance” to pass the bill. He can only spare three votes in the 220-213 Republican majority, with all Democrats expected to unify against the package.
“We’re on the verge of making history here, and everybody feels it in that room today with President Trump," Johnson, flanked by his leadership team, told reporters. "It was filled with standing ovations and high energy and high excitement, because everybody senses what’s happening here."
The package currently boosts the SALT cap to $30,000, up from the current $10,000 deduction. But pro-SALT Republicans have dismissed that figure as far too low.
“Let it go,” Trump told members of the so-called SALT Caucus, according to three lawmakers inside the meeting.
While Trump directed his comments at all the lawmakers negotiating a higher SALT cap, Trump singled out moderate Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., who is eyeing a bid for governor in Trump's former home state.
“End it, Mike, just end it,” the president said, according to two of the lawmakers. (Notably, when Trump endorsed Lawler earlier this month for re-election to his battleground House seat, he touted the congressman's efforts to increase the SALT cap.)
But after the meeting with Trump, some of the Republicans who have made a higher SALT cap essential to winning their votes said they still were not on board.
"We need a little more SALT on the table to get to yes," said Rep. Nick LaLota, R-N.Y. "I hope the president's presence motivates my leadership to give us a number that we can go sell back home."
"Right now, we're stalled," LaLota added. "You have folks fighting about SALT, on Medicaid, on SNAP, on deficits."
The SALT Caucus Republicans are just one faction holding up the package, which seeks to extend Trump's 2017 tax cuts, boost funding for immigration enforcement and the military and cut spending elsewhere. It would also raise the debt limit.
A handful of vocal members of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus are threatening to vote against the measure unless they secure deeper spending cuts.
They've been pushing for new work requirements for Medicaid recipients to kick in sooner than the 2029 start date written in the current legislation, which House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., has said will move to early 2027. And conservatives are demanding a lower federal match to states for recipients added under the Obamacare expansion.
But Trump told Republicans, “Don’t f--- around with Medicaid,” according to two lawmakers in the room.
But Republicans appear unified around the Medicaid spending cuts and new rules, including the swing district members who are facing political attacks for going after the program.
"Work requirements are generally popular, so I don't have a problem with that," said Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., one of a few GOP lawmakers who won in a district Trump lost last fall.
Bacon said that "after the president talked today," he feels confident there won't be cuts to federal payments to states for Medicaid, as "the president made it pretty clear not to do it."
Overall, Bacon said he's "a lean yes" on the emerging package.
Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., an anti-spending conservative, said he’s still “undecided” on the legislation, saying he needs to see that the math will add up.
“I’d just like to get the numbers,” Burchett said in an interview, adding that while his colleagues continue to debate “Medicaid and the SALT stuff,” he wants more evidence that the legislation is fiscally sound.
Rep. Suzan DelBene, D-Wash., the party's campaign chair tasked with capturing the House majority next year, said Trump is "pushing Republicans off a cliff" by making them vote for the bill.
"They're on record taking health care away from millions of people across the country and people in their districts. They're not standing up for the communities, they are just blindly following the president," DelBene said in an interview Tuesday. "And they're going to pay for that at the ballot box."
Before the meeting, Trump, standing alongside Johnson, had harsh words for Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., a fiscal hawk who has opposed many of the president's initiatives, including the current package for his agenda, over deficit concerns.
"I don't think Thomas Massie understands government. I think he's a grandstander. We don't even talk to him much. I think he should be voted out of office," Trump said. "If you ask him a couple of questions, he never gives you an answer. He just says, 'I'm a no.' He thinks he's going to get publicity."
A senior White House official said Trump urged Republicans to "stick together" to pass what he has dubbed his "one big, beautiful bill." The president emphasized that the SALT issue should not halt the bill and that moderates can "fight for SALT later on," the official said.
And Trump told Republicans not to touch Medicaid, except for tackling "waste, fraud and abuse," the official said. The official said Trump was supportive of the new work requirements provisions and removing undocumented immigrants from Medicaid.
Johnson has set a self-imposed deadline of Memorial Day to pass the package through the House. The speaker told NBC News the legislation could come to the floor as soon as Wednesday night.
But negotiators have not announced agreements on any of the outstanding issues, including SALT and Medicaid cuts.
Trump described Tuesday's meeting as a "pep rally," and his appearance did move the needle for some. Conservative Rep. Paul Gosar, R-Ariz., a Freedom Caucus member, said he is on the fence on the bill. But he said "there's an outside chance" the Trump package can pass this week.
"I wouldn't have said that until Trump came today," Gosar said.
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