House Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith is set to meet Friday with President Donald Trump at the White House with the tax portion of the GOP megabill at risk of unraveling, according to three people granted anonymity to describe the private plans.
Smith will have to inform Trump that the tax portion of the megabill has been limited by the GOP’s inability to build support for deep spending cuts and that Republicans will have to leave out some of his priorities, according to three other people with direct knowledge of the matter.
The White House meeting will come a day after Speaker Mike Johnson privately told Republicans Thursday that they would only be able to pay for $4 trillion in tax cuts, versus the $4.5 trillion they had previously been targeting to enact the president’s sprawling tax demands.
Smith explained Trump’s latest asks for the tax bill to Ways and Means Republicans in a Thursday morning meeting. They include closing the so-called carried interest loophole and hiking taxes on the wealthiest Americans, according to two other people.