Speaker Mike Johnson is racing to resolve a suite of remaining issues with the GOP megabill just days before he hopes to put it up for a floor vote.
Warring factions inside the House Republican Conference huddled with the speaker Thursday, jockeying primarily over what to do about SALT — the state-and-local-tax deduction.
But other disagreements are also raging around major spending cuts for Medicaid, clean energy tax credits enacted under former President Joe Biden and a slew of other issues that are part of a complex funding puzzle.
Inside the meeting, lawmakers discussed how to make more room for SALT, with some lawmakers still favoring a tax hike on the wealthiest Americans to make all the math work, according to two Republicans granted anonymity to describe the private talks. GOP leaders have pushed back against such a move. SALT Republicans, including a die-hard group of five New Yorkers, reiterated in the meeting that they would not accept the $30,000 cap currently in the megabill draft.
The speaker also brought Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.) into the conversation via speakerphone, according to the people, after SALT members asked her to leave a recent meeting amid concerns she was more sympathetic to her Republican colleagues on the Ways and Means Committee than her fellow New York lawmakers.
Another Republican involved in the talks, granted anonymity to speak candidly, said they were optimistic that the speaker would “pull a rabbit out of a hat again.” Negotiators in the room were working to find “a sweet spot” on SALT and things were moving in a positive direction, the Republican said.
Lawmakers submitted a host of requests for estimates of how certain changes would fit together, and they are now waiting to get the data before making bigger alterations. Many “more details” are needed to figure out the funding puzzle around SALT, according to another person with direct knowledge of the talks.
Johnson, leaving the meeting at one point, told reporters he was committed to working through a slew of major issues potentially impeding passage of the party-line package central to enacting President Donald Trump’s domestic agenda.
“I’ve committed to working through the weekend on it,” Johnson told reporters. He added they would get to “a point” where it can go on the floor.
He was optimistic that the bill could still pass the chamber by his Memorial Day target, but significant hurdles remain.
Hard-liners are pushing for deeper Medicaid cuts — including moving up the start date of the new federal work requirements embedded in the bill, which currently wouldn’t go into effect until 2029. Moderates are wary of making deeper cuts to Medicaid and are expecting to meet with GOP leaders later Thursday.
“For me, the numbers matter. I don’t want to, you know, get further into debt, and the deficit is important to me,” Rep. Beth Van Duyne (R-Texas) said. “The numbers don’t add up.”
Rep. Byron Donalds (R-Fla.) said lawmakers need to factor in Medicaid work requirements and how to ensure states that have not yet expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act aren’t incentivized to expand.
One key hard-right negotiator, Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), left the meeting early after again panning the current bill in a morning TV appearance.
GOP leaders want to advance the megabill next week, sending it first to the Budget Committee Friday, then to the Rules Committee and — they hope — on to the floor.
“It’s going to come up in Rules on Monday, and we’ll be voting on it next week,” said House Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.), leaving the closed-door meeting Thursday.
Hailey Fuchs, Benjamin Guggenheim and Nicholas Wu contributed to this report.