WASHINGTON: President Donald Trump hosted an unusually long meeting with House Republicans at the White House on Thursday, turning over prime workspace for them to hammer out differences over the size, scope and details of their multi-trillion plan to cut taxes, regulations and government spending.
Trump set the tone at the start of the five-hour session, lawmakers said, then left them alone for a meeting that ran so long that Speaker Mike Johnson missed his own one-on-one at the US Capitol with the Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who instead met with Democratic leaders and other lawmakers as the speaker’s office scrambled to reschedule.
“Very positive developments today,” Johnson said once he returned to the Capitol. “We’re really grateful to the president for leaning in and doing what he does best, and that is put a steady hand at the wheel and get everybody working.”
House and Senate GOP leaders have been desperately looking to Trump for direction on how to proceed on their budget bill, but so far the president has been noncommittal about the details — only pushing Congress for results.
The standoff is creating frustration for Republicans as precious time is slipping and they fail to make progress on what has been their top priority with their party in control in Washington. At the same time, congressional phone lines are being swamped with callers protesting Trump’s cost-cutting efforts led by billionaire Elon Musk against federal programs, services and operations.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters the president and lawmakers were discussing “tax priorities of the Trump administration,” including Trump’s promises to end federal taxation of tips, Social Security benefits and overtime pay. Renewing tax cuts Trump enacted in 2017 also was on the agenda, she said.
“The president is committed to working with Congress to get this done,” Leavitt said.
Johnson, despite the slimmest of majorities, has insisted Republicans will stay unified and on track to deliver on his goal of House passage of the legislation by April.
The chair of the House Budget Committee, Texas Rep. Jodey Arrington, returned from the meeting saying his panel will hold hearings on the package next week.
But as Johnson’s timeline slips — the House was hoping to start budget hearings this week — the Senate is making moves to take charge. GOP senators are heading to Trump’s private Mar-a-Lago club on Friday for their own meeting.
Republicans led by Senate Majority Leader John Thune of South Dakota have proposed a two-step approach, starting with a smaller bill that would include money for Trump’s US-Mexico border wall and deportation plans, among other priorities. They later would pursue the more robust package of tax break extensions before a year-end deadline.
Sen. Lindsey Graham, chairman of the Senate Budget Committee, announced late Wednesday that he was pushing ahead next week with hearings to kickstart the process.
The dueling approaches between the House and Senate is becoming something of a race to see which chamber will make the most progress toward the GOP’s overall goals.
The House GOP largely wants what Trump has called a “big, beautiful bill” that would extend some $3 trillion in tax cuts that expire at the end of the year, and include a list of other GOP priorities, including funding for the president’s mass deportation effort and promised US-Mexico border wall. It include massive cuts from a menu of government programs — from health care to food assistance — to help offset the tax cuts.
The smaller bill Graham is proposing would total some $300 billion and include border money and a boost in defense spending, largely paid for with a rollback of Biden-era green energy programs.
Graham, R-S.C., said that would give the Trump administration the money it needs to “finish the wall, hire ICE (Immigration and Customs Enforcement) agents to deport criminal illegal immigrants.”
“This will be the most transformational border security bill in the history of our country,” Graham said.
House Republicans are deeply split over Graham’s approach. But they are also at odds over their own ideas.
House GOP leaders are proposing cuts that would bring $1 trillion in savings over the decade, lawmakers said, but members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus want at least double that amount.
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, said he’s looking for $2.5 trillion in spending cuts over 10 years, or $250 billion annually, as part of that plan, compared to a $1 trillion floor over 10 years that some in GOP leadership have discussed.
Roy and other members of the Freedom Caucus are interested in Graham’s approach, which is seen as a down payment on Trump’s immigration and deportation plans, while the party continues work on the broader tax and spending cuts package.
But Arrington, the House Budget Committee chair, has previously said the $2.5 trillion in spending reductions was a “stretch goal.”
Johnson, R-Louisiana, needs almost complete unanimity from his ranks to pass any bill over objections from Democrats. In the Senate, Republicans have a 53-47 majority, with little room for dissent.
Trump has repeatedly said he is less wed to the process used in Congress than the outcome of achieving his policy goals.