President Donald Trump came to Capitol Hill on Tuesday morning to help the leaders of the Gop Bulldozer his “big and beautiful bill” thanks to a vote in the House.
He cajolé. He called Holdout legislators by name. He told them to stop negotiating and voting yes, already.
“He was categorical: we have to stop screwing. It was the clear message,” said Dusty Johnson, the southern Dakota representative.
Why we wrote this
The president's inheritance in the second mandate is based on the fact that he can persuade enough GOP legislators to support his priorities. And it is clear that he has more to do to conclude the agreement.
The Republican leaders of the Chamber indicated that they could force a vote on the Megabill, which contains almost all the main legislative priorities of the president, on Wednesday. They cannot afford more than three defections.
But as the GOP legislators spread outside the meeting, it was clear that many are not ready to vote for the bill with regard – a sign that some of them can be willing to put their main legislative priorities before their loyalty to the president, even if the pressure is accelerating to support his program.
The Capitol Hill's meeting was the most public and assertive decision that the president has so far supported the legislation, which extends the individual tax reductions which have been the legislative signature of his first mandate, and includes billions of expenditure for repression against unauthorized immigrants, his main priority of the second term. His heritage in the second mandate is based on the question of whether he can make GOP legislators strong enough to support his priorities. And it is clear that he has more to do to conclude the agreement.
He told the legislators that he opposed the reduction of Medicaid in addition to reducing “waste, fraud and abuse”, a warning in preservatives who require more aggressive changes to the program to reduce costs. He also told legislators to stop negotiating the ceiling on state and local tax deductions. Salt was a major collision point for republicans in the blue state, who wish to considerably increase the ceiling of these deductions, which has forced many of their voters to pay much higher taxes.
Trump, however, remained vague on details. He did not say what constitutes the reduction of “waste, fraud and abuse” in Medicaid, which led some legislators to believe who understood the addition of work requirements – an absolute priority for conservative hiding places – and others to assume that he meant the opposite. He was not precise either on the specific salt ceiling that he supported.
The president has planned the confidence that the bill would pass soon.
“We have an incredible unit,” said Trump when he left Reunion. “I think we are going to get whatever we want.”
A certain number of republican legislators – including some selected – said that the president's speech had helped to advance the bill
But even after hearing it, the retained of salt and the biggest tax hawks were not ready to get on board.
New York representative Mike Lawler, whom the legislators said that the president called by name at the closed -door meeting, said the current increase in the bill in the salt ceiling was simply “insufficient” and that he would continue to negotiate the bill.
“We will continue dialogue with leadership. But in the current state, I do not support the bill-the period,” he said.
The Republican leaders of the Chamber continued to negotiate with the selected salt as late as on Monday evening and had made a higher offer than what is currently in the bill, but they were still not happy.
“We need a little more salt on the table to get to yes,” said New York representative Nick Lalota, another holdout.
Tax hawks were not ready to get on board either.
Pennsylvania’s representative Scott Perry, a member of the Hard-Right House Freedom Caucus and normally a close ally of Trump, who criticized this bill, said that the president’s speech had not persuaded him-and that he needed the bill itself.
“I need to see text,” he said.
Kentucky republican representative Thomas Massie, a fiscally conservative hardliner who often breaks with his party, said that the president called him by name at the meeting. But he said that his mind had not changed. “I am a no,” he told journalists.
The president of the room, Mike Johnson, is new in leadership and has only won the speaker because Mr. Trump called the Holdout legislators and asked that they vote for him. It strongly depends on the president's muscle with its most obstinate members on key votes.
Congress negotiations are often messy, ugly and appear on the verge of failure on several occasions before the legislators find a package that they can pass. This can be particularly true in this congress, because the thin majority of the Republicans of the Chamber means that any handful of legislators can make an agreement concluded.
The president had to this point that this point had not paid too much attention to the congress, concentrating his first months on the decrees. It may be the burst of opening when it increases the pressure on recalcitrant legislators. But this pressure alone seems not enough to press your bill through the house. They still want changes. And the question remains whether they can write a bill which is enough to please the selected salt and compensate for the expenses for the Dureurs without losing moderates.
“We are still far away, but we can get there,” said Maryland representative Andy Harris, president of the Conservative House Freedom Caucus and critic of the current bill. “Maybe not by tomorrow, but we can get there.”
And then comes the Senate – which could be an even greater obstacle.
