Trump fails to sway many House GOP holdouts as his 'big' bill of tax
breaks and spending cuts stalls
[April 09, 2025]
By LISA MASCARO and KEVIN FREKING
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Speaker Mike Johnson found himself in a familiar
jam on Tuesday: Conservative Republican holdouts are stalling action on
President Donald Trump's "big” bill of tax breaks and spending
reductions, refusing to accept a Senate GOP budget framework approved
over the weekend because it doesn't cut enough.
Trump summoned House Republicans from the conservative Freedom Caucus to
the White House for what was described as a contentious midday meeting.
Despite Trump's push, some of the Republicans told the president they
could not support the Senate package without a commitment to steeper
cuts.
“I’m tired of the fake math in the swamp,” said Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas,
a Freedom Caucus leader, before heading to the White House.
After meeting with Trump, Roy was among those unmoved. “I’m still a no.”
The standoff between the House and the Senate over what Trump calls his
“big, beautiful bill” is exposing the limits of the GOP's long campaign
to cut federal spending, especially at a time of economic unrest.
Trump's trade wars, the mass layoffs of thousands of federal workers and
Trump adviser Elon Musk's Department of Government Efficiency slashing
through government, are all upending the debate.
With the financial markets roiling over Trump’s tariffs and the economy
teetering as worries of a recession flare, the Republican speaker
insisted there is no time to waste. Johnson is pulling out all the stops
as he scrounges for votes to nudge the process forward before lawmakers
leave town Thursday for a two week spring recess.
“We’ve got to get this done,” Johnson said earlier in the day.
Republicans, in control of the White House and Congress, are trying to
muscle Trump's signature domestic policy bill closer to passage,
ensuring some $4.5 trillion in tax breaks approved during his first term
don't expire at year's end. But House Republicans are demanding as much
as $2 trillion in budget cuts over the decade, to help offset the costs
of the tax breaks, while Senate Republicans, who stayed up late to pass
their package early Saturday morning, are hesitant to go that far.
Facing unified opposition to the package from Democrats, who see the GOP
package as a tax giveaway to the wealthy paid for by reductions in
Medicaid, food stamps and other vital government services, Republicans
are struggling to resolve their differences and craft a final product.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries in a letter to Johnson
challenged him to a one-on-one debate over their budget differences.
“Mano a Mano,” Jeffries posted on social media. “The American people
deserve to know the truth.”
The uproar has thrown the week's schedule into uncertainty with a
planned Wednesday vote potentially pushing to Thursday, or even later.
During a subsequent speech Tuesday night at a National Republican
Congressional Committee gathering, Trump called his get-together “a
great meeting” while using colorful language to urge holdouts to get
onboard.
“One little thing the Republican Party has to do is get together and
damn vote,” the president said, adding: “Close your eyes and get there.
It’s a phenomenal bill. Stop grandstanding.”
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Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., talks to reporters about
his push for a House-Senate compromise budget resolution to advance
President Donald Trump's agenda, even with opposition from hard-line
conservative Republicans, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday,
April 8, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
But Trump's demands appeared to have failed to move many of the
House conservatives unmoved.
“The rest of America has to do math and balance their budget. I
think we ought to do math here in Washington, D.C.,” said Rep. Scott
Perry, R-Pa., who attended the White House meeting. “It doesn’t take
a calculus wiz to know that doesn’t add up.”
Lawmakers said several dozen Republicans are withholding their
support.
Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., said the Senate cuts are “anemic.”
“I couldn’t sleep at night if I was part of exacerbating the federal
deficit,” Burlison said. “While there might be some over there who
have an appetite for some of the spending cuts, it’s clear that not
everyone does.”
While Republican senators have agreed to consider as much as $2
trillion in cuts, their counterparts in the House are deeply
skeptical, if not distrustful, that the Senate GOP will accomplish
anywhere near that level of reductions. The Senate bill sets a much
lower floor, just $4 billion in cuts, though Senate GOP leaders
insist that number will rise.
Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., said he does not believe the Senate has
the political will to stomach larger cuts and is unconvinced the GOP
senators will reach anywhere near the level the House has set.
“The trustworthiness of the Senate is suspect,” Norman said. “It's
like you charge for your house $100,000, And I come back with
$1,000. How do you bridge that gulf?”
In fact, the Senate GOP signaled the tough road ahead for the
House's steep spending reductions during their lengthy overnight
session.
Several Republicans, including Sen. Susan Collins of Maine and Sen.
Josh Hawley of Missouri, voted with Democrats in favor of amendments
to preserve the Medicaid health care program from cuts. None of the
amendments was accepted, but one that specifically targeted the $800
billion in reductions from the House framework won GOP support.
Johnson is nowhere near the vote tally he would need to pass the
package through with his slim majority.
During a morning meeting of House Republicans a number of lawmakers
spoke out — some saying they should simply accept the Senate
resolution for now and keep working out the details toward the final
package. Others were refusing to go forward without assurances that
senators were committed to the same level of reductions.
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Associated Press writer Seung Min Kim contributed to this report.
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