Trump's big bill faces next hurdle in Congress as GOP conservatives warn
they may vote against it
[May 16, 2025]
By LISA MASCARO and KEVIN FREKING
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans are preparing to push their
hard-fought package of tax breaks and spending cuts through its next
hurdle Friday in the Budget Committee, but conservatives are warning
they could vote to halt it unless there are further changes.
Tallying a whopping 1,116 pages, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, named
with a nod to President Donald Trump, is teetering at a critical moment.
Conservatives are holding out for steeper cuts to Medicaid and other
programs to help offset the costs of the tax breaks. But at the same
time, lawmakers from high-tax states including New York are demanding a
deeper tax deduction, known as SALT, for their constituents.
Failure to push the package out of the Budget Committee would be a
setback for Speaker Mike Johnson, who insists Republicans are on track
to pass the bill, which he believes will inject a dose of stability into
a wavering economy.
“One of the reasons the big beautiful bill is so important is because I
am convinced it will send a message of stability to the stock market,
the bond markets, to job creators and entrepreneurs, the risk takers,
the people who make the economy go,” Johnson said. “We will get the U.S.
economy going again.”
The Budget panel is one of the final stops before the package is sent to
the full House floor for a vote, which is expected as soon as next week.
Typically, the job of the Budget Committee is more administrative as it
compiles the work of 11 committees that drew up various parts of the big
bill.
But Friday's meeting could prove momentous. Republicans hold a slim
majority in the House and have just a few votes to spare, including on
the Budget Committee.
The conservative holdouts from the Freedom Caucus are insisting on
deeper cuts — particularly to Medicaid. They want new work requirements
for aid recipients to start immediately, rather than on Jan. 1, 2029, as
the package proposes.
Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., who is a member of the Budget panel, was
among those who spoke up during a private meeting of House Republicans
as they assessed the situation.
He said the Republicans have “one shot” to get the package right and
make sure it doesn't pile onto deficits. If the vote fails in the Budget
Committee on Friday, he suggested they “go back to work.”
At the same time, the New Yorkers have been unrelenting in their demand
for a much larger SALT deduction than what is proposed in the bill,
which could send the overall cost of the package skyrocketing.
As it stands, the bill proposes tripling what's currently a $10,000 cap
on the state and local tax deduction, increasing it to $30,000 for joint
filers with incomes up to $400,000 a year.
Rep. Nick LaLota, one of the New York lawmakers leading the SALT effort,
said they have proposed a deduction of $62,000 for single filers and
$124,000 for joint filers.
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Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., left, House Small Business
Committee Chairman Roger Williams, R-Texas, center, and House
Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., right, depart a news conference at
the Capitol, Tuesday, May 6, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Rod
Lamkey, Jr.)
The conservatives and the New Yorkers are at odds, each jockeying
for their priorities as Johnson labors to keep the package on track
to pass the House by Memorial Day and then onto the Senate.
“This is always what happens when you have a big bill like this,"
said Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La. "There’s always final
details to work out all the way up until the last minute. So we’re
going to keep working. There’s a lot of work to be done."
At its core, the sprawling package is a somewhat modest proposal to
extend the existing income tax cuts that were approved during
Trump's first term, in 2017, and add new ones that the president
campaigned on in 2024, including no taxes on tips, overtime pay and
some auto loans.
It increases some tax breaks for middle-income earners, including a
bolstered standard deduction of $32,000 for joint filers and a
temporary $500 boost to the child tax credit, bringing it to $2,500.
It also provides an infusion of $350 billion for Trump’s deportation
agenda and to bolster funds at the Pentagon.
To offset some $5 million in lost revenue, the package proposes
rolling back other tax breaks, namely the green energy tax credits
approved as part of President Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act.
Some conservatives want those to end immediately.
The package also seeks to cover the costs by slashing more than $1
trillion from health care and food assistance programs, largely by
imposing work requirements on able-bodied adults.
Certain Medicaid recipients would need to engage in 80 hours a month
of work or other community options to receive health care. Some
parents and older Americans receiving food aid through the
Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP, would also
see new work requirements, including for those up to age 64 and some
parents with children older than 7.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates at least 7.6
million fewer people with health insurance and about 3 million a
month fewer SNAP recipients with the changes.
The package also includes a $4 trillion increase in the nation's
debt limit, now $36 trillion, so the Treasury can continue to pay
the bills and prevent a federal debt default.
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Associated Press writer Leah Askarinam contributed to this report.
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