By David Morgan and Bo Erickson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump urged Republican lawmakers to unite behind his sweeping tax bill on Friday, as party hardliners calling for deeper spending cuts threatened to block the bill from clearing an important procedural hurdle.
“Republicans MUST UNITE behind” the legislation, Trump said on social media as he returned from a trip to the Middle East. “We don’t need ‘GRANDSTANDERS’ in the Republican Party. STOP TALKING, AND GET IT DONE!”
But Republican opponents showed no sign of surrendering, with enough objecting after the Trump post to prevent the measure from advancing in a crucial House Budget Committee vote that could determine whether the bill is taken up by the full House of Representatives next week.
The measure would add trillions of dollars to the federal government’s $36.2 trillion in debt.
Three of the panel’s 21 Republicans said they would withhold support unless House Speaker Mike Johnson agrees to further cuts to the Medicaid healthcare program for lower-income Americans and the full repeal of green energy tax cuts implemented by Democrats. That would be enough votes to block it.
Republicans hold majorities in both the House and Senate and so far have not rejected any of Trump’s legislative requests.
House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington began the meeting by stressing the legislation’s importance to voters who elected Trump to the White House and gave the party full control of Congress last November.
“They want common sense policies. And they want from all of us a commitment to putting America and Americans first. Let’s give the people what they voted for,” the Texas Republican said.
‘WRITING CHECKS WE CANNOT CASH’
Representatives Chip Roy, Ralph Norman and Andrew Clyde said they were ready to oppose the bill. A fourth, Representative Josh Brecheen, expressed disappointment with the legislation but stopped short of saying he would vote against it.
“We are writing checks we cannot cash and our children are going to pay the price. So, I am a ‘no’ on this bill unless serious reforms are made,” Roy, of Texas, told the committee.
All four said they hoped to reach a deal with Johnson.
The legislation would extend tax cuts passed during Trump’s first term. Congress’ bipartisan Joint Tax Committee estimates the tax cuts would cost $3.72 trillion over a decade. Trump has highlighted measures including lifting taxes on tips and overtime that Republicans say would boost working-class Americans, while critics say the bill will offer more benefits to the wealthy.
Democrats condemned the legislation as a vehicle for giving billionaires tax cuts, while citing a projection from nonpartisan congressional researchers that proposed spending cuts to Medicaid and federally subsidized private health insurance available through the Affordable Care Act could lead to 8.6 million Americans losing health coverage.
“No other previous bill, no other previous law, no other previous event caused so many millions of Americans to lose their healthcare. Not even the Great Depression,” said Representative Brendan Boyle, the committee’s top Democrat.
The Republicans are split between three factions: moderates from Democratic-led states who want to raise a federal deduction for state and local taxes; hardliners demanding that a bigger SALT deduction be offset by deeper cuts to Medicaid and the full repeal of green energy tax credits; and other moderates determined to minimize Medicaid cuts.
The proposed legislation would impose work requirements on Medicaid beginning in 2029. Hardliners want those to begin immediately and have called for a sharp reduction in federal contributions to Medicaid benefits available to working-class people through the Affordable Care Act – an option vehemently opposed by Republican moderates.
(Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Scott Malone, Chizu Nomiyama and Alistair Bell)
