House Leadership plans to rely on one person to get the reconciliation bill over the line: President Donald Trump.
Currently, the House is nowhere close to passing Trump’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill.” There are moderates who don’t want Medicaid cuts and conservatives who want more Medicaid cuts. There are blue-state Republicans who want an increase in the state and local tax deduction and conservatives who don’t want an increase in SALT, just to name a few issues.
But Republican leadership is confident that Trump can do what he’s done in the past: make phone calls and twist arms until the bill passes.
On a member call Monday morning, House Speaker Mike Johnson said he had talked with Trump earlier in the morning and that the president is “very encouraged” at the progress the conference is making on reconciliation and “wants to be involved as much as we need him,” adding that Trump is “leaning in hard” to get the bill over the finish line.
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“Over the weekend, the president was in direct conversation and communication with the speaker of the House. He’s been very involved,” said Karoline Leavitt, White House press secretary. “He always is. He’s willing to pick up the phone when he is asked to.”
Several hardline Republicans balked at the bill, tanking the legislation on Friday and forcing leadership to reconvene late Sunday to get the bill through. The members who joined Democrats to kill the bill — House Freedom Caucus Reps. Chip Roy, Ralph Norman, Andrew Clyde and Josh Brecheen — voted “present” over the weekend so the bill could get to the floor.
But asked if he’s called those holdouts yet, Leavitt declined to give more information.
“I don’t reveal the president’s private discussions unless he gives me the liberty to, but he has been engaged in this process,” she said. “He spoke to the speaker of the House, and he will continue to make those phone calls if it’s necessary.”
White House staff have begun inviting some of the holdouts to meetings on the Hill on Monday, according to a source familiar with the matter.
One White House official told NOTUS that the president has been involved behind closed doors “in a lot of ways, including the most obvious way” when asked if he’s worked the phones. But the White House has struck a vague tone on how much Trump has worked House members and whether his engagement will ramp up as the Memorial Day deadline nears.
“The president is engaged in his own way,” the official said.
Still, the biggest issue for Trump and the leadership is that some parties have contradicting demands. If they give in to one side, they risk losing the votes of others.
But members are confident it’s Trump — not Johnson — who will be the one to get the bill over the finish line.
“Otherwise, the house of cards collapses,” one GOP member told NOTUS.
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Reese Gorman and Jasmine Wright are reporters at NOTUS.
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