By David Morgan and Bo Erickson
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax bill faced a major political test on Friday, as Republican leaders tried to advance the legislation through Congress over demands for deeper spending cuts from hardline conservatives.
The 37-member House Budget Committee convened for a crucial vote on Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” that could determine whether Republicans can hold a vote for passage next week in the House of Representatives, which would keep the president’s agenda on course for possible enactment by a July 4 deadline.
The measure would add trillions of dollars to the federal government’s $36.2 trillion in debt.
Four hardliners among the panel’s 21 Republicans threatened to 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.
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.
The panel must approve the bill before it can qualify for a floor vote. Four ‘no’ votes would be enough to stop the bill’s advance, given uniform opposition from the panel’s 16 Democrats.
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.
In condemning the legislation, Democrats cited a projection from nonpartisan congressional researchers warning that proposed cuts to Medicaid and federally subsidized private health insurance available through the Affordable Care Act could lead nearly 14 million Americans to lose 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.
In a possible compromise, Republican leaders have said they could be willing to have the work requirements start at an earlier date.
Johnson predicted that remaining differences could be worked out over the weekend, and lawmakers said Trump is widely expected to begin lobbying for the bill after returning from the Middle East late on Friday.
(Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Scott Malone and Chizu Nomiyama)
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