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President Trump today made a visit to Capitol Hill for the House GOP Conference Meeting in hopes of convincing Republican holdouts to support his “big, beautiful” tax bill.
Despite ongoing fighting within the GOP, Trump told reporters before the meeting that the party is more unified than ever.
“This is really just a pep talk,” he said this morning. “We have a very unified House and we have a very unified Senate.”
Trump added that Republicans who don’t get on board could face an uphill battle in midterm elections.
The bill seeks to extend Trump 1.0-era tax cuts, increase defense and border security spending, and cut Medicaid and food stamp programs, among other things. It’s really the bulk of Trump’s agenda wrapped into a single legislative wrapper.
The proposed legislation also covers state and local tax (SALT) deductions. The current draft raises the cap on deductions to $30,000 for individuals earning less than $400,000. It’s a point some Republicans have been concerned about, but negotiations are apparently underway.
The House Rules Committee is slated to vote on an updated version of the bill tomorrow morning. The new draft cuts federal funding to states providing Medicaid and other government coverage to immigrant children and pregnant people, according to the Washington Post.
Trump has said he hopes to get the bill over the finish line by Memorial Day, so we’ll be keeping an eye out. Expect market volatility to pick up should further signs of disagreements within the party surface.
