April 16, 2026

Budget Resolution

White House allies ‘disappointed’ at Musk’s opposition to megabill– www.politico.com

pgnewser June 5, 2025 0

Source Link
Excerpt:

 

Republican allies close to the White House are privately arguing that the former special government employee — who spent Tuesday afternoon blasting the spending bill and threatening to retaliate against its supporters — is opposing the bill because it harms the tech billionaire’s business interests.

The House-passed megabill represents the president’s chief — and potentially only — major legislative priority this Congress. But Elon Musk’s opposition suggests that the coalition that vaulted Trump to the White House is still facing internal disagreement over it as it makes its way through the Senate. It marks another dust-up between the MAGA and Tech Right. And it raises the possibility some members face pressure from Musk if they ultimately support it. 

“The West Wing is perplexed, unenthused, and disappointed” with Musk, who left the White House to attend to his ailing business empire, according to one White House official, who like others interviewed for this story were granted anonymity to be candid about an ally who spent hundreds of millions to ensconce them in the White House.

Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill Could Be On The Verge Of Collapse– www.politicususa.com

pgnewser June 5, 2025 0

Source Link
Excerpt:

Senate Majority John Thune said that the SALT tax portion of the bill will need to be changed by the Senate, but SALT House Republicans said that any changes would make them no votes on final passage.

Jake Sherman of Punchbowl News posted on X:

JOHNSON said he spoke with the SALT Caucus on the House floor just now. The speaker said that he plans to speak to Senate leadership to tell them it’s a “very delicate thing.” Thune says the House salt deal needs to be changed.

Laura Weiss of Punchbowl said that the House Republicans who negotiated the SALT credit agreement said that if the deal is changed, they will vote against the bill:

SALT Caucus Republicans are up in arms over Thune’s comments that SALT deal will likely change in Senate. (Rep.) LALOTA says changing $40K cap “would be like digging up safely buried radioactive waste — reckless, destabilizing and sure to contaminate everything around it”

Maximum cash for Trump’s pals—and maximum pain for everyone else– www.dailykos.com

pgnewser June 5, 2025 0

Source Link
Excerpt:

As the Trump administration indiscriminately fires tens of thousands of talented civil servants, it also wants to shell out big salaries to the hackiest of partisan hacks.

On April 10, Charles Ezell, the acting director of the Office of Personnel Management, sent a letter to all agency heads, saying his office “reaffirms flexibilities” in setting the terms of employment for Schedule C employees. Schedule C employees are political appointees, and according to OPM, they typically serve in policy or confidential roles, often as confidential assistants, special counsels, and policy experts. They don’t require Senate confirmation but must be requested and approved by OPM.

Per Ezell, the flexibility to pay an initial salary of up to $195,200 to appointees is necessary to attract the people who will help “drive the unusually expansive and transformative agenda the American people elected President Trump to accomplish.”

Usually, these positions are filled by people with specific policy expertise or a background in providing assistance in confidential settings. An analysis of former President Joe Biden’s Schedule C employees, conducted by the nonpartisan group Leadership Connect, found that the bulk of the hires were from top colleges, more than 75% had at least five years’ experience post-college, and had most recently worked in nonprofits, on Capitol Hill, elsewhere in the federal government, or on a campaign.

‘Where’s the budget?’: GOP lawmakers implore Vought to send a full request– www.politico.com

pgnewser June 5, 2025 0

Source Link
Excerpt:

Lawmakers in charge of funding the government grilled President Donald Trump’s budget director on Wednesday about why he hasn’t yet sent a full request to Congress.

With less than four months left in the fiscal year — and until the next government shutdown deadline — White House budget director Russ Vought has yet to deliver key pieces of Trump’s budget request to guide Congress’ future funding decisions. And even Republicans on Capitol Hill are publicly complaining.

“Where’s the budget?” Rep. Steve Womack (R-Ark.) pressed Vought during the budget director’s testimony before House appropriators.

Vought reiterated that he plans to send the full budget request once Republicans clear the party-line tax and spending package they are trying to enact this summer. But he told appropriators that they have “all of the information that is needed to be able to write those bills” to fund the government for the upcoming fiscal year, which starts Oct. 1.

Republicans Are At Each Other’s Throats As Elon Musk And Mike Johnson Go To War Over Big Beautiful Bill– www.politicususa.com

pgnewser June 5, 2025 0

Source Link
Excerpt:

There is only one question that needs to be answered when assessing Elon Musk’s criticism of Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill. Does Musk have the political juice with Republicans to derail the legislation?

This all started when Musk posted to X:

I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore. This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it.

Musk went on to criticize the bill for adding to the deficit.

The post rocked Republicans in Congress just as the Senate is starting work on changes to the legislation.

Speaker Mike Johnson responded to Musk by starting out with political niceties, but his remarks to reporters transitioned into:

 I know that the, the EV mandate is very important to him. That is going away because the government should not be subsidizing these things as part of the Green New Deal. And I, I know that has an effect on his business.

And I lament that we, we talked about the ramp down period on that and, and how that should be duly considered by Congress, but for him to come out and hand the whole bill, is to me just very disappointing, very surprising in light of the conversation I had with him yesterday.

Johnson was asked if Musk’s concern for Tesla is driving this and he answered:

I’m gonna let others draw their own conclusions about that, but this is not personal between any of us. I just, I, I just deeply regret that he is made this, this mistake. I would tell you, listen, I’m gonna remind everybody again. Every hardworking American ought to be in favor of this bill…

And that is a dangerous thing for Elon or anyone who has, um, who cares about the US economy to, to be meddling with. And I think the risk is very great. We have to pass this legislation. The Senate is doing some good, thoughtful, deliberate work right now. We’re looking forward to moving it through the process and this, and the president is very much looking forward to signing that into law by Independence Day.

GOP Rep. Thomas Massie joins Elon Musk in opposing Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful’ spending bill– www.lifesitenews.com

pgnewser June 5, 2025 0

Source Link
Excerpt:

(Conservative Treehouse) — If you have walked the deep political weeds with us, you will likely remember the warnings. Thomas Massie, Chip Roy, Rand Paul, and other fellow republican travelers will join with Elon Musk and the alligator emoji network to oppose President Donald Trump as soon as they can get back into the minority.

There is an intention behind this alignment of interests, which includes the Tech Bros (and Sea Island), that ends with a Vance-DeSantis promoted effort in 2028. The only thing standing in their way is MAGA. As a result, MAGA must be fractured.

The money center behind the strategy is working on a learning curve. Having failed with prior launches of similar approaches (ref. DeSantis ‘23/‘24), they are now doing much more proactive seeding.

Yeah, I know, I know, some will say I’m crazy. I’m not. I’ve watched this exact group’s constructs for over 14 years now. All the data indicates this approach; the only unknown variables are the names of the political representatives who will participate. Now, Thomas Massie is asking Elon Musk to fund primary challengers against the House Republicans who support Donald Trump. From Fox News:

Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., said Elon Musk should fund primary challenges against almost every Republican who voted for President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” last week. “I don’t primary my colleagues, but I feel pretty good about him doing it,” Massie told Fox News Digital on Wednesday.

“There’s a few others that should be spared,” when asked to clarify if he meant all 215 House Republicans who supported the legislation. “But people want term limits, right? Elon can bring term limits.”

Musk came out against the massive Trump agenda bill that House Republicans passed last week. “I’m sorry, but I just can’t stand it anymore. This massive, outrageous, pork-filled congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination. Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it,” Musk first posted.

It was followed by several posts on the national debt, and one that read, “In November next year, we fire all politicians who betrayed the American people.”

Massie said on Wednesday, “I just think he made one mistake when misstatement – he said take them out in November. I would take them out in primaries if I were Elon Musk.”

Musk Signs off From DOGE Life

pgnewser May 28, 2025 0

Elon Musk has announced his scheduled departure from the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) will not be altered. He declared on X, “As my scheduled time as a Special Government Employee comes to an end, I would like to thank President @realDonaldTrump for the opportunity to reduce wasteful spending. The @DOGE mission will only strengthen over time as it becomes a way of life throughout the government.”

His announcement follows his reaction to the current iteration of President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill now being considered by the Senate. He wrote about the bill, “I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decreases it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing. I think a bill can be big or it could be beautiful,” he continued with a smile. “But I don’t know if it could be both.”

Musk ‘Disappointed’ in ‘Big Beautiful’ Spending Bill– www.dailysignal.com
Source Link
Excerpt:

Department of Government Efficiency head Elon Musk told CBS News Tuesday he is “disappointed” in the spending codified in the Republicans’ “big, beautiful bill.”

“I was disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not just decreases it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing,” the Tesla CEO said.

“I think a bill can be big or it could be beautiful,” he continued with a smile. “But I don’t know if it could be both.”

After months of negotiations and 48 straight hours of work, House Republicans successfully passed the budget reconciliation bill. House Speaker Mike Johnson has been urging the Senate to alter the legislation as little as possible given the “delicate” consensus House GOP leadership crafted on the president’s landmark bill, but President Donald Trump approved Senate Republicans making “the changes they want” in the sweeping tax and spending bill.

Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller responded to criticisms that the spending bill does not “codify the DOGE cuts” earlier Tuesday.

“A reconciliation bill, which is a budget bill that passes with 50 votes, is limited by senate rules to ‘mandatory’ spending only—eg Medicaid and Food Stamps,” Miller wrote. “The senate rules prevent it from cutting ‘discretionary’ spending—eg the Department of Education or federal grants. The DOGE cuts are overwhelmingly discretionary, not mandatory. The bill saves more than 1.6 TRILLION in mandatory spending, including the largest-ever welfare reform. A remarkable achievement.”

‘Disappointed’ in GOP’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’– www.breitbart.com

pgnewser May 28, 2025 0

Source Link
Excerpt:

On Tuesday, CBS released a preview of an interview that will air on “Sunday Morning” in which Tesla CEO Elon Musk said he was disappointed in Republican’s so-called “big beautiful bill,” heralded by President Donald Trump.

Musk said, “So, you know, I was like, disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit, not decrease it and undermines the work the DOGE team is doing.”

Correspondent David Pogue said, “I actually thought that when this big beautiful bill came along, I mean, like, everything he’s done on DOGE gets wiped out in the first year.”

Musk said, “I think a bill can be big or it can be beautiful. But I don’t know if it can be both. My personal opinion.”

One Big Beautiful Bill Has USAID Poison Pill Inside It

pgnewser May 28, 2025 0

Due to the way the GOP has chosen to try and pass President Donald J Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill,” a key component of DNC-CCP power, USAID, will be untouched by the budget-cutter’s knife.  The bill was originally promised to get close to putting into law Trump’s agenda that, so far, has largely been driven through edict (and hampered by questionable judicial injunctions).

USAID is discretionary, not “mandatory” spending, which is a problem since reconciliation bills (which is how they chose to pass the bill) can only alter mandatory spending, not discretionary spending. Florida Governor Ron DeSantis may have crystalized the conservative opposition to this news in a post on X.

DeSantis wrote, “(Elon Musk) took massive incoming — including attacks on his companies as well as personal smears — to lead the effort on DOGE. He became public enemy #1 of legacy media around the world. To see Republicans in Congress cast aside any meaningful spending reductions (and, in fact, fully fund things like USAID) is demoralizing and represents a betrayal of the voters who elected them.”

‘Demoralizing,’ ‘Represents Betrayal of the Voters’ › American Greatness– amgreatness.com
Source Link
Excerpt:

Florida Governor Ron DeSantis slammed Congressional Republicans on Tuesday over their lack of action on cutting the government waste and abuse identified by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

Back in March, Congress passed the Full-Year Continuing Appropriations and Extensions Act, 2025, which maintained funding for USAID at the FY 2024 level, effectively extending existing funding for the purportedly “rogue agency” through September 30, 2025.

The “Big Beautiful Bill,” which narrowly passed in the House of Representatives last week, reportedly includes $1.5 trillion in spending cuts, including the largest-ever welfare reform.

But because it is a reconciliation bill,  Senate rules limit the cuts to “mandatory” spending only, such as Medicaid and Food Stamps, White House Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy Stephen Miller explained on X. The DOGE cuts are overwhelmingly discretionary, not mandatory, so they are not addressed in the Big Beautiful Bill.

Many conservatives have expressed disappointment that Republicans have failed to codify any meaningful cuts in wasteful discretionary spending, as identified by DOGE, in separate bills.  Meanwhile, the director of the National Economic Council promised last week that “way more spending cuts” are coming later this year.

How Senate Can Make One Big, Beautiful Bill Even More Beautiful– www.dailysignal.com

pgnewser May 27, 2025 0

Source Link
Excerpt:

On Thursday at 6:54 a.m., the U.S. House passed the Trump and Republican-backed One Big Beautiful Bill Act. (Yup, that is this 1,118-page measure’s official title.) By a snare-drum-tight, 215-214 vote, all but three Republicans and zero Democrats chose to give Americans $4.1 trillion in tax relief, along with their bacon, eggs, tea, and toast.

President Donald Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson, and Majority Leader Steve Scalise (both Louisiana Republicans) were the chefs who moved this elaborate meal from kitchen to table. It has plenty to nourish this economy:

•The One Big, Beautiful Bill makes permanent the rates in the Trump/GOP Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. Every House Democrat voted to let these lower rates lapse on January 1 and slap average taxpayers with a 22% tax hike.

•As promised: No taxes on tips or overtime, plus tax leniency for seniors.

The ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ Headed to the Senate Includes a Tax Increase on University Endowments– legalinsurrection.com

pgnewser May 27, 2025 0

Source Link
Excerpt:

… Colleges and universities will likely face an increase in taxes on their endowments after Republicans’ “Big, Beautiful Bill” passed the House and is now headed to the Senate.

While some reports indicate administrators have hired lobbyists to try and water down the proposal, observers say some sort of tax hike is likely in the offing for these institutions.

Rather than a flat rate, House Republicans seek to increase taxes on private university endowments ranging from 1.4 percent to 21 percent, according to the legislation.

The law would hold “woke, elite universities that operate more like major corporations … accountable, ensuring they can no longer abuse generous benefits provided through the tax code,” states a report from Republicans on the House Ways and Means Committee.

One Big Beautiful Bill Faces One Big Obstructionist Senate

pgnewser May 23, 2025 0

Senate promises to upend Trump’s ‘big, beautiful’ House bill– www.washingtonexaminer.com
Source Link
Excerpt:

Senate Republicans are vowing a major rewrite of President Donald Trump’s “one big, beautiful bill” despite House leadership’s pleas not to undo the carefully crafted bill.

House and Senate leaders are broadly aligned on the tax bill and have been meeting regularly to avoid points of conflict. But Senate Republicans made clear the compromise, a product of frenzied last-minute negotiations, must be negotiated again after it passed the House by a single vote on Thursday.

Committee leaders want to make their imprint on the legislation in a series of markup hearings, while the infighting over the price tag of the bill, which nearly paralyzed the House, will now be litigated in the Senate.

“No, of course not,” Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX), the chairman of the Commerce Committee, said Thursday when asked if he supported the bill. “The Senate will change it significantly.”

In some ways, Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) will inherit the same headaches that plagued Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) for weeks. Both have a three-seat majority, lending little margin for error despite an ideological gulf between fiscal hawks and a bloc of centrists.

Democrats’ Odds Of Retaking The Senate Increase After House GOP Passes Tax Cut Bill– www.politicususa.com

pgnewser May 23, 2025 0

Source Link
Excerpt:

Schumer said:

Let me just say, based on what the House has passed, our chances of taking back the Senate have just increased because while Republicans claim that their tax scam will lift America across the board. The American people see it’s just plain false.

The polling data shows it. The 0.1% people will get a big tax break. The poorest 20% of Americans actually see their taxes go up. How is that fair? It’s not just taxes, it’s poor. And working class families see the costs of everyday items skyrocket.

Just what they did on the clean energy side will lose millions of jobs and cost people much more on their electricity bills. Families are gonna have to figure out how to find extra money to pay for these energy costs. Families will lose healthcare. Families will lose food benefits. Families will lose jobs, families will lose money.

The reason because the Republicans want a billionaire tax giveaway. And we’re gonna fight this tooth and nail. We know that a lot of Republicans on the Senate side are squirmy about the Medicaid cuts, the disparity in the taxes, the clean energy cuts, et cetera. And we urge everyone who’s listening to this call or who read something in the press or online to make sure that they call their Republican senators and say, don’t vote for this billionaire tax scam.

The senators to watch in reconciliation’s next battle– www.theblaze.com

pgnewser May 23, 2025 0

Source Link
Excerpt:

 

Washington breathed a sigh of relief Thursday morning. After weeks of wrangling, members and staff of the House of Representatives finally got some much-needed sleep. But while the House’s passage of the reconciliation package marks a major win, no one should mistake it for the final battle.

The bill now moves to the Senate, where it will be dissected, amended, and — barring a miracle — sent back to the House with underlines and edits.

The White House wants this wrapped up before the July 4 recess. That’s ambitious, considering how narrowly the bill cleared the House in the first place.

All spending must originate in the House, a fact that the Senate sometimes forgets. So think of Thursday’s vote as taking the beaches. Now comes the slow, messy slog inland.

‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ Immediately Runs Into Trouble in Senate After Squeaking Through House– www.westernjournal.com

pgnewser May 23, 2025 0

Source Link
Excerpt:

The President Donald Trump-backed “One Big Beautiful Bill” passed the House Thursday morning by a one-vote margin, so now it is off to the Senate, where it appears to have another high hurdle to cross.

The final House vote on the legislation was 215 to 214, with no Democrats supporting it, while two Republicans — Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Warren Davidson of Ohio — voted against it.

House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris of Maryland voted “Present,” allowing the bill to secure a majority.

N.Y. Rep. Andrew Garbarino slept through “big, beautiful bill” vote that passed by just 1 vote, speaker says– www.cbsnews.com

pgnewser May 23, 2025 0

Source Link
Excerpt:

The House passed President Trump’s domestic policy bill, dubbed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, by just one vote in the early morning hours Thursday after an all-night session.

The vote was that close in part because Rep. Andrew Garbarino, a New York Republican who would’ve voted to support it, was asleep at the time, House Speaker Mike Johnson said.

“Andrew Garbarino did not make it in time. He fell asleep in the back. No kidding, I know. I’m going to just strangle him, but then, he’s my dear friend,” Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, said in a press conference.

Garbarino, who represents New York’s 2nd District on Long Island, did not deny being asleep.

“I am proud to have been the leading voice on Long Island during negotiations on this key reconciliation bill. I fought to lift the cap on SALT and ensure hardworking Long Island families see the benefits of this important legislation. I was moments away from the House floor, to vote ‘yes,’ when the vote was closed. While I am frustrated that the vote was closed before I was able to cast my vote, I am proud of the work we accomplished to deliver huge results for Long Island,” Garbarino said in a statement.

Trump’s Big Bill Moves to Senate, Will it Survive Rewrite?

pgnewser May 22, 2025 0

Senate GOP preps for ‘one big, beautiful’ rewrite– www.politico.com
Source Link
Excerpt:

Senate Republicans are vowing they will make changes to President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” after it passed the House early Thursday morning.

While the end product is likely to contain sweeping areas of overlap with the proposal negotiated by Speaker Mike Johnson, GOP senators made clear Thursday that the House bill can’t pass without major changes. Some of the member demands are contradictory, with some fiscal hawks demanding beefed-up spending reductions while others want softening of the House’s Medicaid language and to preserve more green-energy incentives.

“I’m hoping now we’ll actually start looking at reality,” said Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.). “I know everybody wants to go to Disney World, but we just can’t afford it.”

Johnson batted down the idea that he would fold under arm-twisting from Trump — much as his House counterparts did. “Listen, in the House, President Trump can threaten to primary [holdouts], and those guys want to keep their seats. I understand the pressure. Can’t pressure me that way.”

House-Passed Budget Bill Defunds Planned Parenthood– www.dailysignal.com

pgnewser May 22, 2025 0

Source Link
Excerpt:

House Republicans delivered on their promise to defund Big Abortion on Thursday by passing the budget reconciliation bill that has consumed Washington’s attention for the past three months.

In the bill, the House GOP removed Medicaid funding for Planned Parenthood, the largest provider of abortions in the country. The effort had been supported by dozens of pro-life legislators from around the country.

The move is a monumental win for pro-lifers because Planned Parenthood receives more than one-third of its overall funding from the U.S. government through grants, contracts, and Medicaid reimbursements. That translates to about $2 million per day, which taxpayers are on the hook for. Furthermore, taxpayer funding for the organization has been on an upward trajectory for about the past dozen years, having increased by 50% since 2013.

But the House reconciliation bill halts that trend by ending the flow of Medicaid dollars to Planned Parenthood, except in abortion cases for rape or incest. Planned Parenthood is also a major provider of hormones for so-called transgender transitions in the country, which means defunding it is also combating the organization’s efforts in that regard as well.

House Passes Their Beloved Billionaire Bill By One Vote– crooksandliars.com

pgnewser May 22, 2025 0

Source Link
Excerpt:

It doesn’t matter what the Senate does to mitigate the harm. Republicans are firmly attached to horrific policies, and midterms are coming. Via the New York Times:

Speaker Mike Johnson and the House Republican leadership are taking a victory lap after they managed to unite enough of their fractious conference to push President Trump’s domestic policy agenda forward by a single vote. Standing with leadership are the chairs of all 11 of the policy committees that wrote the bill. “They did not believe that we could succeed in our mission to enact President Trump’s ‘America First’ agenda,” Johnson told reporters at a news conference. “This is a big one, and once again, they have been proven wrong.”

“Take this as a lesson: Don’t bet against the House Republicans,” said Majority Leader Steve Scalise. “We’ve shown time and time again that we deliver for the American people, especially when it matters most.”

[…] House Republicans jumped to their feet to applaud Speaker Mike Johnson, who announced the vote tally as he presided over the floor. But members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus did not join in and largely stayed in their seats.

Republicans May Handed The House To Democrats By A Single Vote– www.politicususa.com

pgnewser May 22, 2025 0

Source Link
Excerpt:

By a margin of 215-214, Republicans passed Trump’s tax cuts for the rich. What Speaker Mike Johnson accomplished for his majority was an act of political suicide to give billionaires a massive tax cut.

House Democratic leadership (Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, Whip Katherine Clark, and Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar) released a statement after the vote:

Today, every single House Democrat voted to stop the largest cuts to Medicaid and food assistance in American history. The GOP Tax Scam rips healthcare and food assistance away from millions of people in order to provide tax cuts to the wealthy, the well-off and the well-connected.

House Republicans promised to lower costs. Instead, Donald Trump’s One Big Ugly Bill will mean millions of families will pay higher premiums, copays and deductibles. Hospitals will close, nursing homes will shut down and communities will suffer. It will take food out of the mouths of children, seniors and veterans at a time when too many families are already struggling to live paycheck to paycheck.

House Passes ‘Big, Beautiful’ Bill– trendingpoliticsnews.com

pgnewser May 22, 2025 0

Source Link
Excerpt:

U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson pulled off what many believed impossible, passing President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful” omnibus bill in dramatic fashion early Thursday morning.

A 215-214 vote, largely on party lines, sends the signature tax cut legislation to the U.S. Senate where it will almost certainly go through extensive edits before being passed back down to the House for final passage.

Despite the hurdles ahead, Thursday’s passage is the latest sign that Johnson has proven to be the most adept Republican speaker in years, horse-trading with conservatives and blue-state Republicans over Medicaid cuts and SALT deductions with little room to spare. Still, he called in President Trump at the eleventh hour to promise swift retribution against anyone who tried to tank the bill.

“Don’t f**k with Medicaid,” Trump allegedly told the GOP caucus in a Wednesday meeting, Politico reported. The threat was largely directed at fiscal hardliners who told Johnson they planned to oppose the bill unless cuts were upped beyond the hundreds of billions of dollars already on the table.

The last-minute changes made to the ‘big, beautiful bill’ to win over GOP holdouts– www.washingtonexaminer.com

pgnewser May 22, 2025 0

Source Link
Excerpt:

Republican leaders made major last-minute changes to the tax and spending megabill that passed early Thursday. In most cases, the bill was altered to win the votes of holdout members of the party.

Here’s the rundown of significant late alterations made to secure passage of the bill, which would enact much of President Donald Trump’s domestic agenda.

The bill increased households’ ability to deduct state and local taxes from their federal taxable income. This revision was made to win over Republicans from high-tax states, such as Rep. Mike Lawler (NY), who had insisted on lifting a $10,000 cap on SALT deductions, which was implemented as part of the 2017 GOP tax overhaul.

Initially, the GOP megabill introduced earlier this month raised the cap to $15,000 for individuals and $30,000 for couples. The added cap would have phased down for couples earning more than $400,000.

The revised version lifts the cap to $20,000 for individuals and $40,000 for couples, and implements a phase-down starting at $500,000 for couples.

 

DNC Media Calls Out Trump for Compromising with Dems on “One Big Beautiful Bill”

pgnewser May 22, 2025 0

Trump Tried To Bully Republicans To Support His Big Beautiful Bill And Flopped– www.politicususa.com
Source Link
Excerpt:

Trump thought that he could go to Capitol Hill and bark out orders to House Republicans and make everyone get into line to support his big beautiful bill, but it hasn’t worked out that way.

Instead, Mike Johnson had to cut a deal with blue state Republicans to quadruple the state and local tax deduction, but now the far right conservatives are grumbling about wanting more cuts in the bill.

Punchbowl News reported:

There have been major changes to the bill in the last 24 hours. The most significant is the overhaul to the state-and-local tax deduction provision approved by the Ways and Means Committee.

Trump‘s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ Delivers Decades-Long Conservative Wish List– gellerreport.com

pgnewser May 22, 2025 0

Source Link
Excerpt:

 

… President Trump warned congressional Republicans on Tuesday not to “f**k around” with Medicaid, a stark pushback to conservative lawmakers demanding steeper cuts to the program in “one big, beautiful bill.” … Trump is already floating political retribution for Republican holdouts who don’t get in line. He also tore into Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who has been a firm “no” on the bill throughout the process, blasting him publicly and privately as a “grandstander” and saying he should be “voted out of office.” Trump also warned the GOP’s blue state holdouts not to push too hard on the SALT deduction cap (Axios).

… The “One Big Beautiful Bill” that President Donald Trump personally lobbied Congress to pass Tuesday delivers on decades of conservative wishes, but first it must survive bickering over two very different issues: deductions for high-tax state voters and the size of spending cuts in an era of record debt.

Speaker Mike Johnson was working feverishly Tuesday night to eliminate one of the roadblocks — demands to increase the State and Local Taxes (SALT) Deduction cap — while fiscal hawks were being pressed to trust that Trump and his DOGE-infused, regulation-busting team can deliver more than the $1.6 trillion in spending cuts the current legislation enacts over the next decade.

Fiscal Hawks Seek Budget Agreement With Trump, House Speaker– www.dailysignal.com

pgnewser May 22, 2025 0

Source Link
Excerpt:

Don’t count on the budget reconciliation bill passing the House today. That appeared to be the message from leading House Freedom Caucus members, who said they were working on a deal with the White House and House GOP leadership.

“We are greatly encouraged by the progress that’s been made in the last 24 hours,” said House Freedom Caucus Chairman Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md.

The entire Republican conference met with President Donald Trump at the Capitol on Tuesday, where he encouraged them to wrap up negotiations on his “big, beautiful bill,” which would fulfill campaign promises such as extending his first-term 2017 tax cuts and funding border security.

Trump tries to broker peace between Freedom Caucus and GOP leadership– www.washingtonexaminer.com

pgnewser May 22, 2025 0

Source Link
Excerpt:

The White House is scheduled to meet with fiscal hawks and House Republican leadership on Wednesday as progress for the “one big, beautiful” reconciliation bill is stalling.

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA), and Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-MN) are heading to the White House for a 3 p.m. meeting with President Donald Trump, which will include members of the Freedom Caucus, multiple sources confirmed to the Washington Examiner.

This is the second major step Trump has taken to try to unify the Republican conference after his speech to the House GOP on Capitol Hill Tuesday failed to sway several key holdouts from both the Freedom Caucus and SALT Caucus.

The meeting at the White House comes after talks between the fiscal hawks and leadership appeared to fall apart overnight. Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), who has been leading the Freedom Caucus opposition to the bill, said early Wednesday that conversations were “not good.”