Trump tries to persuade, and threaten, GOP to support his budget bill

President Donald Trump carted his bully pulpit to Capitol Hill on Tuesday, trying to persuade – and, at times, threatening – congressional holdouts to support the White House’s budget bill, which could determine whether he regains the momentum he had early in his second administration or sees his agenda stall.

The massive tax and immigration bill, which is central to Trump’s second-term plans, narrowly passed the House Budget Committee on Sunday and faces continued resistance both from moderates and from GOP hard-liners concerned about spending. House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-Louisiana) and his leadership team must muscle the legislation through the House’s historically narrow majority, where they can lose only three Republicans for a successful vote.

Trump’s 1½-hour visit with House Republicans appeared to create a sense of urgency, but several procedural hurdles remain. The speaker has set a deadline to do so by Memorial Day, a self-imposed timeline he is confident he will meet once the House Rules Committee - the final hurdle before the bill reaches the floor - meets at 1 a.m. Wednesday.

“Nothing in Congress is ever easy, especially when you have small margins. But we’re going to land this plane and deliver this,” Johnson said at his weekly news conference Tuesday, after which followed the GOP conference meeting. “President Trump’s one big beautiful bill is going to require one big beautiful vote, and this is our shot.”

Their trump card, at least on Tuesday, was the commander in chief himself, who accused some of the Republican holdouts of grandstanding but expressed confidence that his “unified party” would ultimately push a bill through Congress. He also suggested that Republicans who continue to balk could face Trump-backed challengers in their primary races.

“There are one or two points that some people feel strongly about,” Trump said after arriving on Capitol Hill. “Taxes would go up if this doesn’t pass. What Republican could vote for that to happen? Because they wouldn’t be a Republican much longer.”

Trump singled out Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) in the conference meeting, saying he has consistently voted against his MAGA agenda: “Don’t be a Massie grandstander,” the president said. Minutes earlier he called for Massie to be primaried.

Massie told reporters he was “flattered … not offended” by Trump calling him out roughly “eight times” in the conference meeting. Trump’s primary threat, he said, is “not consequential to my vote.”

Behind closed doors, the message was blunt. Trump employed profanity as he told the caucus to leave Medicaid benefits alone, according to two people in the conference meeting, but urged Republicans to continue rooting out “waste, fraud and abuse” in the system.

Most notably, Trump encouraged House Republicans to drop their objections and follow Johnson’s lead - a stunning endorsement as dozens of lawmakers across ideological factions oppose the speaker’s proposal. But the stance of a few ultraconservative hard-liners seems to have softened at Trump’s message, providing an opening for House leaders to convince them.

Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Arizona), a Freedom Caucus member, said groups of lawmakers needed to spend Tuesday discussing what they heard and review policy proposals, but that the president “made some very interesting points.”

The in-person persuasion campaign was a recognition that the stakes are high for the president and the GOP-controlled Congress. Trump has been bragging about the pace of his “golden age” agenda but faces headwinds, including economic jitters over tariffs, legal challenges to a raft of other policies and, now, divisions over a bill that would fund his vision of America.

Trump’s approval ratings dipped last month in the wake of economic aftershocks from his policies. But the White House had no qualms about flexing the iron grip he has held on the Republican Party for the past decade. It is Trump, his supporters say, who helped the GOP retake Washington - and it’s incumbent on congressional Republicans to fall in line.

Trump’s massive legislative package would increase deficits by at least $2.5 trillion over the next 10 years by cutting taxes and increasing spending on immigration enforcement. Among other provisions, the package would extend Trump’s 2017 tax law, which is set to expire at the end of the year - meaning most Americans will see their tax bills rise unless Congress acts.

Some lawmakers and aides had hoped that Trump would lubricate negotiations by detailing which policies he supports and which could be excised. Instead, he left room for interpretation.

Fiscal hawks took away that Trump’s directive on Medicaid meant they could still cut waste, fraud and abuse - which could kick people off the health-care program. Others took away that the provisions already proposed should not be tweaked.

“I think [Trump] is deferring to our conference, because there’s a healthy debate in our own conference about where the waste and fraud is versus just restructuring the program to make it work better in one man’s opinion over another,” Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) said. “Some people have a broader view of waste. And I certainly do.”

But moderate Republicans were glad to hear Trump’s admonition to keep Medicaid intact.

“That’s what I’ve been saying for a while: Don’t touch it,” said Rep. David G. Valadao (California), who represents a swing district with the highest percentage of constituents receiving Medicaid benefits among House Republicans.

Trump urged six Republicans representing districts in blue states to stop objecting to Johnson’s olive branch that would raise the state and local tax (SALT) deduction cap from $10,000 to $30,000, which the six say isn’t high enough. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Georgia), who objects to raising the cap, stood up during the meeting to remind lawmakers that she campaigned often with Trump and never heard voters remark about helping people in blue states pay less in taxes. But most of the six left the meeting unmoved by his urging to let it go.

Trump pointed at Rep. Michael Lawler (R-New York), according to two people in the room, and reminded the caucus that the issue is important in his state. He claimed that Lawler and the other “no” votes would lose their reelection bids if the issue isn’t resolved.

Lawler and legislators in similar situations have made the same arguments, calling themselves the “majority makers.” In a White House meeting earlier this year, Lawler told Trump and other GOP leaders that he would lose his district if SALT were not addressed in the tax bill.

“The president could say whatever he wants, and I respect that, but the fact is, I certainly understand my district,” Lawler told reporters after the meeting. “I’m one of only three Republican members that won in a district Kamala Harris won, and I did so for a reason.”