Washington (AFP) – US President Donald Trump told rebel Republicans Tuesday to back his so-called “big, beautiful bill,” despite criticism that its tax cuts will increase America’s yawning budget deficit. Trump described talks with lawmakers on Capitol Hill as a “meeting of love” ahead of an expected close vote later this week on legislation that he has placed at the heart of his second-term agenda. The bill pairs an extension of the tax cuts from the billionaire’s first presidential term with steep savings in government spending to pay for them.
But the closed-door talks apparently failed to quell concerns among Republican fiscal hawks that it will increase the national debt — and among moderates that it will cut health care for millions of the poorest Americans. Wall Street stocks fell on Tuesday as US markets, already sparked by a ratings downgrade last week, focused on the fate of Trump’s proposal. “There was no shouting, I think it was a meeting of love,” Trump told reporters after his talks, alongside Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson. “We’re going to have a great victory.” Trump says Americans will face huge tax increases if the bill, which also contains provisions for migration and other issues, does not pass.
Johnson is eying a vote later this week — but with the Republicans holding only a razor-thin majority in the lower chamber, they will need nearly every member to be on side. The speaker was bullish about the bill’s prospects as it headed for final tweaks in the powerful Rules Committee, which scheduled a rare overnight meeting, starting 1:00 am (0500 GMT). The panel, the last hurdle it needs to clear to get a vote of the full House, can throw a wrench in Trump’s plans by denying the package clearance for a floor vote. “Nothing in Congress is ever easy, especially when you have small margins. But we are going to land this plane and deliver this,” Johnson said.
There were signs that stark divisions remained. Conservatives are angling for much deeper spending cuts to tackle the ballooning deficit.
Moderates say the savings would mean millions of the poorest Americans lose health coverage under the Medicaid program — while hawks are angry that work requirements for Medicaid entitlement would not kick in until the end of Trump’s term. Several US media said Trump told the meeting: “Don’t fuck around with Medicaid.” Moderate Republicans fear overly large cuts in the popular health program could upset the party’s prospects in the 2026 midterm elections. The so-called SALT Republicans — a faction demanding bigger deductions in state and local taxes — are also at loggerheads with the leadership. Several of them reportedly texted Johnson to say they would still vote against the bill, reacting angrily after Trump called out some of them by name. Trump argued that the cuts would only benefit governors in Democratic states.
The president has been eager to present the bill as a legislative win early in his second term, after a frenzied first few months where he has governed largely through presidential orders. But independent congressional analysts calculate that the mega-bill’s tax provisions would add more than $2.3 trillion to the US national debt over the coming decade. The bill — which is now formally named the “One Big Beautiful Bill” after Trump initially used it as a nickname — cleared a key hurdle on Sunday when it progressed out of the House Budget Committee. But it now faces a tough ride. Even if the bill passes in the House, it will face challenges in the Senate, where Republicans are demanding major changes.
© 2024 AFP
