WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump huddled Tuesday with House Republicans on Capitol Hill, looking to put the political pressure on divided factions of the party to come together behind his “one, big beautiful bill” as leaders push to pass the multitrillion-dollar legislation before Memorial Day.


What You Need To Know

  • President Donald Trump arrived on Capitol Hill early Tuesday in a bid to seal the deal on his "big, beautiful bill," using the power of political persuasion to urge divided House Republicans to rally behind the multitrillion-dollar package that is at risk of collapsing ahead of planned votes this week
  • Upon arriving at the Capitol, Trump, with House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., at his side, insisted the party is “tremendously unified,” even as he conceded that “a couple” of “grandstanders” remain
  • But even as Trump applies the political pressure, negotiations are slogging along and it's not at all clear the package, with its sweeping tax breaks and cuts to Medicaid, food stamps and green energy programs, has the support needed from the House's slim Republican majority, who are also being asked to add some $350 billion to Trump's border security, deportation and defense agenda 

Emerging from the closed-door discussion with Speaker Mike Johnson at his side, Trump confidently dubbed it a “meeting of love,” sternly pushing back on a reporter’s question about whether he told House GOP members he was losing patience amid the infighting. 

“I’m not losing patience," Trump said. "We are ahead of schedule. Anybody that told you that is a liar.”

He continued to insist House Republicans are “tremendously unified” — a phrase he used when he arrived at the Capitol early Tuesday morning — even as he conceded that “a couple” of “grandstanders” remain.

“There's some people who want a couple of things that maybe I don't like or that they're not going to get, but I think we're going to have tremendous — not luck, we have tremendous talent,” Trump said. 

He noted the alternative to not clearing the bill is a tax increase for Americans upon expiration of his 2017 cuts, which he declared would then be pinned on the Democrats and “one or two grandstanders.” 

“And if that happens — I mean what Republican can vote for that to happen? Because they wouldn’t be a Republican much longer. They would be knocked out so fast,” he said.

Asked if he would speak individually with the holdouts, the president said that was what his presence on the Hill was for. 

But even as Trump has gone full-force in employing political persuasion to get the massive package containing his biggest tax, energy, border and defense priorities across the finish line in the lower chamber, its fate ahead of key votes this week is uncertain. 

"Trump's one big, beautiful bill is going to require one big, beautiful vote," Johnson said moments after meeting with Trump at the Capitol. "Failure is simply not an option. We have to get this done."

Johnson said he planned to "gather up the small subgroups in the House Republican conference and tie up the remaining loose ends" Tuesday to get the bill ready for a floor vote this week. He said the House is "right on schedule" to pass the bill by Memorial Day.

Fiscal conservatives — some of whom tanked the bill in a critical Budget Committee vote last week before coming around to allow it to move forward Sunday night — want more cuts to programs such as Medicaid in order to make up for the cost of the lost revenue to the federal government from an extension of Trump’s 2017 tax cuts. One critical point appears to be around when new work requirements for the government health insurance program for low-income Americans would kick in.

They had been proposed to start Jan. 1, 2029, but GOP Majority Leader Steve Scalise said on CNBC that work requirements for some Medicaid beneficiaries would begin in early 2027.

More moderate members of the party, on the other hand, have been skeptical about changing the program too significantly. 

And separately, a group of Republicans in Democratic-led high-tax states such as New York, New Jersey and California are insisting on a cap on state and local tax deductions that they believe will give their voters big enough relief back home. 

"I think it's pretty obvious that they're going to need more time," said Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., chairman of the House Freedom Caucus.

"These are complicated issues with trillions of dollars," he said. "We've got to do this thing right."

With House Democrats lined up against the package, GOP leaders have almost no votes to spare. A key committee hearing is set for the middle of the night Tuesday in hopes of a House floor vote by Wednesday afternoon.

Democrats argue the package is little more than a giveaway to the wealthy at the expense of health care and food programs Americans rely on.

"They literally are trying to take health care away from millions of Americans at this very moment in the dead of night," said House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York.

"If this legislation is designed to make life better for the American people, can someone explain to me why they would hold a hearing to advance the bill at 1 a.m. in the morning?"

Trump, who has pledged not to cut Medicaid, insisted ahead of huddling with the party that the only thing being axed from the program was “waste, fraud and abuse,” even with the current proposal implementing new work requirements that the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated would result in at least 7.6 million fewer people expected to have health insurance.

The sprawling 1,116-page package carries Trump's title, the " One Big Beautiful Bill Act," as well as his campaign promises to extend the tax breaks approved during his first term while adding new ones, including no taxes on tips, automobile loan interest and Social Security.

Yet, the price tag is rising and lawmakers are wary of the votes ahead, particularly as the economy teeters with uncertainty.

The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan fiscal watchdog group, estimates that the House bill is shaping up to add roughly $3.3 trillion to the debt over the next decade.

If the bill passes the House this week, it would then move to the Senate, where Republicans are also eyeing changes.