President Donald Trump is meeting with a faction of conservative lawmakers at the White House who have threatened to sink his signature tax legislation over its $3.4 trillion price tag as lawmakers cast doubt on whether it can pass by July 4.
The president’s ambitious timeline to pass the bill is encountering considerable opposition as moderate and ultraconservative Republican lawmakers threaten to defy him and perhaps frustrate his domestic agenda. House lawmakers returned to Washington Wednesday to vote on the Senate version of the measure, which passed the upper chamber 51-50 on Tuesday with Vice President JD Vance’s tie-breaking vote.
House leaders plan to hold a procedural vote to advance the legislation on Wednesday, with the goal of sending it to the president by Friday for his signature.
Several House lawmakers, including Texas Representative Chip Roy and Representative Ralph Norman of South Carolina, predicted the first procedural vote would fail. Members openly defying the president could inflame already-tense relationships between some Republicans and the White House.
That would also likely mean the House would not be able to move to a final vote on Wednesday. House Speaker Mike Johnson can afford to lose few Republican votes in the closely divided chamber.
Representative Andy Harris, the leader of the hardline Freedom Caucus cast doubt on the prospect of Trump’s sprawling tax and spending legislation will be completed by July 4. He told reporters he would vote “no” on the bill.
“We could take another week to get this thing right,” Harris, a Maryland Republican, said during an appearance on CNBC Wednesday. “We’re willing to stay until we resolve this.”
“I don’t think it’s going to be ready by July 4,” he added, saying that the Senate “should not have left town” after passing its version of the measure on Tuesday.
The $3.4 trillion Senate bill adds more to the deficit than the House bill which clocked in at $2.8 trillion according to the Congressional Budget Office. The Freedom Caucus wants spending cuts stricken by Senate moderates and Senate rules to be added back in, but that threatens a prolonged standoff with that chamber.
Moderates are also a problem for Johnson. A group of them says steeper cuts to Medicaid providers in the Senate bill will devastate hospitals in their districts.
Trump, who is determined to see the legislation passed by Independence Day, is planning to spend Wednesday meeting with lawmakers to convince them to quickly approve the measure, an administration official said.
“We are going to get this done. Trump is the best closer,” Representative Richard Hudson of North Carolina, one of the House’s vote-counting whips, said predicting a vote on Wednesday. “The White House has made it clear we are done negotiating. It’s time to pass the bill.”
The president has put public pressure on fellow Republicans.
“IF PASSED, AMERICA WILL HAVE AN ECONOMIC RENAISSANCE LIKE NEVER BEFORE. IT IS ALREADY HAPPENING, JUST IN ANTICIPATION OF THE BEAUTIFUL BILL. DEFICIT CUT IN HALF, RECORD INVESTMENT — CASH, FACTORIES, JOBS POURING INTO THE USA,” Trump posted on Truth Social on Wednesday.
He has repeatedly lambasted members of Congress as “grandstanders,” and has threatened to oppose the reelection bid of members who block his agenda.
“The House took a position, the Senate took a position, now it’s time to get somewhere between those two positions and send something to the president’s desk,” Harris said. “We’re not talking about a revolt. We’re talking about actually doing the legislative process the way it’s supposed to be done.”
