Johnson attempts to hold together fragile GOP coalition ahead of key committee votes on Trump agenda
House Republicans kicked off a blockbuster week forPresident Donald Trump's "one big, beautiful bill," as Speaker Mike Johnson attempts to stave off a revolt from any one faction of his conference that could tank the sweeping GOP agenda. As House lawmakers returned to Washington on Tuesday, key committees launched into debate on the bill that could last 24 hours or longer – marathon sessions that are expected to end in votes to move pieces of the legislation one step closer to full House consideration. Even with multiple hurdles still to go, House GOP leadership is confident they'll be on track to take up Trump's tax and spending cuts package in a floor vote by Memorial Day, a target that even some members of the GOP conference once described as overly ambitious. But there arewarning signsas Johnson and his leadership team are facing friction from both moderates and hardliners and sticking points over policy that have not yet been resolved. With a slim majority, the speaker will need almost complete unity in his conference to advance the bill – and many Republicans expect Trump will need to weigh in to deliver the votes. Attacks from Democrats – and some high-profile protests – dominated two committee hearings Tuesday afternoon. Democrats hammered Republicans for their planned tax cuts – which they say mostly help billionaires – and a planned overhaul to Medicaid. They argue that the GOP's attempt to add work requirements and rein in federal dollars to states that expanded Medicaid under Obamacare could cause even children and disabled Americans to lose coverage. Republicans, however, were adamant that only able-bodied adults would be affected by work requirements and that they would protect access for people with disabilities. At many points during the Medicaid-focused hearing, the debate was tense. Capitol Police arrested 26 protesters for their interruptions. And at one point, the normally mild-mannered Energy and Commerce panel devolved into infighting over the word "lying" – requiring GOP Chairman Brett Guthrie to repeatedly interject. Elsewhere in the Capitol, Johnson and his leadership team have tried to corral the rest of his conference behind the bill. The speaker, for instance, spoke with conservative hardliner Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, who has been publicly critical about what he sees as inadequate changes toMedicaid, among other issues. The speaker also met privately with the so-called SALT Caucus – a loose coalition of roughly a half-dozen Republicans from high-tax states like New York, New Jersey and California who have sought to repeal the 2017 deduction cap on state and local taxes. After a meeting with key holdouts on Tuesday night, Johnson said he believed a deal on the issue would come in the next day or so as they awaited key data from Congress' nonpartisan tax experts to help shape the policy. "It will probably be tomorrow, only because we need the joint tax people, the number crunchers, to do all of that work tonight, and we've asked them to do a lot," he said. "They're looking at different facts and figures, so I expect that the final analysis will be tomorrow." GOP tax-writers proposed to triple the current cap on state and local taxes, from $10,000 to $30,000 per year, but it is limited to people who are making $400,000 or less. That $30,000 cap, however, has been a nonstarter for those members. "Oh, hell no, no. We're here to fight for a much higher cap on the state and local tax," Rep. Nick LaLota of New York told CNN last Thursday, when the tax committee was first discussing a $30,000 cap. LaLotaposted on Xafter the text was unveiled Monday, reiterating that he remains a "hell no." LaLota said Tuesday evening that the GOP is "pretty far from a deal" over the key sticking point. The lawmaker told CNN that talks with Johnson over how to structure the SALT cap were still ongoing, describing a meeting they had with the speaker as "more sizzle than steak." GOP Rep. Mike Lawler also said he cannot back the sweeping bill to implement Trump's agenda until more favorable terms over the key tax break are negotiated in the proposal. "As I have said repeatedly, I will not support any bill that does not adequately lift the cap on SALT," Lawler told CNN on Monday. "This bill as written fails to deliver and will not have my support. I look forward to continuing to negotiate with leadership and the administration to provide real tax relief for my constituents." Further complicating matters: One of the GOP lawmakers who has stridently opposed the $30,000 cap is Rep. Elise Stefanik – a member of Johnson's leadership team. The GOP's sweeping legislative plans fulfill many of Trump's big campaign promises, including scrapping federal taxes on tips, on overtime pay and on car loan interest. It's a big win for Trump, as is the name of the bill — "The One, Big, Beautiful Bill," adopting the president's moniker for the legislation. As expected, the GOP plan also includes Trump's demand for a debt limit hike, which would cost a total of $4 trillion to punt the problem for another few years. Congress needs to raise the debt limitbefore its August recess to prevent defaultand Trump hopes to do so using this bill, rather than strike a deal with Democrats. The bill includes dozens of tax extensions from Trump's 2017 tax bill. There's also one relatively new idea – a so-called "MAGA" savings account for kids under 18 years old. It's short for "money account for growth and advancement," which would create a new, flexible type of tax-free savings account for kids. Once key committees take their final votes to advance the bills, the combined package will take another hurdle – the fiscally conservative House Budget Committee. That panel is expected to meet Friday, though nothing has yet been scheduled. Even after the committees advance their slices of the bill, there's one big question awaiting the GOP: How much everything will cost. Guthrie has told members that he believes his plan will reach the target of $880 billion in savings that Republicans called for in their budget resolution, and the congressional budget office confirmed it would in a letter Monday. But he has not yet said exactly how, because the panel is still awaiting key documents from the Congressional Budget Office that will help determine the bill's overall price tag. This story has been updated with additional developments. CNN's Morgan Rimmer, Haley Talbot and Manu Raju contributed to this report. For more CNN news and newsletters create an account atCNN.com
Johnson attempts to hold together fragile GOP coalition ahead of key committee votes on Trump agenda House Republicans kicked off a blockbus...
