Speaker Mike Johnson thought Wednesday would be the day House Republicans finally passed their reconciliation bill.
If conservatives are to be believed, it won’t be.
Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris told reporters Wednesday morning that members of his group are opposed to the current legislation, seemingly miffed that the White House had “offered a proposal” late Tuesday night and then withdrawn it.
If the White House and House Republican leaders put that deal back on the table, Harris said, “This package is en route to get passed.”
Already, that’s a marked improvement from Harris’ earlier tone Wednesday, when he started the day on Newsmax insisting the bill “actually got worse overnight.”
“There is no way it passes today,” he said.
But Harris and other conservative leaders have been clear that the “route” to passage will take the House GOP longer than a day to traverse. As they seek deep cuts to Medicaid and slashes to clean energy subsidies enacted during the Biden administration, the Freedom Caucus is anticipating that talks could extend well beyond Johnson’s self-imposed Memorial Day deadline.
Even then, the path forward might not be so simple.
A White House official pushed back on Harris’ characterization that they offered the Freedom Caucus any specific details.
“We didn’t make a proposal,” the official told NOTUS. “We gave them a menu of things we would not oppose if they could get the votes.”
Whether a deal was offered or not, it was apparent by Wednesday afternoon that leadership had certainly not struck a deal with conservatives, who have made it clear they are prepared to tank the bill in its current form.
Still, Johnson and his team are scrambling to get the GOP conference in line, to spare themselves the embarrassment of punting on legislation that they’ve projected confidence in passing all week.
As part of the last-minute push, President Donald Trump is scheduled to host a 3 p.m. meeting at the White House with Republican leaders and the bill’s top opponents in the Freedom Caucus, three people told NOTUS.
And even though Republicans looked far from a consensus, the White House was projecting confidence.
“We are going to vote. The vote will be today,” a White House source familiar with negotiations told NOTUS.
The lingering tension revolves around the conservative push to lower the percentage of Medicaid costs paid for by the federal government in states — known as Federal Medical Assistance Percentage, or FMAP — and institute per capita caps. Conservatives also want to push up the deadline for instituting able-bodied work requirements, from the start of 2029 — as the work requirements are currently implemented in the bill — to the end of 2026.
When Trump met with the House GOP conference on Tuesday, he instructed House Republicans not to “fuck around with Medicaid” beyond rooting out “waste, fraud and abuse.” But that directive seems to have been taken as a suggestion, with conservatives reasoning that nearly a trillion dollars in cuts now is in the name of that “waste, fraud and abuse” mission.
“We’re saying work within the goal posts, rearrange it within the goal posts in accordance with what the President wants,” Harris said. “End waste, fraud and abuse in Medicaid, which is wasting dollars that should be spent on the truly vulnerable, and then end as much of the green new scam as possible.”
Meanwhile, GOP leaders have interpreted Trump’s declaration to mean that they should not touch Medicaid beyond the $800 billion that their bill already cuts from the program, not that they should leave Medicaid completely untouched. (Republican senators already seem to be interpreting Trump’s comments differently than the House.)
But before Republicans can worry about a standoff between the chambers over Medicaid, they have to get the bill out of the House.
The afternoon meeting at the White House could make or break the legislation now that conservatives have made clear they won’t back the bill in its current form.
Rep. Chip Roy, who’s been the most outspoken on the efforts, offered some optimism during a press conference with reporters Wednesday morning — “We’re going to work with the president today.” — but he suggested this couldn’t get solved this week.
“There’s a long way to go,” Roy told reporters Wednesday morning. “I want to be very clear. We’ve got to deliver on what we’re talking about, or we’re not going to be able to get the bill done, and that’s what we’re trying to achieve.”
Freedom Caucus members have long called for additional spending cuts in the reconciliation bill. And it seemed as if they would need more concessions after GOP leaders seemed to have struck a deal with blue-state Republicans who have made increasing the state and local tax deduction a condition of their support.
A source familiar with the SALT negotiations told NOTUS Wednesday morning that leadership was hammering out the details of a deal that included quadrupling the deduction cap from $10,000 to $40,000 for individuals who make less than $500,000. (The new caps would apply for the next 10 years, increasing 1% each year.)
Conservatives — and Trump — have been adamant that raising the SALT cap primarily serves wealthy states with Democratic leaders. The consistent challenge for reconciliation negotiations has been that for every win Johnson gives to moderates, conservatives see a loss that drives them farther from supporting the legislation.
And with moderates taking a victory lap on SALT, Harris was clear about the Freedom Caucus’ perception.
“There was a little SALT deal made,” Harris told reporters. “I don’t think it went in the right direction.”
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Daniella Diaz, Riley Rogerson and Reese Gorman are reporters at NOTUS.