WASHINGTON — Three key House committees are set to debate critical portions of a sweeping package for President Donald Trump’s agenda, with Republicans eyeing a vote on the final bill in the full chamber before Memorial Day weekend even as they have yet to reach consensus on several key issues.
The tax-writing Ways and Means Committee and the Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees Medicaid, will kick off their markup meetings on Tuesday afternoon, and lawmakers said the sessions could go late into the night and possibly into Wednesday.
A third panel, the Agriculture Committee, is expected to begin marking up its own section Tuesday night.
The trio of committees is expected to vote to approve their sections of Trump’s sprawling tax cuts, energy and border security package and send them to the House Budget Committee, which will assemble the full legislation and send it to the House floor for a vote.
Republicans on these panels must achieve consensus on some of the thorniest issues in the entire bill — like how much to cut Medicaid, what to do about the state and local tax (SALT) deduction and whether to scale back Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits.
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., can afford only three GOP defections on the final bill given the party’s narrow House majority and the expectation of unanimous Democratic opposition. Johnson and other Republicans say it is essential to extend the expiring Trump tax cuts to prevent a significant tax increase at the end of the year. They said the Medicaid provisions are about cutting waste.
Overall, the legislation is projected by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office to save $715 billion and lead to 8.6 million fewer people with health care coverage. That has caused tension between politically vulnerable Republicans, who say they oppose any benefit cuts, and hard-liners who want more aggressive structural changes to lower long-term Medicaid spending.
Democrats have focused on the Medicaid cuts and changes in the Energy and Commerce Committee’s bill, which include tougher work requirements and stricter eligibility screenings to access the program’s benefits.
“At this point, it looks like $715 billion in cuts to Medicaid that will devastate children and families and seniors and everyday Americans with disabilities,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., said Monday on MSNBC. “Hospitals could close. Nursing homes could shut down. And the reality is, because of this House Republican bill, if it were to pass and become law, people will die. And this is all being done in service of trying to provide a massive tax break to mega billionaire donors like Elon Musk.”
This week’s committee votes will mark a major milestone in the marathon process known as reconciliation — a fast-track budget process that will allow Republicans who control the Senate to cut out Democrats and push through the bill with a simple majority rather than face the usual 60-vote threshold.
While the votes will hand the Trump package significant momentum, Republicans are still dealing with a number of pitfalls that could derail the entire bill.
The tax legislation, unveiled Monday by Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., extends the 2017 Trump tax cuts and includes a variety of tax breaks for businesses.
The bill hikes the SALT cap to $30,000, up from the current $10,000 cap that Republicans imposed in the 2017 Trump tax law. But some Republicans from high-tax blue states are rejecting that SALT policy and threatening to vote down the bill unless the figure is raised.
“There is zero chance I will support this bill as currently written,” said moderate Rep. Mike Lawler, R-N.Y., a potential candidate for governor. “As I have said repeatedly without a fix for the unfair cap on SALT, I will not vote for the bill. This falls far short of providing that fix.”
The Ways and Means plan also incorporates some of Trump’s other campaign promises, including eliminating federal taxes on tips and overtime, and a tax break for auto-loan interest payments — all through 2028.
In addition, the plan calls for temporarily increasing the child tax credit to $2,500 through 2028. And it establishes “MAGA accounts,” new savings accounts for newborns.
