Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and a trio of top House Republicans are heading to the White House on Thursday to meet with President Trump about the bill full of his legislative priorities, as GOP leaders struggle to find consensus on two key issues.
Johnson will be joined by House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.), House Ways and Means Committee Chair Jason Smith (R-Mo.) and House Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.), a source confirmed to The Hill.
“We’re going to be talking about the final pieces of budget reconciliation that are going to be taken up by Energy and Commerce and Ways and Means committee next week,” Scalise said.
The gathering comes one day after top lawmakers held meetings with a cross section of House Republicans to discuss a pair of contentious sticking points in the Trump agenda bill, but failed to strike any agreements.
The issues — potential Medicaid cuts and the deduction cap for state and local taxes (SALT) — have emerged as two of the most complicated matters, as stakeholders on both sides of the debates dig in their heels.
The discord is threatening to undercut Johnson’s timeline for passing the sprawling package. Leadership is hoping the Ways and Means and Energy and Commerce committees can hold meetings to advance their portions of the bill next week.
Medicaid is under the jurisdiction of the Energy and Commerce Committee, and SALT falls under the Ways and Means Committee.
Guthrie huddled with moderates wary of Medicaid cuts Wednesday afternoon, then House Freedom Caucus members — who are pushing for steep spending cuts — in the evening. The House Energy and Commerce Committee has been directed to find at least $880 billion in spending cuts, which scorekeepers say will be difficult to achieve without making slashes to Medicaid.
Departing the meeting, lawmakers said consensus had not been reached.
“It’s like watching the race go around the track and I think oh, here’s the winner, and it was a little further down the road,” said Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-Va.), a member of the Freedom Caucus and the Energy and Commerce Committee.
Earlier in the day, Johnson met with a handful of Republicans pushing to increase the SALT deduction cap, but the gathering broke up without agreement on a new number.
“I think we need some more dialogue,” Rep. Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.) told reporters after the huddle.
