Trump visits Capitol in bid to persuade party to unify around big tax cuts bill
Donald Trump called himself a ‘cheerleader’ for the party as he headed behind closed doors to rally Republicans.
US President Donald Trump headed to Capitol Hill in Washington on Tuesday in a bid to seal the deal on his big tax cuts bill.
He will look to use the power of political persuasion to unify divided House Republicans on the multitrillion-dollar package that is at risk of collapsing before planned votes this week.
Mr Trump called himself a “cheerleader” for the Republican Party and praised the leadership of Speaker Mike Johnson as he headed behind closed doors to rally Republicans.
“We have a very, very unified party,” Mr Trump said in hallway remarks at the Capitol. “We’re going to have available one big beautiful bill.”
The president arrived at a pivotal moment. Negotiations are slogging along and it is not at all clear the package, with its sweeping tax breaks and cuts to Medicaid, food stamps and green energy programmes, has the support needed from the House’s slim Republican majority.
Politicians are also being asked to add some 350 billion dollars to Mr Trump’s border security, deportation and defence agenda.
Conservatives are insisting on quicker, steeper cuts to federal programmes to offset the costs of the trillions of dollars in lost tax revenue.
At the same time, a core group of politicians from New York and other high-tax states want bigger tax breaks for their voters back home.
Mr Trump’s visit to address House Republicans at their weekly conference will test the president’s deal-making powers. The Republican speaker, Mr Johnson, is determined to push the bill forward and needs Mr Trump to provide the momentum, either by encouragement or political warnings or a combination of both.
With House Democrats lined up against the package, Republican leaders have almost no votes to spare. A key committee hearing is set for the middle of the night in hopes of a House floor vote by Wednesday afternoon.
Democrats argue the package is little more than a giveaway to the wealthy at the expense of healthcare and food programmes Americans rely on.
“They literally are trying to take healthcare away from millions of Americans at this very moment in the dead of night,” said House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York.
“If this legislation is designed to make life better for the American people, can someone explain to me why they would hold a hearing to advance the bill at 1am in the morning?”
Democrats claim the federal-state health care programme for low-income people will be in for steep cuts under Mr Trump’s bill. The president insisted that “we’re not changing Medicaid”.
Before entering the private meeting with the House Republicans caucus, Mr Trump repeated that he only wants to cut “waste, fraud and abuse” from the programme.
At least 7.6 million fewer people would have health insurance with the Medicaid changes proposed in the bill, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. And three million fewer people each month would receive food aid through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Programme.
Mr Trump has been pushing hard for Republicans to unite behind the bill, which has been uniquely shaped in his image as the president’s signature domestic policy initiative in Congress.
The sprawling 1,116-page package carries Mr Trump’s title, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, as well as his campaign promises to extend the tax breaks approved during his first term while adding new ones.
Yet, the price tag is rising and politicians are wary of the votes ahead, particularly as the economy teeters with uncertainty.
If the bill passes the House this week, it would then move to the Senate, where Republicans are also eyeing changes.
