Conservative GOP lawmakers in the House Freedom Caucus (HFC) are seeking to delay a House-wide vote on President Donald Trump’s “one big, beautiful bill,” arguing that negotiations are still ongoing to finalize key portions of the bill despite “progress” over the past 24 hours.
HFC leadership suggested Wednesday, following a meeting with House Speaker Mike Johnson, that they will not support advancing the president’s sweeping tax and spending package if the Speaker were to bring it to the floor later on Wednesday. The conservative House Republicans emphasized that while they want to see Trump’s legislative agenda passed as quickly as possible, they argued the legislation is not ready to be voted on and it could take as many as 10 days to come to an agreement over several issues affecting their support for the package, including reforms to Medicaid and eliminating green energy tax breaks.
“I don’t think it can be done today,” HFC chairman Andy Harris told reporters Wednesday at an impromptu press conference. “The runway is short today. The leadership is going to have to figure out where to go from here.”
“But I think progress is made,” Harris continued. “I think that there is a pathway forward that we can see. But again, the leadership will have to figure out what the timeframe of this is … I’m not sure this could be done this week. I’m pretty confident it could be done in 10 days.”
HFC members said they are negotiating with the White House on a deal to get on board with the budget reconciliation bill. The caucus is scheduled to meet with Trump at the White House to discuss particulars of the bill.
HFC leadership’s request to delay a vote comes as Johnson is attempting to pass the budget reconciliation bill as early as Wednesday afternoon to meet his deadline of Memorial Day to send the package to the Senate. Trump has also urged House Republicans to fall in line and pass the legislation immediately during his meeting with the conference Tuesday morning.
The debate is in part over the House Freedom Caucus’ belief that they are honoring the president’s America First agenda by pursuing more aggressive spending cuts in the budget bill.
Republican Texas Rep. Chip Roy, who has demanded additional reforms to Medicaid and green energy tax breaks, echoed Harris’ comments that House Republicans have a “long way to go” to strike a deal.
“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,” Roy said. “When the President said ‘End the Green New Scam,’ he didn’t mean leave 40 to 45 to 50% of the subsidies ongoing,”
Trump notably called for a full repeal of former President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act while on the campaign trail. He has been quiet on the fate of the legislation since starting his second term.
The president also reportedly told House Republicans not to “fuck around with Medicaid” during a closed-door meeting with the conference Tuesday.
Republican Pennsylvania Rep. Scott Perry argued Johnson’s deadline to pass Trump’s agenda was “arbitrary.”
“If today comes and goes it doesn’t mean that this possibility to make sure that taxes stay low and that we fix America’s healthcare system and fix America’s energy system — it doesn’t mean that prospect is off the table,” Perry said. “It just means it might not happen today. It’s important that everybody knows that, because there’s some kind of belief in Washington DC, that once today comes and goes, that this cannot be fixed.
“This is a completely arbitrary deadline set by people here to force people into a corner to make bad decisions,” Perry continued. “It’s more important to get this right, to get it correct, than to get it fixed.”
House GOP leadership has made it clear that Republicans who break with the party during a vote on the House floor will be subject to withering criticism.
“Do you really want to be in the same category on this bill: raising taxes, saying ‘no’ to American energy, opening up the border, letting the criminal gang members who came to this country illegally stay in America,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise told Fox News’ Guy Benson on Tuesday at an event hosted by Americans for Prosperity. “And I can tell you who is voting no: [Democratic New York Rep. Alexandria Ocasio Cortez] AOC, [Former Speaker] Nancy Pelosi, [Democratic Michigan Rep. Rashida] Tlaib, [Democratic Minnesota Rep. Ilhan] Omar, [Democratic Texas Rep. Jasmine] Crockett. You want me to continue going on? Do you want to be in that list? Because that’s the list you’re going to be in if you vote ‘no.’”
“We are always on a tight margin right now in the House,” Scalise said Tuesday. “We’ve got to get it done. We’re not going to stop until we get it done.”
The House Rules Committee, which gaveled in at 1 a.m. Wednesday morning to advance the president’s “big, beautiful” bill was still debating the legislation as of this writing. Roy, who sits on the influential committee, has not committed thus far to advancing the package.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has disputed the assertion that the deadline to pass Trump’s agenda is “arbitrary,” citing the need to quickly address the debt limit.
Bessent sent Johnson a letter on May 9, stating that Congress must increase the debt limit by mid-July to avoid the government defaulting on its debt.
“Prior episodes have shown that waiting until the last minute to suspend or increase the debt limit can have serious adverse consequences for financial markets, businesses, and the federal government, harm business and consumer confidence and raise short-term borrowing costs for taxpayers,” Bessent wrote.
The president’s budget reconciliation bill under consideration in the House notably includes a provision to raise the country’s debt ceiling by $4 trillion.
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to include Secretary Bessent’s letter to Speaker Johnson.
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