WASHINGTON — Donald Trump went to Capitol Hill on Tuesday to attempt to persuade moderates and the hard-right to back his “Big Beautiful Bill,” a controversial package of tax cuts and spending reductions leaders want done and dusted by the coming Memorial Day weekend.
The president failed to sway either group.
“I’m a no on the bill at this point,” Andy Harris (R-MD), the chair of the hard-right Freedom Caucus, told reporters.
“I want to support it,” said Don Bacon (R–NE), a prominent moderate, adding that on his personal concerns he was “getting mixed answers, but I think we're very close.”
But Bacon is not among moderates from blue or Democratic-run states, mostly on either coast, pushing for greater concessions on SALT — state and local tax deductions.
Exiting the meeting, Freedom Caucus member Lauren Boebert (R-CO) lashed out at such moderates, telling Raw Story Trump had been “very specific on … not increasing SALT.
“He addressed how unfair SALT is to those states who do not have radical leftist governors who are increasing taxes and taking advantage of their people and the rest of America should not be subsidizing these horrible policies that Democrat governors are putting in place.
“… Of course we have those Democrats from blue states who want more SALT. They want to increase that. And President Trump said, ‘Leave it alone. We're not doing that.’”
It was widely reported after the meeting that Trump had not moved the needle and such blue-state Republicans remained opposed to the bill.
Democrats seized on the stand-off, pointing to Trump’s previous support for raising SALT deductions.
“Donald Trump lied to the American people about the state and local tax deduction,” Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic minority leader, said on social media.
“And now he is punking House Republicans in New York, New Jersey and California who will fold like a cheap suit. Vote them all out.”
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) can afford to lose only three votes if the “Big Beautiful Bill” is to pass the House.
Just days before the Memorial Day break, the number of moderates and hard-right GOP members opposed to the bill is much higher than that.
Having angered moderates on SALT, Trump also risked angering hardliners by telling the closed-door meeting he did not want deep cuts to Medicaid, the federal health care program widely targeted by the right.
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According to members leaving the closed-door meeting, Trump told hardliners “don't f––k with Medicaid. Only focus on fraud and abuse.”
Tim Burchett (R-TN), a prominent right winger, told reporters Trump “said, don't mess with it” but “then he said, ‘But if they're on there fraudulently, kick ‘em off. And that's what I wanted to hear.”
Democrats are also seizing on Republican threats to Medicaid as a potent political issue, seeking to highlight a threat to health care for millions.
“Donald Trump is on the Hill to demand that House Republicans end Medicaid as we know it in America,” Jeffries posted. “They can all get lost.”
Thomas Massie (R-KY), a libertarian who says he is a definite no on the bill, and who has long clashed with Trump on issues related to government spending, confirmed to reporters that Trump directly criticized him in the closed-door meeting.
“Compared to how I’ve been attacked before, he was very nice,” Massie said. “He talked about MIT, so he was nice, he was joking around.”
Massie studied at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology – where one of Trump’s uncles was a professor, a regular touchstone for the president when discussing his supposedly inherited intelligence.
“He's a pretty nice guy,” Massie said of Trump, adding without apparent irony: “I mean, he's a New Yorker, so you gotta take some of the attacks with a pinch of salt.
“But I didn't feel attacked in there. He was trying to persuade people who weren't there yet.”