Mike Johnson asks Trump to beat GOP hard-liners into submission
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) looks on, following a meeting with fellow Republicans on the day where a potential government shutdown looms during the holidays, after a spending bill backed by U.S. President-elect Donald Trump failed in the U.S. House of Representatives, on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., December 20, 2024. REUTERS/Nathan Howard
As the fate of President Donald Trump's so-called "big, beautiful bill" remains in doubt, House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is now enlisting the president's help – against members of his own party.
Politico reported Monday that Johnson now wants Trump to personally apply pressure to far-right House Republicans that oppose the bill in its current form due to their opinion that it doesn't go far enough in cutting federal spending. Some Republicans like Reps. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) and Chip Roy (R-Texas) say they won't vote for the legislation without deeper cuts to Medicaid, which is the program that provides health insurance to low-income and disabled Americans.
However, adding strict Medicaid cuts to the bill would likely turn off more moderate House Republicans from swing districts, like Reps. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.) and Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.) who are wary of challengers running on potential Medicaid cuts in next year's midterm elections. Johnson is now reportedly hoping Trump will use his Truth Social account to convince hard-liners within the House Republican Conference to back off.
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"Trump has not decided whether to post such a message but the increasing calls for his involvement highlight the tense moment for his party as it tries to secure what would be the biggest legislative victory of his second term," wrote Politico's Meredith Lee Hill, Jake Traylor and Megan Messerly. "The president is expected to convey that message privately to the GOP conference during Tuesday morning’s meeting."
Johnson has been scrambling to save the bill after five Republicans on Friday voted with all Democrats on the House Budget Committee against advancing the legislation to the full House. But the speaker recently added language to the bill that would impose new Medicaid work requirements faster, while also curtailing green energy subsidies. That resulted in four Republicans switching their votes from "no" to "present," allowing the bill to move forward.
But the legislation will still need to pass through the U.S. Senate before advancing to Trump's desk. And while Republicans have a 53-seat majority in the upper chamber of Congress, and while the reconciliation bill only needs 51 votes to pass, some Republicans have already expressed uneasiness with the legislation, which could endanger its passage. Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.) believes the bill doesn't go far enough to cut federal spending, while Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) has said that he wouldn't support any cuts to Medicaid benefits.
"This wing of the party wants Republicans to build our big, beautiful bill around slashing health insurance for the working poor," Hawley wrote of GOP hard-liners in a New York Times op-ed last week. "But that argument is both morally wrong and politically suicidal."
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Click here to read Politico's full report.
