Republicans advanced their massive tax cut and border security package out of a key House committee during a rare Sunday night vote as deficit hawks who had blocked the measure two days earlier allowed it to move forward, citing what they called progress in negotiations on the package’s spending cuts, says AP.
Speaker Mike Johnson met with Republican lawmakers shortly before the meeting and told reporters that some changes had been agreed to, but he did not offer specifics. He described them as “just some minor modifications. Not a huge thing.”
Democrats on the panel pressed for more details. But Representative Jodey Arrington, the chairman of the House Budget Committee, said the bill remained under negotiation.
“Deliberations continue at this very moment,” Arrington said. “They will continue on into the week, and I suspect right up until the time we put this big, beautiful bill on the floor of the House.”
The four conservatives who have been voicing concerns about the bill’s impact on the deficit voted present so that the measure could advance by a vote of 17-16.
The first time that Republicans tried advancing the bill out of the House Budget Committee last week, the deficit hawks joined with Democratic lawmakers in voting against reporting the measure to the full House.
The Republicans criticising the measure noted that the bill’s new spending and the tax cuts are front-loaded in the bill, while the measures to offset the cost are back-loaded. They are looking to speed up the new work requirements that Republicans want to enact for able-bodied participants in Medicaid. Those requirements would not kick in until 2029 under the current bill.
Johnson is not just having to address the concerns of the deficit hawks in his party. He’s also facing pressure from centrists who will be warily eyeing the proposed changes to Medicaid, food assistance programs and the rolling back of clean energy tax credits. Republican lawmakers from New York and elsewhere are also demanding a much large state and local tax deduction.