The conservative hard-liners who’ve helped to hold up the Republicans’ domestic agenda appear ready to support the massive package after a furious pressure campaign from President Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.).
After meeting with Trump at the White House on Wednesday afternoon, and then huddling together afterward on Capitol Hill, the members of the far-right Freedom Caucus emerged to say they’re on the cusp of supporting the package — if a laundry list of changes promised by the White House is reflected in the final proposal.
“I feel a lot more certain that we’re on the same page, and so I think we’re moving forward in a better direction,” Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Mo.), who attended the White House meeting, told reporters after huddling with Freedom Caucus members in the Longworth Office Building near the Capitol.
“We’re in the very final stages of ironing things out,” Rep. Clay Higgins (R-La.) echoed. “We’re polishing the edges of arguably the most significant piece of legislation that has ever come through this body.”
The newfound enthusiasm among the hard-liners appears to stem from assurances Trump and Johnson made during the White House meeting, including a promise from the president to issue more executive orders addressing some of the spending concerns the conservatives couldn’t secure in the legislation, and expanding the rollback of green energy tax credits enacted in the Democrats’ 2022 Inflation Reduction Act. The specifics of those changes remain unclear.
Returning from his meeting with Trump, Johnson alluded to his strategy.
“You will see how all of this is resolved, but I think we can resolve their concerns and it’ll be probably some combination of work by the president in these areas as well as here in Congress,” the Speaker said. “There may be executive orders relating to some of these issues in the near future. And this is a commitment the president has made.”
Rep. Andy Biggs (R-Ariz.), a former chair of the Freedom Caucus who has frequently bucked GOP leaders, said he’s supporting the package. Biggs, however, is mounting a run for governor of the Grand Canyon State, a race in which he would benefit from the president’s backing.
“Here’s the deal: We’re taking the whole-of-government approach here,” he told reporters after the Freedom Caucus huddle. “It’s been very productive, we’ve moved the needle, and quite frankly we’re gonna have to, we’re gonna get this thing resolved.”
The conservatives’ new openness to supporting the package marked a sharp contrast to the bombshells coming from the hard-liners on Tuesday, when they were furious that their demands for steeper cuts to Medicaid and a broader phaseout of green energy subsidies were going ignored by GOP leaders. Even a visit by Trump to the Capitol didn’t bring them on board.
But after the second meeting with Trump and Johnson on Wednesday, the biting criticisms had faded into words of cautious optimism that the package could win their support and move through the House in the early hours of Thursday morning.
“It was more a meeting of the minds than we had [on Tuesday], and the president has got a lot of power,” said Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), who did not join the White House meeting but was briefed on it afterward.
Norman cautioned that anything can change, and the conservatives are waiting to see the legislative text — which will come in the form of a manager’s amendment — before committing their support.
“One word could change this whole thing — one word,” Norman said. “So let us just see it.”
Johnson is promising more than that. He said he intends to bring the bill to the floor late Wednesday night or early Thursday morning.
“You will all be surprised, there’s not much changing here because the underlying product was so well done,” Johnson said. “So we will do that, move that through the Rules, and then we’ll decide whether the vote will be tonight, passage of the rule followed by final passage on the bill, or tomorrow morning.”
“We’re excited,” he added. “I believe we are gonna land this airplane.”
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) was more direct, telling reporters: “We’re gonna vote tonight.”
Winning the support of the conservatives, however, would not guarantee the final bill’s passage on the House floor. That’s because the same concessions made to the hard-liners have angered a host of more moderate Republicans who’ve had their own concerns with the legislation.
Much of the centrist criticisms have focused on the state and local tax deduction — an issue that appeared to be resolved on Tuesday night. But the moderates are also pushing back against plans to eliminate the green-energy subsidies and slash Medicaid more deeply.
A handful of those centrist GOP lawmakers huddled with Johnson in his office after the White House meeting — and as the Freedom Caucus members were gathering separately — to discuss the proposed changes. Some walked away concerned.
“They told us what they were thinking, I told them that they needed to change some of the things they were thinking because we need this energy produced,” Rep. Andrew Garbarino (R-N.Y.) said after leaving the huddle. “I’m waiting to see what the manager’s amendment does.”
Aris Folley and Rachel Frazin contributed.
