WASHINGTON ― House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) had hoped the House would quickly act after the Senate passed Republicans’ big bill cutting taxes and Medicaid, but progress slowed on Wednesday afternoon.
Republicans coudn’t get through a procedural vote setting up an eventual final roll call on the bill itself, leaving the so-called “rule” vote open for hours as lawmakers with gripes about the big bill met in a room off the House floor.
House leadership told lawmakers they could return to their offices but asked them to remain near the Capitol in case of a breakthrough.
“I got problems with all this bill. I got trouble with all of it,” Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) told HuffPost.
Norman said there were two options: Either he and like-minded holdouts vote to kill the bill, or the White House answers their questions about the bill and they vote to support it. He offered no timeline as he left the Capitol and it’s not clear exactly what the group wants from the White House.
White House budget director Russ Vought visited the Capitol and met with the holdouts, saying afterward they were making progress. Johnson said he was still hopeful the House could vote Wednesday night.
President Donald Trump has demanded lawmakers deliver the legislation to his desk by Friday, July 4, and Republicans have rushed crazily to make it happen. Republicans who’ve opposed the bill have faced furious public statements from the president and been threatened with Republican primary opponents.
The bill pairs $4.5 trillion in tax cuts with $1 trillion in spending cuts, mainly to Medicaid, which conservatives like Norman consider insufficient, considering the bill would add more than $3 trillion to the national debt.
Norman and other members of the House Freedom Caucus have withheld support from major legislation multiple times in the past year only to cave and go along in the end. But Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), one of the only reliable “no” votes against party priorities, suggested this time might be different.
“They seem to mean it more than usual,” Massie told HuffPost.
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), another apparent holdout, said as he left the side room that no negotiation had been happening. He said he left because he was hungry.
“I need a PB&J and the White House is not giving me a PB&J,” Burchett said.