Some members said they were close to agreement after the meeting, though holdouts remain.
President Donald Trump met with House Republicans on May 20 to urge unified action on the budget reconciliation bill that is the foundation for his second-term agenda.
Trump’s message to Republicans was a call to action, according to Rep. Dusty Johnson (R-S.D.).
“We all have tinkered enough. It is time to land the plane,” Johnson told reporters.
Rep. Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.) said, “Everybody get in a room and figure it out for the country and for your business, that’s what I took from it.”
The bill has highlighted the rift between fiscal conservatives and moderates within the Republican conference, who have been at odds over changes to the Medicaid program and a possible increase in federal tax deductions for state and local taxes, known as SALT.
Trump hinted at his preference in a pre-meeting press conference, saying, “We don’t want to benefit Democrat governors,” a reference to the SALT deduction, which benefits wealthier people concentrated in the Northeast and the West Coast.
Trump appeared to be saying he didn’t want to increase a federal tax deduction that would disproportionately benefit states with high taxes.
The current cap on federal income tax deductions for state and local taxes is $10,000.
The current version of the bill raises the cap to $30,000, but some members would like it to be higher still.
“As it stands right now, I do not support the bill,” said Rep. Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), who favors a higher cap. Lawler said his constituents pay some of the highest property taxes in the country.
During the meeting, Trump repeated his desire to make no cuts to Medicaid other than rooting out fraud and waste, members said.
The current version of the bill includes no direct cuts to Medicaid spending but does impose a work requirement on some beneficiaries. The fiscal conservatives have asked for Medicaid work requirements to begin in 2027 rather than in 2029.
When asked what he’s planning to tell fiscal hawks who want to delay the bill over insufficient spending cuts, Trump replied: “I’m a bigger fiscal hawk—there’s nobody like me.”
By Lawrence Wilson and Nathan Worcester
