House Republicans are racing to secure support for a sweeping $4 trillion domestic policy package central to President Donald Trump's second-term agenda, but internal rifts over tax and spending provisions threaten to derail the effort. Speaker Mike Johnson signaled a potential floor vote could come as early as Wednesday evening, but conservatives warned that growing resistance may force a delay.
The 1,100-page legislation, dubbed by Trump as "one big beautiful bill," includes an extension of the 2017 tax cuts, expanded immigration and military funding, a $4 trillion debt ceiling increase, and deep cuts to Medicaid and clean energy incentives. The bill is currently under review by the House Rules Committee after a rare 1 a.m. start to debate, which Democrats criticized as an attempt to rush the bill through in "the dead of night."
Rep. Teresa Leger Fernández (D., N.M.) likened the hearing to a "vampire committee," saying, "They're going to just suck all the health care away from Americans in the middle of the night."
Johnson is navigating narrow margins. With just a few votes to spare, he already lost the support of Rep. Thomas Massie (R., Ky.), a consistent opponent who cited concerns over the bill's debt impact. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said the legislation would reduce household resources for the lowest income earners by 4%, while increasing those for the highest earners by 2%.
Late Tuesday, Johnson brokered a tentative deal with blue-state Republicans to raise the cap on the state and local tax (SALT) deduction to $40,000-a move designed to win over moderates but which triggered backlash from fiscal hawks. The proposed increase, up from $10,000 in the original 2017 tax law, would apply to households earning under $500,000 and rise annually by 1% for a decade.
"This bill actually got worse overnight," said House Freedom Caucus Chair Rep. Andy Harris (R., Md.) on Newsmax. "There's no way it passes today... We may need a couple of weeks to iron everything out."
Rep. Ralph Norman (R., S.C.) voiced concern over the package's projected deficit impact. "It is the math that bothers a lot of us," he said. "We're going to get there," adding the package was "heading in the right direction."
House leadership has made concessions, including accelerating Medicaid work requirements and proposing rollbacks of subsidies tied to the Inflation Reduction Act. But conservatives are demanding deeper spending cuts that centrists are resisting. One Republican source said, "There is currently a zero percent chance this thing moves today."
Trump traveled to the Capitol on Tuesday to rally GOP lawmakers. "I think we're going to get it done," he said. "I'm not losing patience. We're ahead of schedule."
Democrats remain staunchly opposed. "As a result of this bill, nearly 14 million Americans will lose their healthcare," House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D., N.Y.) wrote in a letter, warning of hospital closures and sharp cuts to food assistance. The CBO projects 8.6 million would lose coverage, though Democrats included additional losses based on expiring Obamacare tax credits.
