House Republicans are scrambling to give President Donald Trump a victory by passing his megabill by the 4th of July, but the legislation faces key hurdles on its way to becoming law.
The bill is now back in the House after the Senate passed its version of the legislation on Tuesday by a razor-thin margin, with Vice President J.D. Vance casting the tie-breaking vote.
But some conservative members have raised a ruckus over how the Senate bill scrapped multiple provisions they pushed for.
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All it would take is four House Republicans voting against it to kill the bill. It’s unclear whether GOP leaders can push it through by the self-imposed Friday deadline.
Republican members were holding meetings early on Wednesday as they reviewed the 887-page Senate bill.
GOP leaders were able to overcome the first in a series of hurdles they faced early Wednesday morning, but it signaled more trouble ahead.
The House Rules Committee squeaked through a vote to advance the legislation early Wednesday morning by 7 to 6, but Republican Reps. Ralph Norman and Chip Roy sided with Democrats against advancing it.
Roy slammed the Senate bill, adding even more to the deficit than the original House version, and the Senate striking a measure prohibiting non-citizens from receiving benefits that did not comply with Senate rules.
House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris blasted the deadline as “artificial” and said the House could take another week to “get this thing right” as he slammed the Senate bill for moving away from the House version.
On Tuesday, MAGA favorite Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene warned that Johnson did not have the votes and called the situation a “s**tshow” on Steve Bannon’s podcast. Rep. Andy Biggs told a local radio station he also did not believe it had the votes.
Several House conservatives expressing opposition to the bill headed over to the White House early Wednesday.
At the same time, more centrist members had raised concerns about steeper cuts to Medicaid and how the rollback of clean energy tax credits would hurt their districts.
A group of more moderate members were also spotted at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue Wednesday.
“President Trump continues to be highly engaged in this legislative process, constantly working the phones and meeting with lawmakers today at the White House,” a White House official told Daily Beast while touting the president being the ultimate closer.
While some Republican lawmakers raised a stink about provisions in the original House bill, in the end, GOP members largely caved to Trump despite their complaints last month when they passed it by one vote.
Another unexpected wrench in House plans to rush through with the bill by Independence Day was the turbulent weather heading into the holiday weekend.
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle who were rushing back to Washington to vote for or against the bill faced flight delays and cancellations on Tuesday.
The House left a procedural vote open for a while on Wednesday morning as Republicans and Democrats both tracked their members’ progress to make it back to town for what is expected to be a very tight vote.
GOP Rep. Nancy Mace shared video updates in her pajamas from her overnight road trip from South Carolina back to DC by van early Wednesday to support the bill’s passage.
Democratic Reps. Derek Tran of California and Chris Deluzio of Washington found themselves together in Pittsburgh, where they hopped in a car and documented their own road trip back to DC to vote against the bill.
Democrats who did make it back to Washington Wednesday morning rallied on the steps of the U.S. Capitol.
Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries vowed every single Democrat would vote “hell no” on the bill just as they did when the House version was put before them in May.
