WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump arrived on Capitol Hill early Tuesday to try to seal the deal on his big tax cuts bill, using the power of political persuasion to unify divided House Republicans on the multitrillion-dollar package that is at risk of collapsing before planned votes this week.
Trump called himself a “cheerleader” for the Republican Party and praised the leadership of Speaker Mike Johnson as he headed behind closed doors to rally Republicans. He also criticized at least one of the holdout Republicans as a “grandstander” in a warning to others.
“We have a very, very unified party,” Trump said in hallway remarks at the Capitol. “We’re going to have available one big beautiful bill.”
The president arrived at a pivotal moment. Negotiations are slogging along and it’s not at all clear the package, with its sweeping tax breaks and cuts to Medicaid, food stamps and green energy programs, has the support needed from the House’s slim Republican majority. Lawmakers are also being asked to add some $350 billion to Trump’s border security, deportation and defense agenda.
Conservatives are insisting on quicker, steeper cuts to federal programs to offset the costs of the trillions of dollars in lost tax revenue. At the same time, a core group of lawmakers from New York and other high-tax states want bigger tax breaks for their voters back home. Worries about piling onto the nation’s $36 trillion debt are stark.
