House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., overcame several intense disagreements within his conference and utilized President Donald Trump’s bully pulpit to assure the House passed its “one big, beautiful” spending and tax bill despite the GOP holding one of the thinnest majorities in the chamber’s history.
Johnson also dealt with Senate members, who now get their chance to alter the legislation.
House committees labored for months on the bill, which underwent late changes to win over holdouts in the Republican conference. A final flurry of negotiations and a rare overnight session on the House floor enabled Johnson to move a host of Trump’s campaign promises closer to the president’s desk by a 215-214-1 vote.
Even late Wednesday, Johnson and his top lieutenants took members of the House Freedom Caucus to the White House for a meeting with Trump.
Caucus members, including Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, and Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., had been pushing for concessions on Medicaid that other Republicans would not accept. They also were demanding faster, larger spending cuts and energy tax-credit phaseouts, Time reported.
Johnson simply let Trump take over.
“It was tough. There was no back and forth,” one GOP lawmaker told Politico. “He let them have it.”
After the meeting, Johnson returned to the Capitol and said, “The plan is to move forward as we expected,” he told reporters.
On Monday, Republicans in the Main Street Caucus told Johnson they were frustrated he again appeared to be entertaining cuts to Medicaid by reducing the Federal Medical Assistance Percentage (FMAP) to states.
Even Rep. Max Miller, R-Ohio, a former Trump aide, aired his frustration with how Johnson had managed the whole process, Politico reported.
The outlet added that some Republicans accused Johnson of delaying trying to settle the biggest issues until the final hours. They also felt he had offered disingenuous assurances to some at-risk Republicans that the Senate would intervene and block some of the bill’s most problematic provisions.
“FMAP has not been on the table — it’s been off the table for quite some time,” Johnson later said, extinguishing another fire.
On Tuesday, Trump traveled to Capitol Hill to address GOP members.
He aimed barbs at lawmakers not supporting the legislation, and called out “grandstanders” by name, such as Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who opposed the legislation.
“[Trump] insulted several people with a great intensity,” one GOP lawmaker told Politico.
Massie and Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, were the only Republicans to vote against the measure, and Harris voted “present” to advance the legislation.
Rep. David Schweikert, R-Ariz., and Andrew Garbarino, R-N.Y., missed the vote. All Democrats voted against the bill.
The Associated Press contributed to this story.
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