The White House said Wednesday a meeting between President Donald Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson and the House Freedom Caucus “moved the ball in the right direction” as they try to reach a deal to advance the president’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill Act” to a vote on the House floor.
The critical meeting came after negotiations with hard-liners went south overnight. The GOP is far from unified around the bill, which they earlier had said they hoped to move to a vote on Wednesday. Several sticking points primarily regarding Medicaid work requirements and a cap on state and local tax deductions still need to be worked out.
After the meeting, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “The meeting was productive and moved the ball in the right direction. The President reiterated how critical it is for the country to pass the One Big Beautiful Bill as quickly as possible.”
Johnson said after the meeting that leaders have made “minor” changes to the bill and he is moving forward with plans to vote on the bill on Wednesday, though he conceded the timing could slip to Thursday morning.
“The plan is to move forward as we expected. That was a very good meeting at the White House. It’s great to have a president that is so directly engaged,” Johnson told a scrum of reporters upon his return to the Capitol. “We had a good discussion. I think we’re in a very good place. I think that all of our colleagues here will really like this final product, and I think we’re going to move forward.”
House leadership sources tell ABC News that Johnson was keen to put the megabill on the floor Wednesday night to try to force holdouts to pick a side. But, hard-liners are balking, pledging to vote no and kill the momentum of the bill, which has changes to Medicaid, state and local tax deductions, SNAP food assistance, immigration policy and more.
Asked why hard-liners still aren’t listening to repeated pleas from Trump and Johnson to get behind this legislation, Johnson said “they are.”
“There’s a lot of listening and a lot of discussion. It’s been very productive. The guys that still have concerns, we’re working through,” he said.
Still holdouts have been critical of the bill over concerns that it will add to the national deficit.
All eyes will be on Trump to see if he can move the needle and convince the holdouts to change their positions. Wednesday’s meeting comes a day after he spoke to Republicans on Capitol Hill in an effort to persuade them to back his signature bill — at one point threatening to primary those who vote against it.
The White House Office of Management and Budget released a letter Wednesday afternoon calling for the passage of the bill, saying that failure to pass it “would be the ultimate betrayal.”
“The House of Representatives should immediately pass this bill to show the American people that they are serious about ‘promises made, promises kept,'” the letter said.
“President Trump is committed to keeping his promise, and failure to pass this bill would be the ultimate betrayal,” the letter added.
Republican Rep. Ralph Norman, a holdout, said that “we’re doing what the president wants us to do,” but insisted that the bill isn’t “done yet” as negotiations drag on.
“We’re trying to sit at the table,” Rep. Chip Roy, another holdout, told reporters Wednesday morning at the Capitol after another meeting with the speaker. “We’re going to work with our colleagues, work with the White House, to continue to deliver what the president campaigned on and what we all campaigned on.”
Members of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus members were cagey with reporters about their exact requests. Some want steeper cuts to Medicaid while others push to eliminate subsidies left over from the Inflation Reduction Act.
“The fact of the matter is this has massive savings in the first five years, and it has massive deficits of the first five years because we’re not addressing the structural reforms that we’re talking about right here,” Roy said. “No more. Now’s the time for transformative reform. We’re going to work with the White House to deliver.”
House Republican leadership points out the legislation has exceeded its targets for spending cuts — goals these hard-liners voted for just over a month ago in the budget blueprint — slashing over $1.5 trillion from the federal budget.
Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris said there is “no way” the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” passes in the House Wednesday — despite Johnson’s goal of putting the bill on the floor as early as Wednesday after it clears the House Rules Committee. Johnson is still working to secure the votes of the more than a dozen Republicans who are seeking additional changes to the legislation. Without changes, there is enough opposition to defeat it as Johnson can only afford to lose three Republican votes.
“We’re further away from a deal,” Harris said on Newsmax Wednesday morning. “This bill actually got worse overnight. There is no way it passes today.”
Clearing the House is just the first hurdle for the bill — it will also have to pass muster with a Senate Republican conference that is already telegraphing that they plan to make changes.
Meanwhile, a House Rules Committee hearing on the GOP bill is still going strong after it started at 1 a.m. ET Wednesday with committee chairs and ranking members debating the details of the more than 1,000 page “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.”
GOP leaders have still not released expected changes — negotiated by hard-liners and moderates — to the tax and budget bill. Rules Committee Chair Rep. Virginia Foxx said Republican changes to the package will be unveiled at some point during the hearing.
Rep. Jim McGovern, the top Democrat on the Rules Committee, lambasted Republicans’ reconciliation bill.
“I’ve got a simple question. What the hell are Republicans so afraid of? What the hell are you so scared of that you guys are holding this hearing at 1 o’clock in the morning. It’s a simple question that speaks to the heart of what’s going on here, and one that I’m going to keep on asking, if Republicans are so proud of what is in this bill, then why are you trying to ram it through in the dead of night?” McGovern said.
-ABC News’ Michelle Stoddart contributed to this report.
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