House GOP leaders scrambling to rally holdouts behind Trump megabill
by Mike Lillis and Mychael Schnell - 07/02/25 6:00 AM ET
GOP leaders are scrambling to unite their conference behind the massive Senate bill that would enact President Trump’s domestic agenda and get it to the president’s desk before the holiday weekend.
They have their work cut out for them.
Not only are moderate Republicans balking at cuts to Medicaid, which were made larger by the Senate, but conservatives are also up in arms over the massive increase in deficit spending, also increased by the upper chamber. The combination is raising questions about whether GOP leaders can rally enough support to pass the bill, given a slim House majority that allows for only a small handful of defections.
“If you look at the totality of this, I don’t believe this delivers what the president, what the administration, were working to deliver on,” said Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), a vocal member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, which is fighting to rein in deficit spending.
“I know why they’re going to lobby for it, I know why the president’s going to push for it. They want to see it get done, and I get it,” he continued. “But I think we have more work to do.”
The resistance poses a huge challenge for Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and other GOP leaders, who are racing to bring the holdouts on board for the sake of enacting the core of Trump’s second-term agenda, including sweeping tax cuts, a crackdown on immigration, a shift away from green energy and huge cuts in federal health and nutrition programs.
Some of those House GOP critics — moderates and conservatives alike — had warned in no uncertain terms that they were ready to oppose the bill if it were made “worse” by the Senate. Now they face the dilemma of either abandoning that position, to give Trump a win, or standing by it to vote “no” — even if it means sinking the bill.
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https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5380380-house-gop-senate-bill-trump-agenda/
