Trump to meet with GOP holdouts as negotiations over agenda bill falter: Sources

A last-minute White House meeting that sources tell ABC News is between President Donald Trump, Speaker Mike Johnson and House Republican holdouts on Wednesday afternoon comes as the “One Big, Beautiful Bill Act” appears to be in big, bad trouble.

The critical meeting, which will include the House Freedom Caucus, comes as GOP leaders are scrambling to get the bill back on track after negotiations went south with hard-liners overnight. The GOP is far from unified around the bill with several sticking points among Republican hard-liners primarily regarding Medicaid work requirements and a cap on state and local tax deductions.

House leadership sources tell ABC News that Johnson is 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.

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 after he spoke to Republicans on Capitol Hill Tuesday in an effort to persuade them to back his signature bill — at one point threatening to primary those who vote against it.

Trump responded to a reporter’s shouted question about the bill Wednesday afternoon, saying that the bill is going “very well” and they are “very close.”

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 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 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.”

House Rules Committee hearing going strong

House Republicans’ efforts to push through Trump’s bill are ongoing as a House Rules Committee hearing is still going strong after it started at 1 a.m. ET Wednesday. Committee chairs and ranking members continue to debate the details of the more than 1,000 page “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.”

Key components of the legislation are set to come up in the Rules Committee Wednesday morning, which will focus on tax provisions, overhaul of SNAP and Medicaid cuts. However, 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.

On Wednesday morning, House Democratic leaders led by Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries pushed back on the bill by introducing an amendment — one of the more than 500 amendments submitted by both Democrats and Republicans to the reconciliation package — to strike all provisions that they say would “cause millions of Americans to lose healthcare and food assistance.”

“Unfortunately, we are here today discussing a bill that would make that American dream harder to reach for millions by increasing costs for families, hardworking American families, and gutting the things that they need to survive and thrive,” Jeffries said, adding that the bill, if enacted, would force nearly 14 million people off health insurance.

Jeffries called the megabill “one, big ugly bill” that will “hurt the American people.”

Overnight, several Republican members left as Democrats burned the midnight oil — introducing various amendments to the package.

Ranking Member Bennie Thompson of Homeland Security expressed frustration with the process overnight.

“I described Homeland Security portion of this bill as putting lipstick on a pig. I come from an agricultural district as well as a part of the country. So let me use another farming analogy to wrap up: We may be here in the dead of night, but you do not need the light of day to smell manure. The American people are not going to be fooled by any middle-of-the-night, manure-slinging here,” the Mississippi Democrat said, adding that it “stinks to high heaven.”

Overnight, several committee chairs and ranking members testified before the powerful panel including Armed Services, Budget, Oversight, Natural Resources, Financial Services, Judiciary, Homeland Security, Transportation, Ways and Means, Energy and Commerce, Agriculture and Education.