Washington – Republicans are already hitting some inconveniences as they begin the work of preparing a bill for the internal policy agenda of President Donald Trump. And they have not even made some of their most difficult decisions so far.
Just out of a two -week break, the Chamber Committees have begun to mark their respective pieces of the package, whose objective is to extend Trump’s tax cuts in 2017, increase the funds for the application of immigration and the military, and increase the debt roof. In their hunting of steep savings to pay everything, Republicans are starting with some of the lowest fruits when it comes to expense cuts.
But that process has already caused some skirmishes among Republican legislators, offering a preview of larger fights, as if reducing funds for poverty programs such as Medicaid, which are yet to come.
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The representative Sam Graves, R-MO., President of the Transport and Infrastructure Committee of the House of Representatives, on Wednesday he was forced to the eleventh hour to take a disposition from the part of the package of his panel that would have created a new annual rate of $ 20 in almost all passenger vehicles after the conservatives became.
Separately, in the Judicial Committee, an impulse of representative Darrell ISSA, R-Calif., To encode Trump’s proposal of a “Gold Card” for rich foreigners was rejected by opposite conservatives to expand visa programs.
And in the Education and Work Force Committee, President Tim Walberg, Republican of Mich., On Tuesday, a review of student loan programs that would reduce $ 351 billion in federal expenses, causing criticism of the Democrats. The most controversial part of that review, said Walberg, is a “shared risk” disposition that would make schools, universities and commercial schools partially responsible for the balances of unpaid student loans.
“All committees are making difficult decisions, and we are going to build this bill,” said representative August Pfluger, Republican of Texas, president of the Republican Study Committee, the largest Caucus of conservatives in Capitol Hill.
After approving his budget frame for the “Big Beaut Beaut Bill” of Trump earlier this month, the House Republicans are now trying to complete the details.
The speaker Mike Johnson, Republican of La-La. But it means that the Republican leaders, the presidents of the committee and the rank members and the file are now having politically complicated conversations about how to pay the bill and what could be reduced.
And the opinion of each Republican of the Chamber is important in the process due to the fragile majority of the 220-213 party.
“Almost every step of the road has been difficult with a small majority,” said the leader of the majority, Steve Scalise, republican of the Lasis, to journalists, added that he has also had “many” conversations with the senators to make sure that both cameras are on the same page.
Perhaps the most complicated problem that Republicans still need to solve is how to handle possible medicaid cuts, that vulnerable and moderate Republicans have strongly warned.
The Energy and Commerce Committee, which supervises the program And he is responsible for finding a whopping $ 880 billion in cuts for the bill, he plans to have a margin on May 7, but he has to finish his part of the package. The president of the committee has met with members of the entire ideological spectrum while trying to find a solution.
But even smaller and less harmless problems can raise the entire process. The vehicle rate was an example of a problem that unexpectedly exploded in the last minute. Graves, the president of the Transportation Committee, had included the disposition in the package of his panel to help comply with the so -called “reconciliation” instructions of the committee, which dictate what is required that each panel be required to cut or spend.
The representative Scott Perry, Republican of PA-PA., The former president of the Caucus de la Libertad on the hard right, offered an amendment to kill him as conservatives, they belittled as a “car tax.” The Graves team was recorded with the members of the committee to measure support for the rate, two republican sources said, but it was clear that there was too much opposition and serious made the call on Tuesday night to get it out of the package.
The committee was forced to find other ways to achieve its savings goals. The package will now increase an annual rate for electric vehicles to $ 250, above the $ 200 originally proposed, as well as reduce financing for the modernization of air traffic control to $ 12.5 billion, below the $ 15 billion initials proposed.
“The EV owners have not been paying anything in the road trustee and justifiably Road fiduciary through the Federal Gasoline Tax. “
Another republican dispute arose in the Judicial Committee on visas. Issa, a senior member of the panel, expected to include Trump’s idea of selling $ 5 million gold card visas in Wednesday’s idea that offered immigrants a legal permanent residence and a path to citizens.
ISSA argued that the proposal could generate at least $ 150 billion to pay the invoice. But Issa said that another member of the panel, the representative Chip Roy, a Texas Republican, a member of the Freedom of Extreme Right, effectively vetoed the idea.
“I rise from the gold card because some of our members would not have an expansion of income related to visas, EB-5 and H-1,” Issa said in an interview on Wednesday. “The president’s point [is] that we should be able to generate income by bringing investors to invest, and we have a program that brings very little compared. But Chip killed him. “
“I would vote for reconciliation,” Issa added, “but I would disappoint me when he stayed out.”
Roy did not respond to a request for comments. A judicial committee spokesman suggested that Republicans could still visit the gold card issue again.
“We are working in hand with the White House and we totally support the agenda of President Trump,” said spokesman Russell Dye in a statement on Wednesday.
However, these types of decisions are easy. The difficult ones must be resolved in the next few days and weeks. On Wednesday afternoon, Johnson organized a meeting with Republicans of blue states such as New York, New Jersey and California that are aggressively pressing to raise the limit of the deduction of state and local taxes (Salt) in the package.
The Chamber Media and Media Committee, where that issue will be decided, will probably meet at some point in next week.
“It was an animated discussion, but we are still far from an agreement,” said representative Nick Lalota, Rn.y., when he left the salt meeting of almost an hour. “I want to make sure everything is as many of our middle class families as possible.”
In Medicaid, Republicans who face difficult re -election fights in the mid -period elections of 2026 are worried that it is not mathematically possible to achieve their spending objectives without a pronounced cut to Medicaid, citing estimates from the budget office of the non -partisan congress.
Republican leaders have said they just want to direct waste, fraud and abuse in the Medicaid system. When leaving a meeting with the Republicans of the House of Representatives on Wednesday, Senator Lindsey Graham, RS.C., president of the Budget Committee, reiterated that the Republican party wants to impose work requirements for the eligibility of Medicaid to increase the necessary income to finance the Trump agenda.
“The whole idea of using Medicaid to help people with body who could be working, most Americans will say no,” Graham said. “Medicaid was designed to help poor people and disabled people … we had the opportunity to solve it. And if we fail, I think we will pay a heavy price.”
