GOP budget vote goes down to the wire amid conservative pushback
Source: Roll Call
Posted May 21, 2025 at 12:13pm, Updated at 1:45pm
House Republicans appeared stuck in reconciliation limbo as of Wednesday morning with no changes to the text ready to be unveiled, after an all-night Rules Committee session that was still going strong. Late Tuesday, GOP leaders appeared to have cemented backing from blue-state Republicans who’d been angling for a more generous cap on state and local tax deductions. Sources described the tentative deal as upping the proposed $30,000 cap for households making up to $400,000, to a cap of $40,000 for households making up to $500,000.
Those thresholds would also grow annually, a feature that wasn’t in the initial package. But word of that arrangement sparked almost immediate blowback from members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, whose leader on Wednesday morning accused GOP leaders of reneging on commitments to them regarding more aggressive trims to Medicaid and clean energy tax credits.
“We actually stopped negotiating just before midnight, because we actually had a deal that was then pulled off the table,” House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, R-Md., said in an interview with Newsmax. “This bill actually got worse overnight, there is no way it passes today. And as I’ve said all along, we may need a couple of weeks to iron everything out, but it’s not going anywhere today.”
Republican leadership hadn’t pulled the plug yet, however, and talks were ongoing in Speaker Mike Johnson’s office, with boxes of Krispy Kreme donuts delivered on Wednesday morning. “I’m talking to [Harris],” Johnson, R-La., said on his way in. “There is a chance for a vote today.”
Read more: https://rollcall.com/2025/05/21/gop-budget-vote-goes-down-to-the-wire-amid-conservative-pushback/
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