Trump’s ‘big, beautiful’ tax Bill blocked by US House Republicans over cost concerns

WASHINGTON – A key US House committee on May 16 failed to advance House Republicans’ massive tax-and-spending Bill after hardline conservatives bucked President Donald Trump and blocked the Bill over cost concerns.

The House Budget Committee rejected the Bill in a 21-16 vote, with Republican Representatives Chip Roy, Ralph Norman, Josh Brecheen, Lloyd Smucker and Andrew Clyde joining Democrats to vote against it. The five hardliners demanded deeper cuts to Medicaid and other government programmes.

It is incredibly rare for Bills to fail at this step in the process, with the committee vote typically serving as a rubber stamp before the Bill moves to the House floor. The panel can still approve the Bill at a later date. 

Negotiations will continue through the weekend, with the committee planning to meet again late on May 18.

Mr Trump, whose social media muscle and calls to lawmakers have previously been crucial to advancing his priorities, inserted himself in the debate less than two hours before the vote, berating dissidents and urging them to fall in line. 

“We don’t need ‘grandstanders’ in the Republican Party,” Mr Trump said in a social media post on May 16. “Stop talking, and get it done! It is time to fix the mess that Biden and the Democrats gave us. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”

After the vote, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt warned lawmakers in a social media post that the administration “expects all Republicans to vote for this Bill and successfully pass it through Committee in the near future”.

The Bill’s failure exposes the power that a small group of lawmakers can wield, as Republicans seek to push Mr Trump’s “one big, beautiful Bill” through the House with very narrow margins. The Republican Party’s infighting threatens to kill the Bill or at least significantly delay Republicans’ plans to pass it next week.

Republican holdouts spelt out their demands during May 16’s committee meeting, including accelerating new work requirements for able-bodied adults on Medicaid to take effect immediately rather than the 2029 deadline set in the legislation. The ultra-conservatives also want a faster phase-out of clean energy tax credits.

It was not immediately clear how House Republicans will regroup to address the divisions and advance the Bill.

“I’ll let you know this weekend if we’re going to return first thing Monday. That’s the goal at this point,” Budget chairman Jodey Arrington said after the vote. 

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, who is helping to broker a deal among Republicans, said party leaders are in touch with the Trump administration to address some of the changes demanded by hardliners.

“We are all in agreement on the reforms we want to make,” Mr Scalise said. “We want to have work requirements. We want to phase out a lot of these green subsidies. How quickly can you get it done?”

House Speaker Mike Johnson on May 15 pledged he would work through the weekend to broker a compromise between moderates, who are seeking an increase in state and local tax deductions, and ultra-conservatives, who say they will not support it without more spending cuts.

Members from both factions – the Salt Republicans representing high-tax districts and the fiscal hawks who want steeper budget reductions – have threatened to block the Bill if House leaders do not acquiesce to their demands. 

“No one group gets to decide all this stuff in either direction,” Mr Roy, an ultra-conservative Texas Republican advocating bigger spending cuts, said in a brief interview on May 16. “There are key issues that we think have this budget falling short.”

Both Mr Roy and Mr Norman urged continued negotiations and significant changes to the Bill that could in turn jeopardise support among moderates.

“I’m a hard ‘no’ until we get this ironed out,” Mr Norman said. “I think we can. We’ve made progress but it just takes time.”

If the legislation passes the House, it would then head to the Senate where it would likely undergo significant changes. Several members, including Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri, have stated opposition to the Medicaid cuts in the House Bill. BLOOMBERG