US House Republicans push forward on vote on Trump tax cut plan

WASHINGTON - The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday was pushing ahead with a vote on a budget outline needed to advance President Donald Trump's tax-cut and border agenda, which Speaker Mike Johnson predicted would pass.

Johnson and No. 2 House Republican Steve Scalise spent hours on Tuesday persuading holdouts to back the move, a preliminary step to extending Trump's 2017 tax cuts later this year.

"I think we've got it. I do," Johnson told reporters.

Both leaders said Trump himself has also been contacting reluctant members about the need to advance $4.5 trillion tax-cut plan, which would also fund the deportation of migrants living in the U.S. illegally, tighten border security, energy deregulation and military spending.  

"The president has talked to a number of members. He's made his intentions well known and he wants them to vote for this and move it along," Johnson added.

White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters she was unaware of any calls he had made to lawmakers. But she added: "The Senate and the House know what President Trump wants and know what the American people want. And so he expects Congress to get it done."

Doubts about House Republican unity prompted Senate Republicans to enact their own budget resolution as a Plan B ploy last week: a $340 billion measure that covers Trump's border, defense and energy priorities but leaves the thornier issue of tax policy for later in the year.

The House budget seeks $2 trillion in spending cuts over ten years to pay for Trump's agenda. The tax cuts Trump is seeking would extend breaks passed during his first term in office, his main legislative accomplishment, that are due to expire at the end of this year.

Several hardline conservatives want deeper spending cuts and stronger control over separate government funding legislation to avert a potential shutdown after current funding expires on March 14. They appear to have support from billionaire Elon Musk, whose Department of Government Efficiency is targeting government workers and programs.

SOME PUSH FOR MORE CUTS

One holdout, Representative Victoria Spartz, told reporters earlier she would like to see the resolution altered to encompass $2.5 trillion to $3 trillion in cuts.

Johnson's aim is to win support to pass the measure without altering the resolution, according to a source familiar with closed-door discussions. A key House committee approved the measure with unanimous Republican support on Monday.

The House and Senate must pass a budget resolution to unlock a parliamentary tool that Republicans will need to circumvent Democratic opposition and the Senate filibuster on Trump legislation later this year.

Talks with reluctant members were expected to continue through the afternoon.

That is just the first deadline facing lawmakers in the coming months. Later this year they will need to act on the federal government's self-imposed debt ceiling or risk triggering catastrophic default on its $36 trillion in debt.

Top House Democrat Hakeem Jeffries told reporters on Tuesday that none of his members will vote for the measure.

"House Democrats will not provide a single vote to this reckless Republican budget," Jeffries said. "Not one."

House Republican leaders appeared to settle qualms among lawmakers who represent swing districts and large Hispanic constituencies, who expressed concerned that deep spending cuts could harm programs that provide food assistance, scholarship grants and the Medicaid healthcare program for the poor.

By Tuesday afternoon, some said they had been assured that aid to Medicaid beneficiaries who are citizens and federal support for program benefits would not be scaled back.

Representative Juan Ciscomani said he and others had decided to support the budget resolution as a first step, noting that specific policies on Medicaid and other social programs would emerge in coming weeks.

"That's where the real fight will be," the Arizona Republican told Reuters. REUTERS