House Speaker Mike Johnson teased plans to bump up the timeline for implementing work requirements on Medicaid to help win over support from fiscal hawks on the “One Big Beautiful Bill” that got shot down in committee on Friday.
Five Republicans had voted against advancing President Trump’s marquee legislation from the Budget Committee last Friday in a key setback. Four of those Republicans voted it down due to concerns that it didn’t cut spending enough, while a fifth did so for procedural reasons.
“What they were complaining about or mostly concerned about, I think is, for example, work requirements in Medicaid. They wanted them to be implemented earlier rather than later. Well, so do we,” Johnson (R-La.) told “Fox News Sunday.”
“The concern is … the ability of the states to retool their systems and ensure the verification processes, to make sure that all the new laws and all the new safeguards that we’re placing can actually be enforced,” he added. “We’re working through all those details, and we’ll get it done.”
Currently, the “One Big Beautiful Bill” would implement a mandated 80-hour-per-month work requirement on able-bodied adults aged 19-64 starting in 2029. Volunteer work and schooling would count toward that rule.
Fiscal hawks wanted that implemented much sooner. Johnson didn’t specify where the compromise would be but noted that talks are ongoing.
At 10 p.m. ET on Sunday, the House Budget Committee is slated to reconvene and continue consideration of the “One Big Beautiful Bill” after adjustments have been made to it.
Johnson also didn’t address how GOP leadership plans on handling opposition from blue state Republicans who have demanded a larger increase to the state and local tax (SALT) deduction cap than the $30,000 figure currently included in the bill. The SALT cap sits at $10,000 under current law.
Concern over SALT is one of the biggest obstacles to getting the “One Big Beautiful Bill” passed through the House but it likely won’t impact the Budget Committee vote.
Part of the problem is that while blue state Republicans such as Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) have vowed to vote against the measure if the SALT cap isn’t increased enough, several lawmakers have suggested they’ll oppose it if it goes much higher.
“I mean, originally it came out that they wanted $60,000 per individual, and that’s just not something that I would be willing to vote and support,” Rep. Cory Mills (R-Fla.) told The Post on Friday about the SALT caucus’ demands.
The “One Big Beautiful Bill” features an extension of the 2017 tax cuts, no taxes on tips, no taxes on overtime pay, a bigger deduction for seniors, bolstered border security, beefed up energy supply and spending cuts.
“This is a big thing. We cannot fail, and we’ll get it done for the American people,” Johnson stressed.
Johnson is grappling with a threadbare majority in the lower chamber, with 220 Republicans to 213 Democrats, meaning the GOP can only afford to lose three votes with all lawmakers present.
After clearing the Budget Committee, the measure will have to get through the Rules Committee, then it can come up for a vote on the House floor.
Johnson is hoping to get a vote on it by the end of the week to meet the original Memorial Day goal he set to pass it.
The measure will also have to clear the Senate, where some, such as Sens. Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), have expressed opposition.
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