President Donald Trump made a much-needed appearance on Capitol Hill Tuesday morning as more and more House Republicans turn on the “big, beautiful bill.”
Trump met with the House Republican conference alongside Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who has been working around the clock to make sure reconciliation can pass. But with just two Republican votes to spare and multiple unresolved policy negotiations, the fate of the bill still remains in the balance.
‘Anybody that didn’t support it, as a Republican, I would consider a fool.’
POTUS gaggles with reporters after meeting with House Rs on reconciliation.
Trump says “anybody that didn’t support it, as a Republican, I would consider to be a fool.”
Several House Rs remained a “no” after the meeting.@theblaze pic.twitter.com/SdV3K5x9mZ— Rebeka Zeljko (@rebekazeljko) May 20, 2025
During the meeting, Trump made it clear that he was losing his patience with Republican defectors and even suggested they should be primaried. Trump told members not to let SALT negotiations get in the way of reconciliation, even calling out Republican Rep. Mike Lawler of New York during the meeting.
Lawler notably rejected Johnson’s latest — and very generous — offer to increase the state and local tax deduction cap to $40,000, which is a $10,000 increase from the originally proposed cap.
Trump also called out fiscal hawks, specifically Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who has maintained that he won’t vote for the bill. However, Massie was not alone, with multiple House Republicans saying their views on the bill have not changed.
“Anybody that didn’t support it, as a Republican, I would consider a fool,” Trump told reporters after the meeting. “It’s a great bill for America.”
At the same time, House Freedom Caucus members, like Republican Reps. Chip Roy of Texas and Andy Harris of Maryland, still weren’t persuaded by the president.
“We all are here to advance the agenda that the President ran on and that we all ran on,” Roy said. “I don’t think the bill is exactly where it needs to be, yet. We need to extend the Trump tax cuts, but we also need to deliver on the spending restraint … I think Congress can do a better job.”
“The president, I don’t think, convinced enough people that the bill is adequate, the way it is,” Harris said. “President called for eliminating waste, fraud, abuse in Medicaid, and we have not eliminated waste, fraud, and abuse.”
Johnson made progress with fiscal conservatives over the weekend when the bill passed through the Budget Committee Sunday night after initially failing a vote on Friday. Leading up to the vote, Johnson met with the Republican holdouts and floated a 2026 start date for Medicaid work requirements rather than the original 2029 implementation date. As a result, four Republicans, including Roy, voted “present” and allowed the bill to advance.
Trump addressed Medicaid during the meeting, telling members not to “f*** around” with the program with the exception of mitigating fraud, waste, and abuse.
“The only thing we’re cutting is waste, fraud, and abuse,” Trump said. “We’re not changing Medicaid, and we’re not changing Medicare, and we’re not changing Social Security.”
Although Republican defectors seem to be digging their heels in, Trump remained optimistic about the future of his bill.
“I think we’re in good shape,” Trump told reporters. “This was a meeting of love. There is great unity in that room.”
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