Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.), the chair of the House Freedom Caucus, is predicting that the legislative package at the heart of President Trump’s domestic agenda doesn’t have the support to pass through the House this week.
“I think it’s pretty obvious that they’re going to need more time,” Harris told reporters Monday evening outside the Capitol.
“These are complicated discussions. These are complicated issues. These are trillions of dollars,” he added. “We’ve got to do this thing right.”
Harris’s timeline contradicts that of Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and his leadership team, who are racing to unite their disparate conference behind the massive package of tax cuts, health policy changes, tougher immigration rules and a shift away from green energy. Johnson said Monday that he’s confident the bill can pass through the lower chamber this week.
Among the remaining sticking points, conservatives are staging an 11th-hour push to slash Medicaid payments for adults newly eligible for the program under ObamaCare — an idea opposed by many moderate Republicans. Harris acknowledged the difficulty of the issue and said the negotiation surrounding it “is going to have to go on for a while.”
“The federal government spends more on healthy people than they do on the traditional Medicaid population,” Harris said.
A short time later, Johnson said leaders are not considering changes to the Medicaid payment formula — known as the federal medical assistance percentage (FMAP) — as they seek more budget savings.
“FMAP has not been on the table, no,” Johnson told reporters Monday night. “It’s been off the table for quite some time.”
Harris also denounced the increase in deficit spending under the bill — a figure he put at $1 trillion over the next five years — saying the deficit impact alone will prompt enough conservative opposition to sink the legislation unless leadership alters the bill to bring that figure down. The sides are far enough apart, he said, to require negotiations through next week’s Memorial Day recess.
“I think it can be hammered out over the Memorial Day break. That’s enough time,” Harris said. “I think we made some progress in the last few days, and gauging the speed of that progress, I think in 10 days we could have [it done].”
In the meantime, he added, he’s opposed to the package.
A wildcard in the debate remains Trump, who has stood largely on the sidelines throughout the early stages of the internal GOP debate, but is diving in head-first on Tuesday morning when he visits the Capitol to huddle with the House GOP conference.
Trump, who retains enormous popularity among the Republican base, has held enormous sway in debates of the past. Harris, however, said he’s ready to stand firm against the current legislation, even if the president presses him to get on board.
“He has said he wants to solve the budget deficit. I would make the case that this big beautiful bill could get more beautiful with a little more work,” Harris said.
“I’m glad he’s coming to talk to the conference. I always welcome the president,” he continued. “But I’m not sure there’s anything that he can say tomorrow that’s going to change the minds of people who do believe that this bill needs more work.”
Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), another conservative holdout, piled on, saying Johnson’s self-imposed Memorial Day deadline is not real at all, since there are no actually policy repercussions if it’s missed.
“It’s arbitrary and it’s pressure and it’s just like Christmas and Easter,” Roy said. “But it’s the way this town works.”
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