A MART脥NEZ, HOST:
President Trump has talked for months about what he describes as one big, beautiful bill to accomplish much of his domestic policy agenda, including immigration and tax policy. That bill is now advancing through the House this week.
STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:
Although, the bill's beauty is in the eye of the beholder. House Speaker Mike Johnson wants this passed by Memorial Day but still is contending with tensions in his own party. In a few minutes, we'll hear from a Republican strategist.
MART脥NEZ: First, though, we have NPR's Barbara Sprunt to get us up to speed here. So just under two weeks to finish a massive bill, Barbara. Where are they in that process?
BARBARA SPRUNT, BYLINE: So three committees voted yesterday to finalize their portions of this big bill. That includes things like extending the 2017 tax cuts, no taxes on tips and overtime, cuts to Medicaid, and cuts to the food assistance program called SNAP. Now, the Budget Committee is meeting tomorrow to take all the individual bills approved by these various committees and put them into one big package. And that is what House leadership wants to vote on next week.
MART脥NEZ: OK, so that's what they want. Wondering, though, if they can get it because, you know, we've talked before about the speaker struggling with a narrow majority. So what divisions is he dealing with now?
SPRUNT: Well, there's two main groups here. One, members of the Freedom Caucus have pushed back on the current state of bills saying they just won't result in significant enough deficit reduction, which they see as their mandate here, and that proposals to add work requirements to Medicaid - the joint federal/state health care program for those with disabilities and the elderly and low income - wouldn't kick in soon enough. It's worth noting that the Congressional Budget Office estimates that the changes in this House bill mean at least 8.6 million people enrolled in Medicaid could lose coverage. And some moderate members worry that those cuts could become a major issue in the midterms next year.
MART脥NEZ: All right. So who else is upset or worried?
SPRUNT: Well, then you've got the SALT group - members and districts with high property taxes, like California and New York, who want to see the cap on deduction for state and local taxes be lifted significantly. And that's expensive to do. So it's fundamentally at odds with members who want to slash spending overall. So there's a lot of tension there, and Speaker Johnson is acutely aware of that. Here he is yesterday.
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MIKE JOHNSON: There's red states and blue state folks, right? We got more red state folks in our conference, and they have concerns about it. But we have blue state people who have realities they've got to deal with at home, and they need some relief for their constituents. So I am trying to be the - sort of the neutral umpire in the negotiation and build consensus.
SPRUNT: He said he's confident they'll be able to work out a compromise that everyone can live with, even if everyone isn't fully happy. And he's planning on meeting with members concerned about SALT this morning.
MART脥NEZ: OK. Let's just say, Barbara, for a second that they overcome all of this, and the House of Representatives passes that big bill next week. What happens then? What happens after that?
SPRUNT: Then comes the Senate (laughter), where some Republicans are already throwing cold water on the House's efforts here. Wisconsin Senator Ron Johnson told our colleague Deirdre Walsh yesterday that the House bill is, quote, "a sad joke." Several senators on the GOP side have said they can't support it in its current form, and this makes some House members concerned. You know, there's the dynamic of, they don't want to take a vote on a tough, you know, package that's going to have some controversial elements, like cuts to Medicaid, only to then be rolled by the Senate. So up here, it's not just tension within these groups and these factions in the House. It's also tension between these two Republican-run chambers.
MART脥NEZ: That's D.C., right?
SPRUNT: That's D.C. (laughter).
MART脥NEZ: That's how D.C. works. That's NPR's Barbara Sprunt. Barbara, thanks.
SPRUNT: Thanks, A. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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