Republicans will embark on a ‘legislative sprint’ this week to finalize President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful” domestic policy bill, according to a Politico report.
And key disputes must be settled. They include the size of spending cuts needed to pay for their plans and how dramatically they will reshape Medicaid and other safety-net programs.
“Starting it at $1.5 trillion in cuts is a loser just because we’ll end up at nothing,” Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN) told the news outlet. He called his GOP colleagues “pretty gutless” when it comes to slashing government spending.
One House Republican, who was granted anonymity by Politico, pointed to the scale of cuts as a “major fault line.” The person added that there could be “70 or 80 members of the House who, if we don’t have real and substantial cuts, are going to wonder, why does any of this matter?”
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If Speaker Mike Johnson has his way, the bill would be passed no later than Memorial Day.
“I don’t view these deadlines as sacrosanct deadlines,” said Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX). He is one of the key voices calling for deep spending cuts.
Roy wants to prioritize an “artificial” timeline over a sound legislative process because he said a rushed process “risks the quality” of the final legislative product.
“I have to believe and articulate with a straight face that we will be reducing [the] deficit,” he said, adding that no amount of promised tariff revenue would factor into his calculations because “Congress isn’t voting on that.”
Another GOP lawmaker who was granted anonymity claimed, “If the final product increases the rate that we’re going bankrupt, I think it’s going to be hard to get 218 votes for that in the House.”
Senate Republicans are not being as aggressive with their schedule, Politico reported. Instead, they are waiting to see how far the House proposals end up from what can get the necessary 51 votes in the Senate.