Members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus say they are working with the White House on a deal that would secure their support for the party’s “big, beautiful bill,” claiming they had reached an agreement Tuesday night — a characterization the White House is pushing back on — while casting doubt on the prospects for passing the bill before GOP leadership’s self-imposed Memorial Day deadline.
During an impromptu press conference Wednesday morning, Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.), the chair of the group, said the White House presented the hard-liners with a proposal late Tuesday night that, if it makes it into the final bill, would wipe away their opposition to the sprawling package. He said it was up to Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and leadership to determine how to incorporate the provisions in the bill.
“There’s a broad agreement with the House Freedom Caucus that if that’s included in the package, I think this package is on route to get passed,” Harris said. “I don’t think it can be done today. I mean, the runway is short today. The leadership is going to have to figure out where to go from here.”
Members were mum on the details, only saying the agreement would help eliminate waste, fraud and abuse in Medicaid, and roll back green energy tax credits enacted by Democrats in 2022.
A White House official, however, is pushing back, telling The Hill that the Freedom Caucus did not secure a deal but instead received a menu of policy options the Trump administration would not oppose if they could garner enough support in the House to pass.
The disagreement will likely be the main topic of conversation when Freedom Caucus members, Johnson and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) visit the White House on Wednesday afternoon to meet with the president, sources told The Hill.
“I would expect that we’ll get invited to discuss how we’re going to advance the president’s agenda,” Harris said after the press conference.
Signs of disconnect over the alleged deal emerged in the wee hours of Wednesday morning as the House Rules Committee pushed forward with a hearing to tee up the bill, despite final tweaks being uncertain.
A source told The Hill that the Freedom Caucus had gone straight to the White House to negotiate changes, and believed they reached an agreement on changes regarding Medicaid and green energy incentives. But another source with knowledge of the talks then pushed back hard: “There is no agreement. The administration has discussed policy options with a number of different perspectives in the conference.”
Harris took to Newsmax on Wednesday morning, the conservative cable network, to vent about the night’s developments, saying there was a deal just after midnight but it was “pulled off the table.”
But Harris and other Freedom Caucus members took a softer tone after meeting in the Speaker’s office Tuesday morning.
Adding to the pressure is that Republicans on the other ideological end of the conference, moderates in high-tax blue states, secured a deal on raising the state and local tax (SALT) deduction cap Tuesday — marking a major breakthrough on a key issue leaders need to resolve to get the support needed for the bill. But deficit hawks in the Freedom Caucus are no fans of the SALT deduction, let alone one with a higher cap that has a higher deficit impact.
The bill extends tax cuts Trump signed into law in 2017, delivers on campaign promises to end taxes on tips and overtime, funds his defense and border priorities — while making cuts with reforms to Medicaid and nutrition assistance Democrats warn will lead to millions of low-income Americans losing benefits.
The sprint to lock down support for the package comes as Johnson is plowing ahead with his goal of passing the bill by Memorial Day. The Speaker on Wednesday said there was a “chance” a vote could happen later in the day.
House Freedom Caucus members, however, are balking at Johnson’s self-imposed deadline. With the Trump tax cuts not set to expire until December, and the debt limit not needing to be raised until mid-July, hard-line conservatives are pressing for more time to negotiate the legislation.
“This is an arbitrary deadline,” said Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), a former Freedom Caucus chair. “If today comes and goes, it doesn’t mean that this possibility to make sure that taxes stay low and that we fix America’s health care system and fix America’s energy system — it doesn’t mean that prospect is off the table. It just means it might not happen today.”
“It’s more important to get this right, to get it correct, than to get it fast,” he added. “We are sitting at the table to do that.”