Trump looks to end House Republicans’ squabbling over agenda bill as sticking points remain

CNN President Donald Trump on Tuesday argued that Republicans are tremendously unified despite party infighting over his sweeping budget and tax cuts bill We have a tremendously unified party I don t think we ve ever had a party like this There are specific people who want a couple of things that maybe I don t like or that they re not going to get Trump stated arriving on Capitol Hill to meet with the House Republican Conference This is really just a pep talk he informed reporters moments later before going behind closed doors The president traveled to the US Capitol on Tuesday to deliver his pitch to House Republicans his first in-person meeting with the full group since the conference began drafting his agenda The meeting comes at a critical time for House Speaker Mike Johnson who is pushing to pass the legislative package before Memorial Day despite essential opposition from certain of his members This is a big week for his agenda for all of us We ve been working on reconciliation for more than a year as you all know and it all comes down to these details Johnson declared ahead of the meeting And I think the president is going to encourage everyone this morning to get in line and get the votes done We need to deliver this to the American people The president s main priority Tuesday is to urge his party to stop squabbling and make progress on moving the major piece of decree that contains his core promises from the campaign trail White House administrators recounted CNN ahead of the meeting From Trump s point of view the representatives explained he has succeeded in getting what he wants in the package Trump s campaign-driven goals to deliver sweeping tax cuts and no taxes on tips and overtime pay are what the president cares the bulk about they revealed and the rest is just negotiating to the finish line Director of the National Economic Council Kevin Hassett notified CNN earlier this month that the president s top priorities have been communicated and I have not seen anyone suggest that they re not going to be in the bill adding that Trump understands that in the end the final bill will include certain priorities of members of the House and of the Senate Still Trump has a monumental task before him to bring the factions of the party together With a slim majority in the House leaving little room for detractors his attempt will be a major test of his dealmaking abilities As of Tuesday morning Trump had not directly engaged in whipping the vote of individual members the officers reported though several of his aides have been closely involved in behind-the-scenes negotiations The White House isn t freaking out yet one person close to Trump notified CNN The president has been down this road before He and the association understand that pushing through a bill of this size is going to take time The key is starting the clock The White House administrators disclosed the president likely would not get into the specific details of the package that are still being worked out but that his main task was to ensure Republicans understand the process of muscling this bill through should begin in earnest Still Trump was blunt with lawmakers on major points of contention He explained the conference don t f k around on Medicaid according to two sources in the room The warning from the president not to touch the scheme except for waste fraud and abuse comes as there s been a major question over how a great number of Americans would lose access to Medicaid benefits under Republicans proposed package GOP leader says Trump is invariably the closer House Majority Leader Steve Scalise stated Tuesday morning that Trump is inevitably the closer and the president was meeting with the conference to discuss the legislative package in its totality The president craved to come and you know just talk again with the members The president s been very engaged and hands-on this whole process He s called members directly he s had specific of us over in the White House a scarce times to talk about different pieces of this bill so we weren t surprised when he disclosed you know OK you re ready now the Louisiana Republican revealed Despite a push by specific in the party to delay full debate on the package until sticking points are resolved Scalise declared GOP leadership s plan is still to hold a full House vote Wednesday or Thursday Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris who has noted he is opposed to the current draft of the bill on Monday rejected Johnson s push to pass the package before the House leaves for the Memorial Day recess I think it s pretty obvious that they re going to need more time the Maryland Republican explained Monday night These are complicated discussions These are complicated issues These are trillions of dollars Rep Chip Roy another GOP ultraconservative also announced Monday he did not agree with Johnson s Memorial Day deadline calling it arbitrary to put pressure on lawmakers They re trying to run it in through the jet fumes and I just don t agree with that the Texas Republican explained I ll keep working in good faith to try to make the bill as good as it can be and then decide where things stand I think that s not the way we should do business Major sticking points remain unresolved But it s not just conservatives who are frustrated with Johnson s strategy The speaker is also working to win over specific in the moderate wing of his party a group of whom have threatened to oppose the bill without a big state and local tax break which conservatives loathe Trump repeated his message to the conference Tuesday that Democratic governors are to blame for high state and local taxes and they need to deal with it according to a person inside the meeting The president didn t sound particularly warm to fighting for SALT the person as well as another source reported Underscoring the tension over the tax provision two key New York Republicans made clear as they headed into the meeting that they were not satisfied with the latest offer from GOP leaders to raise the SALT cap Rep Mike Lawler called the offer insufficient and fellow New Yorker Nick LaLota explained the offer doesn t do it for the SALT caucus Republican Rep Tim Burchett of Tennessee who s not yet in sponsorship of the bill stated CNN that he s concerned about the bill s increase to the SALT tax deduction and wants to see sufficient work requirements for Medicaid benefits to eliminate the fraud Meanwhile Rep Thomas Massie of Kentucky called the White House s insistence that the major agenda bill would not raise the US deficit a joke Is Russ Vought saying that OK well Russ Vought knows better He s the OMB director I mean over here the people in favor of this bill say that under the policies of this bill we re going to add trillion to debt over the next years which is trillion to trillion more than would have been added otherwise the conservative hardliner noted Required whether he s concerned about pressure to help the bill as it stands Massie revealed They wrote off my vote weeks ago The dissatisfaction from certain in the party comes as House GOP leadership is trying to get the bill to the House Rules Committee by a m ET Wednesday