Marathon Rules Committee Hearing Continues as Panel Awaits Johnson Changes

WASHINGTON — A meeting of the House Rules Committee that began at 1 a.m. Wednesday morning stretched well beyond the nine-hour mark as members continued to wait for negotiated changes to the so-called “one, big, beautiful bill” sought by President Donald Trump.

The lengthy deliberation of the more than 1,000-page package comes after Trump’s visit to Capitol Hill to pressure dissident Republicans to drop their concerns over feared Medicaid cuts and the absence of a deal on the state-and-local tax deduction cap and unify around the sweeping legislative package.

Trump’s argument was that the bill would achieve many long-time Republican objectives while making his 2017 tax cuts permanent.

But even after the president’s attempt at persuasion, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and his leadership team were still short — some say well short — of the votes they’ll need to pass the package.

The early morning start of the Rules Committee meeting was intended, in part, to give Johnson the time he needed to corral the final votes and deliver any final changes to the panel for consideration before it adjourns.

It is only after the Rules Committee gives its blessing to the final bill that it can be sent to the floor for a vote.

From the start, Democrats on the panel hammered away at the legislation, calling it a “terrible bill” and accusing Republicans of forcing consideration of the measure while “critical parts” were still missing.

“If Republicans are so proud about what is in this bill,” said Rep. Jim McGovern, D-Mass., the top Democrat on the committee, “then why are you trying to ram it through in the dead of the night?”

Rep. Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., the chair of the House Rules Committee, responded by observing the panel “has a long tradition of meeting late into the evening, and reporting legislation long after most of America has gone to bed.”

Speaking pointedly of the 110th and 111th Congresses, both of which were controlled by Democrats, she noted that the Rules Committee considered at half dozen pieces of legislation between 12:20 a.m. and 3:34 a.m.

“Those who live in glass houses shouldn’t throw stones,” she said.

Should the bill advance from committee, which appeared increasingly likely as its lengthy session wore on, it could be voted on by the full House as early as Wednesday night.

Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., one of the four House Republicans whose initial opposition to the bill delayed its passage by the Budget Committee, said he would not vote against it in the Rules panel.

“Unless something changes … the body has a right to consider it,” he said before the hearing.

About eight hours into the session, a clearly weary Norman reaffirmed his support for advancing the legislation out of the Rules Committee.

“This bill will help this country,” he said. “There are things we have to work out, but this will help this country.”

Republicans who support the bill argue that not only will it keep current tax rates in place, but it would also eliminate taxes on tips and overtime, strengthen barriers to illegal immigration at the nation’s borders, and impose work requirements on some social programs.

Fiscal conservatives among the GOP ranks — all Democrats are considered no votes at this point — express concern over nonpartisan estimates that the bill will increase the federal deficit by trillions of dollars over the next decade.

In a preliminary analysis of the bill made before the latest changes Wednesday, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that the legislation would add roughly $2.3 trillion to the debt over the next decade.

These fiscal hawks are the most vocal in calling for additional cuts to Medicaid, something Trump and the House Republican leaders have rejected, and a dramatic rolling back of former President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act — this despite the fact that many of its incentives benefit GOP-controlled red states.

Other dissenting Republicans want to accelerate the imposition of work requirements for social aid, and then there are the blue state GOP members who as of Tuesday at least, hadn’t heard a proposal on the SALT deduction that they were happy with.

Johnson has insisted for weeks that the conference must pass the bill before Memorial Day so that the Senate can review it and pass its version by the Fourth of July, and that a reconciliation of the different versions can be completed by Congress’s August recess.

But Johnson can only afford to lose three Republican votes in total if all the Democrats do indeed oppose the measure and every member votes.

On Wednesday morning, Johnson told CNN that he thinks his last minute negotiations have assured the measure’s passage.

“We’re going to put it on the floor and I think we’ll have the votes,” he said.

Dan can be reached at [email protected] and @DanMcCue