Trump says GOP is unified as he delivers 'pep talk' for 'big, beautiful bill'
President Donald Trump delivered a "pep talk" to Republicans on Capitol Hill on Tuesday in an effort to pass his "big, beautiful bill."
Trump's visit found House Republicans split between spending-hawk holdouts who wanted to cut more of the deficit and moderates who sought to expand tax deductions for Americans. Trump himself has pushed tax cuts and emphasized on Tuesday that he only seeks to cut "waste, fraud and abuse" from Medicaid.
"We're not touching anything. All I want is one thing. Three words. We don't want any waste, fraud, or abuse," Trump said ahead of the meeting. "Very simple. Waste, fraud, abuse. Other than that, we're leaving it, Medicare. We're leaving it all."
Trump was extremely complimentary of House Speaker Mike Johnson as he spoke to reporters ahead of the House Republicans' weekly meeting on the Hill. It is not clear whether Trump will meet with individual holdouts directly.
"We have a very, very united party. This man has done a fantastic job. It's only been recently, but this man has done a fantastic job. He's a real unifier," Trump said of Johnson, who stood beside him.
"I don't think anybody else could have done it. We had – I just said to your cohorts downstairs, we had a majority of one for a period of was and he gets it together and we actually cast this and nobody else came," he told reporters. "He's done a fantastic job, the Speaker. We have a very, very unified party."
Trump told reporters after the meeting that it had been a "meeting of love" and rejected reports that he is losing patience.
"I think it was really great. That was a meeting of love, let me tell you. That was love in that room. There was no shouting. I think it was a meeting of love," he said.
The House Rules Committee is set to vote on the bill just after midnight tonight after the House Budget Committee approved the bill earlier this week.
If the legislation passes through the House, it will face another – perhaps tougher – battle in the Senate, where some lawmakers have floated breaking up the bill to pass certain priorities more quickly.
Meanwhile, Democrats argue the legislation is a handout for the wealthiest Americans.
"They literally are trying to take health care away from millions of Americans at this very moment in the dead of night," House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Monday.
"If this legislation is designed to make life better for the American people, can someone explain to me why they would hold a hearing to advance the bill at 1 a.m. in the morning?" he added.
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan fiscal watchdog group, estimates that the House bill is shaping up to add roughly $3.3 trillion to the debt over the next decade.
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