Trump to shore up support among Senate GOP at White House meeting

Yahoo

3 days ago

Senate Republicans will try to chart a path forward for the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" during a series of meetings on Wednesday -- including one where the President Donald Trump will work to shore up support for the megabill that advances his legislative agenda
Republican members of the powerful Senate Finance Committee will go to the White House to meet with Trump at 4 p.m. Wednesday, multiple White House and Hill sources confirm.
The Finance Committee is responsible for writing the tax policy components of the bill, including the extension of the Trump 2017 tax cuts, a key priority for the package.
MORE: CBO estimates Trump's bill could add $2.4T to deficit, leave 11 million without health insurance
The House-passed legislation also boosts spending for the military and border security -- while making some cuts to Medicaid, SNAP and other assistance programs. It could also add $2.4 trillion to the deficit over the next decade, according to a new analysis out Wednesday from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
The Senate Finance Committee's Republican members are expected to attend the meeting, including Majority Leader John Thune and GOP Whip John Barrasso, who are both on the panel. Republican Sen. Ron Johnson, who is at odds with the White House and is pushing for deeper cuts than those in the bill the House sent to them, is expected to be at the meeting as a member of the committee, too.
Appearing on ABC News Live Wednesday, Johnson attacked the bill, saying it "doesn't meet the moment."
Senate Republicans are separately expected to meet behind closed doors as a conference on Wednesday to discuss the parameters of the bill as a group.
Thune has so far not made clear what his strategy will be for moving the package through the upper chamber. As things currently stand, Thune can only afford to lose three of his GOP members to pass the package, and right now, he has more members than that expressing serious doubts about the bill.
MORE: Elon Musk privately expresses frustration on a range of recent moves by Trump administration: Sources
Trump's meeting with the committee is an opportunity for the president to attempt to sway those senators who have concerns about the bill. Earlier this week, Trump worked the phones and took meetings with many of those senators including Republican Sens. Rand Paul, Josh Hawley, Rick Scott and Johnson.
Trump also met with Thune to talk through moving the House-backed bill through the Senate as expeditiously as possible. Lawmakers aim to send a bill to Trump by the Fourth of July.
"At the end of the day, failure is not an option," Thune said at a news conference Tuesday, adding that he thinks the conference can meet the timing goal.
Trump works to allay senators' concerns at the same time Elon Musk attacks the bill online, calling it a "disgusting abomination" in a post on X Tuesday. Musk even chastised those who supported the bill.
"Shame on those who voted for it: you know you did wrong. You know it," Musk wrote.