Donald Trump is increasing pressure on House Republicans to pass his exhaustive bill to expand trillions of dollars in tax cuts and cut government spending as internal rift threatens to delay Congress.
The president visited the U.S. Capitol Tuesday morning, urging Republicans to reach a deal on his “a big and beautiful bill”, warning them that his 2017 tax cut would expire at the end of the year if they fail.
"This is the biggest tax cut in our country's history," Trump said. "Otherwise you'll get a 68% tax."
Since Republicans have a 220-213 majority in the House, if the Budget Bill is to be passed, the president can only afford to lose the votes of some congressional lawmakers.
Hard-minded conservatives and moderates have fought for the Biden-era climate tax credit, Medicaid job requirements (the health care program for the poor in the United States), and federal state and local tax breaks that benefit from New York democracies.
The bill will extend personal income tax deductions and increase standard deductions and child tax credits. This will reduce taxes on tips and overtime pay as Trump promises during his 2024 campaign. This will also increase military and border security spending, while cutting hundreds of millions of dollars from Medicaid and clean energy tax credits.
The legislation will also increase taxes on investment income and private bases for university donations, but not include some of the things Trump wants, including increasing taxes for hedge fund managers and the private equity industry.
The non-partisan committee of the non-partisan federal budget estimates that the bill will increase U.S. national debt by 3.3 tons over the next decade. Investors expressed concern about the sustainability of the country's public finances and whether the world will continue to fund the Washington government.
Moody's last week stripped the U.S. triple credit rating and a rise in long-term fiscal yields.
Trump tried to appeal to moderates by saying the bill did not cut anything "meaningful" but was just "waste, fraud and abuse." Russell Vought, director of the Office of Management and Budget, said the legislation included the biggest spending cuts in the past three decades.
However, conservatives have pushed for further cuts. Before the presidential meeting, Kentucky Republican Thomas Massie made a new offer to Speaker Mike Johnson to increase the so-called salt deduction, which allows people to deduct certain taxes paid to state and local governments.
"Republicans (Republicans) will impose tax breaks, which will benefit liberals in blue states primarily. This statue of wealthy people like New York and California will greatly increase the deficit, a reversal of Trump's first term tax policy."
South Dakota Republican Dusty Johnson "clearly stated that he wanted us to pass the bill" in a meeting with Congressman Trump. “He hopes we don’t mess it up anymore.”
But private news obviously failed to calm the internal strife. After the meeting, New York Republican Congressmen Mike Lawler and Nick Lalota said the proposal for salt was not good enough.