Congressional Republicans face a high-stakes fight this month to get a massive tax bill containing the bulk of their legislative agenda across the finish line.
So President Trump is gearing up for what a senior White House official said will be an "all-out advocacy effort" to push Republican senators to agree to the broad contours of what their House colleagues passed last month in the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act."
"You're going to see a succession of big-name administration officials traipsing up to the hill," the official said, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly about the lobbying push. The White House is also reserving the option to have officials travel to states if extra pressure is needed to convince Republican senators to back the bill, the official said.
There are a few major sticking points in play. A handful of Republican senators have said the bill is too expensive. Others are worried that it will slash Medicaid coverage for too many people — though Trump maintains only waste, fraud and abuse would be cut.
It's a political balancing act. Republicans hold a narrow majority in each of the House and Senate, and are trying to use a special process known as reconciliation that will enable them to pass the bill with a simple majority, rather than the typical 60-vote threshold normally required in the Senate.
So that has Trump pressuring some Senate Republicans on social media — and he is also working the phones to make his case.
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., who has expressed concerns about the impact the House-passed bill would have on Medicaid, said on social media on Monday that he had heard from Trump directly. "He said again, NO MEDICAID BENEFIT CUTS," Hawley said. (The official declined to say what other senators Trump was calling.)
The bill narrowly passed in the House last month — and any changes made by the Senate ultimately will need to be approved by the House. Most Republican senators are being realistic about the kind of changes they can make, the White House official said.
"There's not a lot of room to maneuver," the official said. "The House construct fundamentally has to be the bones of the legislation — and the House construct is very beneficial for the president's priorities."
But the House may need to accept some changes in the bill because of the Byrd rule, a strict guideline requiring legislation to be directly related to deficit reduction and within a committee's jurisdiction in order for the Senate to use reconciliation to pass the legislation with a simple majority.
"That has always been an element of frustration for the House, but they've gotten over it in the past, and we're hopeful they'll get over it in the future, because the bill is not going to pass unless it's Byrd-compliant," the official said.
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