The two most powerful Republicans in the country stepped before the press Wednesday with one unified message: the GOP megabill is moving forward—confidently and deliberately.
🚨 President Donald Trump hailed “great progress” after a closed-door meeting with congressional leaders, while House Speaker Mike Johnson emphatically declared that key committee markups would “100 percent” take place next week.
One such step is already locked in: the House Agriculture Committee has scheduled its markup for Tuesday evening, working late into the night and resuming at 10 a.m. Wednesday to take on Democratic amendments. Momentum is real—but so are the roadblocks.
⚖️ Inside the Halls: Ways and Means Faces a Political Minefield
While the Agriculture Committee gears up, the House Ways and Means Committee remains stuck in the mud—deadlocked over the contentious cap on state and local tax (SALT) deductions.
Meeting Wednesday with so-called SALT Republicans from high-tax states, GOP tax writers failed to reach consensus. Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-NY) didn’t mince words, calling SALT “one of the stickiest points” in the entire Republican legislative agenda.
The implications are serious: failure to resolve SALT risks fracturing the party’s tax coalition and unraveling the broader fiscal framework.
💸 The $500 Billion Question: Can Republicans Shrink the Plan and Still Deliver?
With other committees potentially backing away from ambitious savings targets, GOP tax writers are preparing a contingency. Sources close to the negotiations tell our reporters that the committee may scale back its original $4.5 trillion in tax cuts to a more defensible $4 trillion—a half-trillion dollar pivot designed to save the deal if internal resistance mounts.
But trimming that cost won’t come easy.
Rep. Ron Estes (R-KS) revealed that the committee is considering a “bunch” of temporary tax provisions to make the numbers work. In plain terms, what was once pitched as permanent economic reform may now be marketed as temporary measures—designed to lower the bill’s sticker shock and keep shaky votes on board.
🧩 What’s Next?
As committees scramble to draft, amend, and rescue key provisions, Speaker Johnson and President Trump remain publicly resolute. But the fine print tells a more complicated story—one of intraparty friction, delicate math, and policy horse-trading. The House Ways and Means Committee issued notice for a markup of their section of a bill extending the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act and enacting much of the president’s domestic policy agenda. The markup will be held on Tuesday, May 13th at 2pm eastern time.
Expect a volatile week ahead as markups begin and GOP leadership works to align its factions behind a single bill. Whether this fragile legislative construct holds will depend not just on deadlines—but on the party’s willingness to compromise, recalibrate, and sell the vision.
Stay with us for continuing updates as this legislation evolves.
