By David Morgan
WASHINGTON (Reuters) -Republicans who control the U.S. House of Representatives will try to nudge President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax bill toward passage this week, despite a running battle over spending cuts and tax breaks that threatens to shatter their fragile majority.
The legislation, which had been stalled for days, advanced in a rare Sunday night meeting of the House Budget Committee when four hardline conservatives voted to move forward, as they pressed for deeper spending cuts in closed-door talks with Republican leaders and White House officials.
“The deliberations continue at this very moment. They will continue on into the week, and I suspect, right up until the time we put this big beautiful bill before the House,” House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington said just before his panel narrowly approved the legislation by a 17-16 vote.
House Speaker Mike Johnson is pushing for the chamber to pass the legislation and send it on to the Senate before the May 26 U.S. Memorial Day holiday.
But before that can happen, the legislation will have to come before the House Rules Committee, which will consider amendments to change the bill as it prepares the measure for a floor vote in what is expected to be a marathon hearing.
Trump’s Republicans hold a 220-213 majority in the House and are divided over how deeply to slash spending to offset the cost of the tax cuts.
Hardline conservatives continue to demand deep spending cuts to the Medicaid healthcare program for lower-income Americans and the full repeal of green tax credits, moves that are opposed by more moderate Republicans who say such changes will hurt working-class voters and farmers whose votes they will need in the 2026 midterm elections.
Spending cuts already proposed in the legislation would kick 8.6 million people off Medicaid, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
Republicans are also at odds over the deductibility of state and local taxes, or SALT, an issue of great significance to a handful of incumbents from states such as New York and California that are critical to the party’s narrow House majority.
Days after Moody’s downgraded the U.S. credit rating, citing the rising debt of more than $36.2 trillion, the hardliners insist that deeper spending cuts are needed to offset Trump’s tax cuts.
Coming amid ongoing economic uncertainty over Trump’s tariffs that have already roiled global markets, Moody’s action could further rattle investors when Wall Street re-opens on Monday, giving Republican leaders further heartburn.
“The bill does not yet meet the moment,” said Representative Chip Roy, one of four prominent hardline conservatives who voted “present” on Sunday night to let the bill advance.
“We can and must do better before we pass the final product,” the Texas Republican said in a social media post.
The measure would extend Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, his signature first-term legislative achievement, reduce taxes on some tips and overtime income, boost defense spending and provide more funds for his border and immigration crackdown.
Nonpartisan analysts say the bill would also add $3 trillion to $5 trillion to the nation’s debt over the next decade.
But Johnson and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent dismissed the rating cut’s significance in Sunday television interviews, with the speaker pointing to the credit rating agency’s action as proof that Congress needed to pass the Trump bill quickly.
“This will help to change the trajectory for the U.S. economy and send that message of stability to our allies and even our enemies around the world,” Johnson said on “Fox News Sunday with Shannon Bream.”
Whatever the outcome of the factional warfare in the House, Senate Republicans say they intend to alter the bill if it manages to get out of the lower chamber.
Johnson warned his Senate counterparts against big changes on Sunday.
“The package that we send over there will be one that was very carefully negotiated and delicately balanced, and we hope that they don’t make many modifications to it, because that will ensure its passage quickly,” Johnson said.
(Reporting by David Morgan; Editing by Stephen Coates)
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