House Republican leaders are facing significant challenges as their ambitious megabill faces resistance from ultraconservative members of the House Budget Committee. The hardliners are demanding substantial changes to the legislation, including accelerating the start date for Medicaid work requirements and eliminating clean energy tax credits. Speaker Mike Johnson is working closely with leaders like Jodey Arrington to secure the necessary concessions while moderates are also showing support for some of the proposed changes. The situation is further complicated by the need to address other concerns raised by GOP moderates, such as changes to the state-and-local-tax deduction. With the deadline approaching for House passage and the White House away on a trip, the GOP leaders must quickly resolve these disputes to ensure the bill’s progress.
These hard-right objections have forced Speaker Mike Johnson to consider significant changes to the GOP’s sweeping domestic policy bill, threatening his ambitious timeline for House passage. The conservative members of the Budget Committee are particularly concerned about the fiscal scores of the legislation and the extent of Medicaid cuts Republicans are prepared to make. One potential concession under serious discussion is moving up the start date of work requirements for Medicaid beneficiaries by two years — from 2029 to 2027. Several Republicans granted anonymity confirmed the possible change, and Johnson was overheard discussing this proposal with House Budget Chair Jodey Arrington as they left a Capitol Hill meeting. Johnson has promised the package will clear the Budget panel, but the urgency of addressing the hardliners’ concerns was heightened when several conservative members of the Budget Committee suggested they would withhold their votes at a scheduled Friday meeting.
Johnson huddled with several of the holdouts, including representatives like Chip Roy of Texas and Ralph Norman of South Carolina, who have both stated they would vote no in the Budget Committee on the existing bill. Other representatives, such as Andrew Clyde of Georgia, Josh Brecheen of Oklahoma, and Glenn Grothman of Wisconsin, also declined to commit to supporting the bill. The holdouts have demanded three key changes, according to two Republicans granted anonymity: speeding up the phase-out of clean energy tax credits from the Biden administration, removing immigrants in the country illegally from Medicaid access immediately, and moving up the start date for the Medicaid work requirement. Norman and Roy have both expressed a strong push for the work requirements to begin as soon as possible, in the fall of 2026. A call between GOP leaders and hardliners was expected to be held late Thursday evening to address these issues before the Budget panel meeting on Friday.
Such a move could save millions in budget costs for the GOP’s megabill, which is the centerpiece of President Trump’s agenda on taxes, energy, and the border, while also satisfying the demands of conservative members. It would also lead to deeper coverage losses for Medicaid more quickly, which could have implications before the 2028 presidential election. However, Republican moderates appear to be on board with the accelerated timeline, which could provide more flexibility for them to address their own concerns, including the highly contentious state-and-local-tax deduction (SALT). Several moderate Republicans have been meeting separately with Johnson throughout the day to raise issues such as shifting Medicaid and SNAP costs to states, changes to a federal pension program, and other concerns they want addressed before the bill hits the House floor.
Rep. Don Bacon, a key moderate, stated in an interview that he was assured that a controversial change to ban legal immigrants from accessing federal food assistance would be removed before the bill reaches the floor. The provision was added to the Agriculture panel’s part of the bill this week by Rep. Mary Miller (R-Ill.). As for moving up the start date of some Medicaid changes, House Majority Whip Steve Scalise told reporters to expect the requirements to come sooner than originally planned, and that Republicans would revise the bill. He noted that the change could help address the SALT demands from a separate group of Republicans. Rep. Scott Fitzgerald (R-Wis.) also expressed support for moving the timeline up, and Don Bacon, a key moderate, said he was comfortable with the change. Rep. Nick LaLota (R-N.Y.) told reporters that the timing of the requirements is not a major issue. Still, the White House needs to sign off on the move, as Trump and most of his senior aides are currently in the Middle East, leaving Johnson and other GOP leaders to handle these disputes. Johnson has remained in contact with Trump while he’s been overseas.
Quickly implementing the Medicaid changes could be difficult, as most states will need to update their systems to incorporate the new work requirements, which they will be responsible for enforcing. The bill includes $100 million in federal grants to help update those systems; only Georgia currently has a work requirement program in place. Arrington said Thursday afternoon that a committee markup on Friday is