Conservatives block Trump's big tax cuts bill

WASHINGTON - A 1,116-page bill filled with President Donald Trump’s promised tax breaks and spending cuts was blocked Friday by conservatives who say they won’t vote for it unless the bill further slashes spending. 

Republicans hold a slim majority in the House and had just a few votes to spare. Four Republican conservatives initially voted against the package — Reps. Chip Roy of Texas, Ralph Norman of South Carolina, Josh Brecheen of Oklahoma, and Rep. Andrew Clyde of Georgia. Then one, Rep. Lloyd Smucker of Pennsylvania, switched his vote to no.

What do conservatives want? 

Big picture view:

Conservatives are holding out on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a nod to Trump, for steeper cuts to Medicaid and other programs to help offset the costs of the tax breaks. But at the same time, lawmakers from high-tax states including New York are demanding a deeper tax deduction, known as SALT, for their constituents.

RELATED: 'Mr. Moore...Mr. Moore?': Lawmakers caught sleeping during committee meetings

Members of the conservative Freedom Caucus also want new work requirements for aid recipients to start immediately, rather than on Jan. 1, 2029, as the package proposes.

At the same time, the New Yorkers have been unrelenting in their demand for a much larger SALT deduction than what is proposed in the bill, which could send the overall cost of the package skyrocketing.

What they're saying:

"Something needs to change or you’re not going to get my support," Roy said. 

Dig deeper:

Failure to push the package out of the Budget Committee is seen as a setback for Speaker Mike Johnson, who insisted before the vote that Republicans were on track to pass the bill.

Trump, meanwhile, implored Republicans to unite behind the bill ahead of the vote. 

"Republicans MUST UNITE behind, ‘THE ONE, BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL!’" the president posted on social media. "We don’t need ‘GRANDSTANDERS’ in the Republican Party. STOP TALKING, AND GET IT DONE!"

What’s in the spending bill? 

By the numbers:

It increases some tax breaks for middle-income earners, including a bolstered standard deduction of $32,000 for joint filers and a temporary $500 boost to the child tax credit, bringing it to $2,500.

It also provides an infusion of $350 billion for Trump’s deportation agenda and to bolster funds at the Pentagon.

To offset some $5 million in lost revenue, the package proposes rolling back other tax breaks, namely the green energy tax credits approved as part of President Joe Biden's Inflation Reduction Act. Some conservatives want those to end immediately.

The package also seeks to cover the costs by slashing more than $1 trillion from health care and food assistance programs, largely by imposing work requirements on able-bodied adults.

Certain Medicaid recipients would need to engage in 80 hours a month of work or other community options to receive health care. Some parents and older Americans receiving food aid through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP, would also see new work requirements, including for those up to age 64 and some parents with children older than 7.

The package also includes a $4 trillion increase in the nation's debt limit, now $36 trillion, so the Treasury can continue to pay the bills and prevent a federal debt default.

The other side:

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates at least 7.6 million fewer people with health insurance and about 3 million a month fewer SNAP recipients with the changes.

What's next:

Johnson is working to keep the package on track to pass the House by Memorial Day and then onto the Senate.

PoliticsDonald J. Trump