House Republicans Face Challenges with Trump Tax Cuts and Medicaid Funding

Republican lawmakers in Congress are confronting their biggest challenge of Donald Trump’s presidency this week: reconciling internal divisions over proposed cuts to Medicaid and popular green energy initiatives to fund a landmark tax-cut bill they hope to enact by June.

Following a two-week recess marked by some heated constituent encounters, House Republicans are set to begin debating and voting on segments of Trump’s agenda legislation that would also fund his immigration crackdown while boosting fossil fuel production and military spending.

“We’d like to have it on the president’s desk by June,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, the chamber’s No. 2 Republican, told Reuters. “It’s going to be a very transparent process, where committees will be holding their hearings and mark-ups in public view.”

Scalise emphasized that Republicans’ top priority is extending provisions of Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts & Jobs Act set to expire this year, which nonpartisan researchers estimate would cost $4.6 trillion over a decade.

With additional hundreds of billions for border security, deportations, and defense, the budget impact could be substantial. The nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates the budget blueprint for Trump’s agenda could add $5.8 trillion to the $36 trillion U.S. debt over the next decade. Republicans claim costs will be covered through spending cuts, higher economic growth, and revenues from energy deregulation and Trump’s tariffs.

With narrow Republican majorities—220-213 in the House and 53-47 in the Senate—it remains uncertain if House Republicans can meet Speaker Mike Johnson’s goal of passing the legislation and sending it to the Senate before the May 22 Memorial Day recess.

House and Senate Republicans barely passed a budget resolution allowing them to implement the Trump agenda while bypassing Democrats, who have vowed opposition.

“We’re in active legislative combat,” House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries said at Manhattan’s 92nd Street Y. “They want to enact the largest Medicaid cut in American history. That is going to hurt families, hurt children, hurt seniors, hurt people with disabilities, and hurt everyday Americans.”

The budget blueprint lacked details about spending cuts. Now, Republicans must address changes with tangible consequences for their home districts.

“It probably takes a little longer to get it out of the House,” Representative Nicole Malliotakis said. “We’re not just talking about the broad strokes here. We’re talking actual legislative language, actual numbers.”

To secure support from hardline conservatives, House Republicans set a $2 trillion spending cut target over a decade and agreed to scale back Trump’s tax cuts to reflect any shortfall in funding reductions.

However, with House and Senate moderates resisting deep cuts to social safety-net programs and environmental initiatives, some worry the $2 trillion goal might be unattainable.

“That is the biggest challenge, getting that to the sweet spot where we have enough significant and noteworthy spending cuts to finalize the tax side,” said Representative Blake Moore, vice chair of the House Republican Conference.

Republicans have targeted the Medicaid healthcare program for lower-income Americans and green tax credits for $880 billion in spending cuts over a decade. Education and agriculture programs face an additional $560 billion in proposed cuts.

Concerns about Medicaid among approximately a dozen House Republicans and several Senate Republicans have prompted Trump and party leaders to assure lawmakers that savings won’t result in benefit cuts.

These assurances have reduced fears about major cuts to federal Medicaid contributions. As of October, over 79 million Americans were enrolled in the program or related healthcare services for poor children.

Lawmakers believe they can still achieve hundreds of billions in savings through work requirements for able-bodied beneficiaries, spending caps for those above the poverty line, restrictions on Medicaid provider taxes, and enhanced eligibility verification efforts.

“We’ve got to see what’s in the bill,” said Malliotakis, who opposes major Medicaid cuts. “We’re not going to support something that will harm our hospitals or our seniors or our disabled.”

House Republicans also face challenges regarding proposed cuts to green energy tax credits, while the White House supports initiatives for carbon capture and storage, nuclear energy, and geothermal energy that some want to eliminate.

Scalise confirmed that environmental provisions remain targeted for cuts but acknowledged that the outcome will ultimately depend on how much support cost-saving proposals can win during upcoming debates.