GOP fight over Medicaid cuts stalls Trump agenda in the House as Senate forges ahead

As GOP hardliners spent the weekend pushing party leaders to cut deeper into Medicaid in an effort to advance Donald Trump’s tax and border agenda, swing-district Republicans have been warning the president directly that it would cost him control of the House.

As GOP hardliners spent the weekend pushing party leaders to cut deeper into Medicaid in an effort to advance Donald Trump’s tax and border agenda, swing-district Republicans have been warning the president directly that it would cost him control of the House. “There are people who want to cut to the bone,” said one GOP lawmaker who has recently spoken to Trump to urge him not to accept major cuts to Medicaid and other benefit programs. “I’m willing to cut a lot. But if you cut the essential stuff that affects people every day, you will lose the majority in two years. I can guarantee it.” Trump’s ability to pass his agenda through a narrowly divided Congress will depend on the outcome of a quickly escalating battle between ultra conservatives and swing-district members over spending cuts. Trump and his Capitol Hill counterparts, Senate Majority Leader John Thune and House Speaker Mike Johnson, are now working to decide how deeply to slash spending on popular — yet expensive — programs like Medicaid, and how much of a potential political firestorm they’re willing to withstand. That answer, so far, is unclear. House GOP leaders worked throughout the weekend to try to get clarity on just how far their conference and the White House would be willing to go. While Johnson and his leadership team had preferred to set the GOP’s spending cuts goal at around $1.5 trillion as a floor, many conservatives are dead set on at least $2 trillion in cuts, with some hoping for closer to $2.5 trillion, according to people familiar with the conversations. Both chambers need to pass an identical budget blueprint that will unlock the procedural powers to allow Trump’s border and tax package to bypass the Senate filibuster. But the House GOP’s plans to move forward with its version are, for now, stalled. And the Senate plans to forge ahead with a totally different vision of a smaller, scaled-back border and defense bill blueprint this week and then turn to tax reform later.