Trump appears to have failed to get Republican holdouts behind his tax bill
Earlier today, Donald Trump pressed Republicans in Congress to unite behind his sweeping tax-cut bill, but – despite his very optimistic front – apparently failed to convince a handful of holdouts who could still block a package that encompasses much of his domestic agenda.
In a closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill, Trump bluntly warned Republicans in the House of Representatives not to press for further changes to the sprawling bill, which would cut taxes and tighten eligibility for the Medicaid health program.
He strongly cautioned against further plans to make it more difficult for people to access Medicaid, a program for low-income Americans. One person in the room told Reuters Trump told the holdouts:
Don’t fuck around with Medicaid.
He also discouraged Republicans from seeking further carve-outs for state and local tax payments (SALT) – a niche issue that is especially important for moderate Republicans in high-tax states like California and New York.
But Trump failed to convince some lawmakers who are pushing for those provisions.
“The president I don’t think convinced enough people that the bill is adequate the way it is,” said Republican representative Andy Harris of Maryland, who leads the hard-right House Freedom Caucus and has been pushing for further Medicaid cuts.
Republican representative Mike Lawler, a New York moderate who is pushing to raise limits on deductions for state and local tax payments, likewise said Trump did not change his mind.
As it stands right now, I do not support the bill.
After the meeting, Trump predicted the package would ultimately pass the House, which Republicans control by a narrow majority of 220-213. “It was a meeting of love,” he said. He did not address Harris’ concerns.
Freedom Caucus members have been pushing for new work requirements on some Medicaid recipients to kick in earlier than is planned for 2029. But centrists have fought to protect the program, warning that steep cuts could imperil their majority in the 2026 congressional elections.
Trump said afterward the bill would eliminate “waste, fraud and abuse” in Medicaid but would not cause people to lose coverage.
Trump is pressing for every House Republican to vote for the bill, according to a White House official. As he arrived at the Capitol, Trump said Republican lawmakers who vote against it could “possibly” face a primary challenge in next year’s congressional elections.
Key events
The United States has expressed to the United Arab Emirates and other countries that they are turning the conflict in Sudan into a proxy war, secretary of state Marco Rubio told the Senate foreign relations committee earlier.
Rubio also said that Washington wanted to appoint a special envoy for Sudan but needed to find the right person.
RFK Jr says ‘Make America Health Again’ report coming out on Thursday
Robert F Kennedy Jr said earlier that the MAHA commission report Donald Trump tasked him producing would come out on Thursday.
Trump signed an executive order to establish a commission to “Make America Healthy Again,” during Kennedy’s swearing in ceremony on 13 February and tasked it with investigating chronic illness and delivering an action plan to fight childhood diseases, starting with a report due within 100 days.
“You’ll see the report. It’s going to be released on Thursday. Everybody will see the report,” Kennedy told the Senate appropriations committee hearing in response to questions about the contents of the report and its impact on agriculture.
Trump appears to have failed to get Republican holdouts behind his tax bill
Earlier today, Donald Trump pressed Republicans in Congress to unite behind his sweeping tax-cut bill, but – despite his very optimistic front – apparently failed to convince a handful of holdouts who could still block a package that encompasses much of his domestic agenda.
In a closed-door meeting on Capitol Hill, Trump bluntly warned Republicans in the House of Representatives not to press for further changes to the sprawling bill, which would cut taxes and tighten eligibility for the Medicaid health program.
He strongly cautioned against further plans to make it more difficult for people to access Medicaid, a program for low-income Americans. One person in the room told Reuters Trump told the holdouts:
Don’t fuck around with Medicaid.
He also discouraged Republicans from seeking further carve-outs for state and local tax payments (SALT) – a niche issue that is especially important for moderate Republicans in high-tax states like California and New York.
But Trump failed to convince some lawmakers who are pushing for those provisions.
“The president I don’t think convinced enough people that the bill is adequate the way it is,” said Republican representative Andy Harris of Maryland, who leads the hard-right House Freedom Caucus and has been pushing for further Medicaid cuts.
Republican representative Mike Lawler, a New York moderate who is pushing to raise limits on deductions for state and local tax payments, likewise said Trump did not change his mind.
As it stands right now, I do not support the bill.
After the meeting, Trump predicted the package would ultimately pass the House, which Republicans control by a narrow majority of 220-213. “It was a meeting of love,” he said. He did not address Harris’ concerns.
Freedom Caucus members have been pushing for new work requirements on some Medicaid recipients to kick in earlier than is planned for 2029. But centrists have fought to protect the program, warning that steep cuts could imperil their majority in the 2026 congressional elections.
Trump said afterward the bill would eliminate “waste, fraud and abuse” in Medicaid but would not cause people to lose coverage.
Trump is pressing for every House Republican to vote for the bill, according to a White House official. As he arrived at the Capitol, Trump said Republican lawmakers who vote against it could “possibly” face a primary challenge in next year’s congressional elections.
Marco Rubio says US has not discussed deportation of Palestinians from Gaza to Libya
Secretary of state Marco Rubio said the US has not discussed the deportation of Palestinians from Gaza to Libya, but he said that Washington had asked other countries in the region if they would be open to accepting people in Gaza who want to move voluntarily.
“What we have talked to some nations about is if someone voluntarily and willingly says I want to go somewhere else for some period of time because I’m sick, because my children need to go to school, or what have you, are there countries in the region willing to accept them for some period of time?,” Rubio said, adding that he was not aware of Libya being included in that.
Rubio also told the Senate foreign relations committee that the United States was pleased to see the resumption of food shipments to Gaza, adding that the US understands that another 100 trucks are behind the initial ones to cross in to Gaza and more might enter in the coming days.
Dharna Noor
Interior secretary Doug Burgum defended the Trump administration’s budget request on Tuesday in a House committee hearing.
Burgum testified before the House Appropriations Committee:
With common sense approaches and modern systems, we can increase returns for our citizens, strengthen our economy, and create great-paying and meaningful jobs – all while protecting our beautiful lands, our abundant wildlife, and our clean air and clean water.
The secretary took some mild heat from lawmakers, facing questions about hiring and funding freezes in the Department of Interior. Republican representative Mark Amodei of Nevada said:
How you can sit there and hold somebody’s feet to the fire when there’s a whole bunch of empty desks.
Trump has proposed shrinking the Interior Department budget by $5bn, with major cuts to national park management, conservation programming, and other key functions.
Despite the potential steep fall in funding, Burgum has issued an order requiring national park units to remain fully open to visitors.
The planned cuts follow the firing of probationary employees within the department in recent weeks, as well as the resigning of 2,700 workers who accepted Trump’s “deferred resignation” offer.
“In just four months, the department has been destabilized, and there’s been a stunning decline in its ability to meet its mission,” Democratic representative Chellie Marie Pingree of Maine told Burgum.
Given your extensive executive experience, I’m disappointed that you would allow this to happen.
Robert Tait
Secretary of state Marco Rubio has defended the cuts to foreign aid under the gutting of USAID, telling the Senate Foreign Affairs Committee that the US still provides more assistance than the next 10 countries combined.
He also dismissed claims that China was stepping in to replace lost American aid, saying:
China doesn’t do foreign aid.
Ukraine, he said, still has Washington’s support and Russian president Vladimir Putin has not gained a single thing.
We reported earlier that Donald Trump met with House Republicans on Capitol Hill to unite around his tax and spending cuts proposal.
Speaking to reporters after the closed-door meeting, Trump said he had a “great talk” and that there was “unbelievable unity” in his party. He said:
That was a meeting of love. That was love in that room. There was no shouting.
Elon Musk said he plans to spend “a lot less” on political donations “in the future” after he gave millions towards Donald Trump’s 2024 presidential campaign.
“I think I’ve done enough,” Musk said during an interview at the Qatar Economic Forum. He added:
If I see a reason to do political spending in the future, I will do it. I don’t currently see a reason.
Musk spent more than $250m in the last election cycle to elect Trump and other GOP candidates.
RFK Jr defends his handling of US measles outbreak
Robert F Kennedy Jr defended his management of the ongoing measles outbreak in the US, telling Republican senator Jerry Moran, of Kansas, that he’s urging people to get vaccinated against the virus, The Hill reports.
Moran asked Kennedy what the Department of Health and Human Services needed in order to best respond to the outbreak, which has surpassed 1,000 cases. Kennedy said:
The best way to prevent the spread of measles is through vaccination. We urge people to get their MMR vaccines. I spent a lot of time with the Mennonites and the MMR vaccine has millions of fragments of human DNA in it, from aborted fetal tissues, and that’s a religious objection for them that I have to respect.
We’ve done a better job at controlling measles since I came into this agency than any other country in the world. Today, we’re at 1,035 cases and we only added 27 cases last week.
As my colleague Jessica Glenza wrote recently, although Kennedy has tepidly endorsed the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine to prevent measles, he has also made false and inflammatory claims about the vaccine, including repeating the above false claim that it contains “aborted fetus debris”. The rubella vaccine, like many others, is produced using decades-old sterile fetal cell lines derived from two elective terminations in the 1960s.
The US is enduring the largest measles outbreak in a quarter-century. Centered in west Texas, the measles outbreak has killed two unvaccinated children and one adult and spread to neighboring states including New Mexico and Oklahoma.
The US eliminated measles in 2000. Elimination status would be lost if the US had 12 months of sustained transmission of the virus. As of 1 May, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) reported 935 confirmed measles cases across 30 jurisdictions. Nearly one in three children under five years old involved in the outbreak, or 285 young children, have been hospitalized.
Trump says ‘we’ll see’ about Russia after EU and UK move ahead with major sanctions
Donald Trump said he was weighing what actions to take after the European Union and Britain moved ahead with major new Russia sanctions, but he gave no further detail.
“We’re looking at a lot of things, but we’ll see,” Trump told reporters as he left Capitol Hill following a meeting with fellow Republicans about their tax bill.
The UK and Europe earlier announced major sanctions against Russia as it became clear that yesterday’s call between Trump and Vladimir Putin had failed to deliver any meaningful concessions from Moscow.
The UK said its sanctions would target dozens of entities “supporting Russia’s military machine, energy exports and information war, as well as financial institutions helping to fund Putin’s invasion of Ukraine”.
Shortly after the EU approved sanctions targeting Russia’s shadow fleet of about 200 vessels and said that more sanctions were in the pipeline.
Here is the moment Marco Rubio’s Senate hearing was disrupted briefly by a pro-Palestine protester.
Reaching nuclear agreement with Iran will not be easy, says Marco Rubio
The Trump administration is working to reach an agreement that would allow Iran to have a civil nuclear energy program but not enrich uranium, secretary of state Marco Rubio said, but admitted that achieving such a deal “will not be easy.”
He told the Senate foreign relations committee that the administration was offering an “off-ramp” for Iran to pursue prosperity and peace.
It will not be easy, but that’s the process we’re engaged in now.
Marco Rubio says potential collapse of Syrian transitional authority may be weeks away
Secretary of state Marco Rubio told the Senate foreign relations committee that the Syrian transitional authority may be weeks away from potential collapse and full-scale civil war, defending Donald Trump’s decision to lift Syria sanctions and to engage with the interim government in Damascus.
It is our assessment that, frankly, the transitional authority, given the challenges they’re facing, are maybe weeks, not many months, away from potential collapse and a full-scale civil war of epic proportions, basically the country splitting up.