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By Gabe Whisnant
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Republican Senator Josh Hawley of Missouri said President Donald Trump wouldn't even sign his own "big, beautiful bill" as it stands due to GOP House-proposed reductions to Medicaid.
Hawley told CNN's Manu Raju on Wednesday, "This bill is not gonna become law in its current form, not least because President Trump won't sign it. I've talked to him about this personally multiple times. He has been crystal clear — no Medicaid benefit cuts."
Newsweek has reached out to the White House on Wednesday afternoon for comment.
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Why It Matters
House Speaker Mike Johnson of Louisiana is pressing to pass the sweeping tax and spending package by Memorial Day, aiming to send it to the Senate, where Republicans are crafting their own version of the legislation. Johnson and his leadership team have been in close contact with President Trump throughout the process, coordinating key provisions of the bill.
Rep. Jason Smith, the Missouri Republican chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, said he met with Trump on Friday to review the tax elements in detail.
"We went over the provisions line by line," Smith said, adding that Trump was "very happy with what we're delivering."
What to Know
House lawmakers engaged in hours of tense, overnight debate over a sweeping Republican tax and spending package that offers more than $5 trillion in tax breaks, while proposing deep cuts to Medicaid, food assistance programs, and green energy initiatives aimed at addressing climate change. Dubbed the "big, beautiful bill" by Republicans, the legislation is a cornerstone of President Trump's agenda and faces growing opposition.
Emotions ran high as committee hearings stretched into early Wednesday, with Democrats, advocacy groups, and some Republicans raising alarms over the bill's potential impact on vulnerable populations and climate policy. One hearing was quickly interrupted by protesters condemning the proposed Medicaid cuts, which the top Democrat on the panel described as "cruel."
...
At the heart of the Republican legislative push is an effort to extend and expand the 2017 tax cuts while incorporating key pillars of President Trump's 2024 campaign platform. The proposal includes eliminating taxes on tips, Social Security income and car loan interest. It also calls for a larger standard deduction—$32,000 for couples—a boosted Child Tax Credit, and a possible increase in the cap on state and local tax deductions (SALT) to $30,000, though negotiations on that provision are ongoing.
To help offset the projected costs, Republicans are aiming to generate $1.9 trillion in savings primarily by rolling back green energy tax credits. Factoring in other cuts, the net cost of the package is estimated at $3.7 trillion over a decade, with additional savings expected from deep reductions in social safety net programs.
The bill also channels $350 billion into GOP priorities, including Trump's mass deportation initiative and expanded Pentagon funding. To further address concerns about ballooning deficits, Republicans propose nearly $800 billion in cuts to Medicaid—used by 70 million Americans—and $290 billion from food assistance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), among other reductions. The overall plan reflects the party's goal of combining tax relief with aggressive federal spending rollbacks.
The $1.9 trillion national debt now exceeds U.S. gross domestic product (GDP) by 24 percent. Interest payments on the debt have surpassed defense spending, raising concerns among fiscal conservatives who argue the current path is unsustainable. Republicans have largely focused on curbing federal spending, particularly on entitlement programs such as Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid.
Democrats, meanwhile, support increasing taxes on higher-income earners to help address the shortfall, though many acknowledge that tax hikes alone would not fully resolve the structural spending issues. At the same time, Democrats contend that cutting programs like Medicaid, which primarily serves low-income Americans, without corresponding tax increases on the wealthy, would be politically difficult and socially controversial.
In an op-ed Monday for the New York Times, Hawley implored his party not to impair Medicaid, arguing that cutting health care to pay for tax breaks is both "morally wrong and politically suicidal."
What People Are Saying
Hawley wrote in his op-ed, "If Republicans want to be a working-class party — if we want to be a majority party — we must ignore calls to cut Medicaid and start delivering on America's promise for America's working people," Hawley wrote.
Trump wrote on Truth Social before his Middle East trip, "Republicans need to UNIFY."
Trump said when he returns to Washington, "we will work together on any and all outstanding issues, but there shouldn't be many — The Bill is GREAT. We have no alternative, WE MUST WIN!"
What's Next
The final draft of the bill could differ from what is currently being proposed as lawmakers. The bill needs to win over nearly every Republican on the floor of the narrowly divided House. If it passes, it will then be considered in the Senate.
This is a developing news story and will be updated as more information is available.
Reporting by the Associated Press contributed to this story.
Update: 5/15/25, 1:12 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information and remarks.
Update: 5/15/25, 1:57 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information and remarks.
Update: 5/15/25, 2 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information and remarks.
Update: 5/15/25, 2:16 p.m. ET: This article has been updated with additional information and remarks.
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