At 8:52pm, the House Rules Committee reconvened to resume consideration of the reconciliation bill, signaling Leadership’s decision to move forward with bringing the bill to the House floor this evening. We are now truly down to the final list of House Republican holdouts on the reconciliation package. Leadership’s focus is largely on the deficit hawks at this point, who reacted poorly to the below-announced SALT deal this morning and have since demanded accompanying offsets.
White House Meeting
In an attempt to move the deficit hawk group to yes, the President met with its key leaders (Reps. Andy Harris, Ralph Norman, Chip Roy, et al.) at the White House this afternoon, along with Speaker Johnson, Leader Scalise, and Whip Emmer.
As expected, the Members emerged from the West Wing painting a more positive picture of the negotiations. The Speaker announced that a Manager’s Amendment would be posted “soon” (tonight) to allow for all sides to review the final language. With Rules having reconvened, the amendment language has now been posted here.
Rep. Harris, Chairman of the House Freedom Caucus (HFC), was quoted as saying, “Meeting in the White House went well. I think we made some progress. And, you know, it’s-in process.” Similarly, Rep. Norman said that there was “progress” at the White House but that HFC Members will meet after the amendment text is posted to “make a call.” And finally, Rep. Roy’s “X” account has suddenly gone quiet, with his deluge of criticism ending about seven hours ago.
All of this points to commitments that were made inside the White House meeting. FMAP, retroactively clawing back IRA credits, offsetting the SALT deal with further cuts, and other similar ideas remain off the table. But the President has reportedly committed to taking Executive Action on a number of spending items of concern to the HFC. What those are remains to be seen.
House Process
Assuming enough progress is made with the Whip count in reaction to the Manager’s Amendment, Leadership will have Chair Virginia Foxx and the Rules Committee (having already reconvened) report out.
Having same-day authority already in place via a separate rule earlier this week, the Committee can report and the House can consider the reconciliation bill on the same legislative day… i.e., tonight (albeit into the very early hours of tomorrow). Of note, House Democrats are expected to use dilatory procedural tactics, both at Rules and on the House floor, to slow down the vote.
One such tactic is the so-called “magic minute” which enables the Minority Leader to be recognized for one minute on the House floor and speak for as long as he can stand. Kevin McCarthy used this tactic during House Republicans’ last minority stint and lasted on his feet 8 hours and 32 minutes, setting the record in the House. Whether Jeffries chooses to do something similar is a question on House Republican Leadership’s mind.
Finally, with the unfortunate death of Rep. Gerry Connolly (D-VA), the House is now at 220 House Republicans and 212 House Democrats, for a total of three vacancies. There has been some question as to whether previously-hospitalized Rep. Donald Norcross (D-NJ) will return for the vote. We have been told that Democratic Leadership expects him to be present. Thus, House Republicans’ margin remains three for the purposes of final passage.