白宫周三表示，唐纳德·特朗普(Donald Trump)总统、众议院议长·迈克·约翰逊(Michael Bloomberg)和众议院自由核心小组(House Freedom Caucus)之间的一次会议“朝着正确的方向前进”，他们试图达成一项协议，以推动总统的“一个大而美丽的法案”在众议院进行投票。
在与强硬派的谈判一夜之间陷入僵局后，这次重要会议召开了。共和党远未就该法案达成一致，他们早些时候曾表示，他们希望在周三进行投票。几个关键点主要是关于医疗补助的工作要求以及州和地方税收减免的上限仍然需要解决。
会后，白宫新闻秘书卡罗林·莱维特说:“会议富有成效，将球推向了正确的方向。总统重申了尽快通过这项美丽的大法案对国家来说是多么的重要。
约翰逊在会后表示，领导人对该法案进行了“微小”的修改，他正在推进周三对该法案进行投票的计划，尽管他承认时间可能会推迟到周四上午。
“这个计划是按照我们的预期向前推进的。那是在白宫的一次非常好的会面。有一位如此直接参与的总统真是太好了，”约翰逊在返回国会大厦时对一群记者说。“我们讨论得很好。我认为我们处在一个非常好的位置。我认为我们这里的所有同事都会非常喜欢这个最终产品，我认为我们会继续前进。”
众议院领导层消息人士告诉美国广播公司新闻，约翰逊热衷于在周三晚上将megabill放在地板上，试图迫使坚持己见的人选择一方。但是，强硬派正在犹豫，发誓要投反对票，扼杀法案的势头，该法案对医疗补助、州和地方税收减免、速食援助、移民政策等进行了改革。
当被问及为什么强硬派仍然不听特朗普和约翰逊一再请求支持这项立法时，约翰逊说“他们听了。”
“我们听取了很多意见，也进行了很多讨论。这是非常富有成效的。那些仍有顾虑的人，我们正在努力解决，”他说。
拒不让步的人仍然对该法案持批评态度，担心它会增加国家赤字。
所有人都将关注特朗普，看他能否改变立场，说服坚持己见的人改变立场。周三的会议是在他在国会山与共和党人交谈为了努力说服他们支持他的签名法案，一度威胁要初选那些投票反对的人。
白宫管理和预算办公室发布了一封信周三下午呼吁通过该法案，称不通过该法案“将是最大的背叛”
“众议院应该立即通过这项法案，向美国人民表明，他们对‘许下的承诺，信守的承诺’是认真的，”信中说。
“特朗普总统致力于信守承诺，未能通过这项法案将是最大的背叛，”信中补充道。
拒绝让步的共和党众议员拉尔夫·诺曼(Ralph Norman)表示，“我们正在做总统希望我们做的事情”，但坚称随着谈判的拖延，该法案尚未“完成”。
“我们正在努力坐到谈判桌前，”另一位抵制者众议员奇普·罗伊(Chip Roy)周三上午在国会大厦与议长举行另一次会议后告诉记者。“我们将与我们的同事一起工作，与白宫一起工作，继续实现总统竞选的目标和我们所有人竞选的目标。”
极端保守的众议院自由核心小组成员对记者的确切要求讳莫如深。一些人希望大幅削减医疗补助，而另一些人则推动取消通货膨胀削减法案遗留下来的补贴。
罗伊说:“问题的事实是，在头五年里有大量的储蓄，而在头五年里有大量的赤字，因为我们没有解决我们在这里谈论的结构性改革。”“没有了。现在是进行变革的时候了。我们将与白宫合作实现这一目标。”
众议院共和党领导人指出，这项立法已经超过了削减开支的目标——这些强硬派人士一个多月前在预算蓝图中投票支持的目标——从联邦预算中削减了1.5万亿美元。
自由核心小组主席安迪·哈里斯说,“一个美丽的大法案法案”周三在众议院“不可能”通过——尽管约翰逊的目标是在众议院规则委员会通过后最早在周三将该法案提交给议会。约翰逊仍在努力争取十几名共和党人的投票，他们正在寻求对立法进行更多的修改。如果没有变化，就有足够多的反对力量来击败它，因为约翰逊只能承受失去三张共和党选票的后果。
“我们离达成协议更远了，”哈里斯周三早上在Newsmax上说。“这个法案实际上一夜之间变得更糟了。今天是不可能通过的。”
清理众议院只是该法案的第一个障碍-它还必须通过参议院共和党会议的检验，该会议已经表明他们计划进行修改。
与此同时，众议院规则委员会对共和党法案的听证会仍在进行中，该听证会于美国东部时间周三凌晨1点开始，委员会主席和高级成员就1000多页的“一个美丽的大法案”的细节进行了辩论
共和党领导人仍然没有公布对税收和预算法案的预期变化-由强硬派和温和派谈判。规则委员会主席弗吉尼亚·福克斯说，共和党对一揽子计划的修改将在听证会期间的某个时候公布。
规则委员会的最高民主党众议员吉姆·麦戈文(Jim McGovern)痛斥了共和党的和解法案。
“我有一个简单的问题。共和党人到底在害怕什么?你们到底在怕什么，竟然在凌晨1点举行听证会。这是一个简单的问题，道出了这里正在发生的事情的核心，也是我将继续问的一个问题，如果共和党人对这项法案的内容如此自豪，那么为什么你们要在夜深人静的时候强行通过它?”麦戈文说。
Trump meets with GOP holdouts as negotiations over agenda bill falter
The White House said Wednesday a meeting between President Donald Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson and the House Freedom Caucus "moved the ball in the right direction" as they try to reach a deal to advance the president's "One Big, Beautiful Bill Act" to a vote on the House floor.
The critical meeting came after negotiations with hard-liners went south overnight. The GOP is far from unified around the bill, which they earlier had said they hoped to move to a vote on Wednesday. Several sticking points primarily regarding Medicaid work requirements and a cap on state and local tax deductions still need to be worked out.
After the meeting, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, "The meeting was productive and moved the ball in the right direction. The President reiterated how critical it is for the country to pass the One Big Beautiful Bill as quickly as possible.”
Johnson said after the meeting that leaders have made "minor" changes to the bill and he is moving forward with plans to vote on the bill on Wednesday, though he conceded the timing could slip to Thursday morning.
“The plan is to move forward as we expected. That was a very good meeting at the White House. It's great to have a president that is so directly engaged,” Johnson told a scrum of reporters upon his return to the Capitol. “We had a good discussion. I think we're in a very good place. I think that all of our colleagues here will really like this final product, and I think we're going to move forward.”
House leadership sources tell ABC News that Johnson was keen to put the megabill on the floor Wednesday night to try to force holdouts to pick a side. But, hard-liners are balking, pledging to vote no and kill the momentum of the bill,which has changes to Medicaid, state and local tax deductions, SNAP food assistance, immigration policy and more.
Asked why hard-liners still aren't listening to repeated pleas from Trump and Johnson to get behind this legislation, Johnson said "they are."
"There's a lot of listening and a lot of discussion. It's been very productive. The guys that still have concerns, we're working through," he said.
Still holdouts have been critical of the bill over concerns that it will add to the national deficit.
All eyes will be on Trump to see if he can move the needle and convince the holdouts to change their positions. Wednesday's meeting comes a day after hespoke to Republicans on Capitol Hillin an effort to persuade them to back his signature bill -- at one point threatening to primary those who vote against it.
The White House Office of Management and Budgetreleased a letterWednesday afternoon calling for the passage of the bill, saying that failure to pass it "would be the ultimate betrayal."
"The House of Representatives should immediately pass this bill to show the American people that they are serious about 'promises made, promises kept,'" the letter said.
"President Trump is committed to keeping his promise, and failure to pass this bill would be the ultimate betrayal," the letter added.
Republican Rep. Ralph Norman, a holdout, said that "we're doing what the president wants us to do," but insisted that the bill isn't "done yet" as negotiations drag on.
"We're trying to sit at the table," Rep. Chip Roy, another holdout, told reporters Wednesday morning at the Capitol after another meeting with the speaker. "We're going to work with our colleagues, work with the White House, to continue to deliver what the president campaigned on and what we all campaigned on."
Members of the ultra-conservative House Freedom Caucus members were cagey with reporters about their exact requests. Some want steeper cuts to Medicaid while others push to eliminate subsidies left over from the Inflation Reduction Act.
"The fact of the matter is this has massive savings in the first five years, and it has massive deficits of the first five years because we're not addressing the structural reforms that we're talking about right here," Roy said. "No more. Now's the time for transformative reform. We're going to work with the White House to deliver."
House Republican leadership points out the legislation has exceeded its targets for spending cuts -- goals these hard-liners voted for just over a month ago in the budget blueprint -- slashing over $1.5 trillion from the federal budget.
Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris said there is "no way" the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" passes in the House Wednesday -- despite Johnson's goal of putting the bill on the floor as early as Wednesday after it clears the House Rules Committee. Johnson is still working to secure the votes of the more than a dozen Republicans who are seeking additional changes to the legislation. Without changes, there is enough opposition to defeat it as Johnson can only afford to lose three Republican votes.
"We're further away from a deal," Harris said on Newsmax Wednesday morning. "This bill actually got worse overnight. There is no way it passes today."
Clearing the House is just the first hurdle for the bill -- it will also have to pass muster with a Senate Republican conference that is already telegraphing that they plan to make changes.
Meanwhile, a House Rules Committee hearing on the GOP bill is still going strong after it started at 1 a.m. ET Wednesday with committee chairs and ranking members debating the details of the more than 1,000 page "One Big Beautiful Bill Act."
GOP leaders have still not released expected changes -- negotiated by hard-liners and moderates -- to the tax and budget bill. Rules Committee Chair Rep. Virginia Foxx said Republican changes to the package will be unveiled at some point during the hearing.
Rep. Jim McGovern, the top Democrat on the Rules Committee, lambasted Republicans' reconciliation bill.
"I've got a simple question. What the hell are Republicans so afraid of? What the hell are you so scared of that you guys are holding this hearing at 1 o'clock in the morning. It's a simple question that speaks to the heart of what's going on here, and one that I'm going to keep on asking, if Republicans are so proud of what is in this bill, then why are you trying to ram it through in the dead of night?" McGovern said.
