Exclusive: House Republican leaders will be forced to rely on Democratic votes to pass the bill next week because of dissatisfaction among lawmakers with the new tax bill, according to sources familiar with the matter.
House leadership released details bipartisan agreement Announcements from House and Senate negotiators earlier this week include temporary extensions of tax credits and the Child Tax Credit (CTC) to help U.S. businesses.
Three sources told Fox News Digital that it is their understanding that the bill will be voted on in the House next week. Bills typically pass first through the Rules Committee, then on the House floor for a procedural “rules” vote, almost always along party lines, that requires a simple majority to pass.
But officials told Fox News Digital that House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-Missouri) were circumventing the process and “suspending the rules.” He said he aims to introduce the bill directly to the House of Representatives. Instead of raising the passing standard to two-thirds.
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House Speaker Mike Johnson currently plans to vote on the tax bill next week, sources told Fox News Digital. (Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images)
Republican hardliners have used several rules votes this Congress to protest the House Republican leadership's decision and kill their own party's bills. Prime Minister Johnson has only a majority of 219 Republicans and 213 Democrats, so raising the bar for passing the bill, which is expected to pass on a bipartisan basis, means that at least if the full House is present, This means that 75 Democratic senators will need to participate.
“The problem, from what I understand, is that as long as the immigration issue is long-term and the budget situation is long-term, the people in the Freedom Caucus will, in the near future, essentially eliminate the rules that we put in place. It's there,'' said a senior Republican aide.
The Freedom Caucus has previously disrupted the House floor over disagreements over government funding and border policy, but those issues remain contentious.
But it's not just them. Republicans, who represent politically fickle suburbs outside of big cities like New York and California, are unhappy that the tax bill does not touch on the state and local tax (SALT) deduction.
Rep. Mike Garcia (R-Calif.), who participated in a Thursday night meeting with Johnson and other Republicans concerned about the issue, said that eliminating the $10,000 cap on salt deductions is not an option. He said it was important for industrial-class families. He also argued that who chooses next year's House speaker will be important.
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“This bill is not necessarily a bad bill. … I think it would be foolish not to take advantage of this opportunity to address important issues in the districts that will determine who holds the majority in the next Congress,” Garcia said before the session opened. told. meeting.
Meanwhile, leaders of the ultra-conservative Freedom Caucus told Fox News Digital that hardliners have separate issues with the bill, and that undocumented immigrants with children in the U.S. could also make CTC claims. He said he was making a claim.
Rep. Mike Garcia (R-Calif.) is one of the leading Republicans dissatisfied with the bill. (Getty Images)
Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas) said, “There's a whole image of the Republican Party right now that they're funding wars and corporate tax cuts. I'm sorry. I was sent here for this purpose.”
“I'm a firm supporter of some tax policies, but they should be permanent, not just temporary additions. I think that's the issue, and I think it's important The thing is, the child tax credit…is being given to people's children here.''It's illegal, and there's no real end to that possibility. ”
“I can't imagine why we're doing it, why we're trying to do it, and it's going to improve the lives of a lot of people,” said former Freedom Caucus Chairman Scott Perry (R-Pa.). “I haven't done that,” he said, giving an honest assessment. I'm very disappointed because I think about the people I represent. ”
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He said allowing CTC clearance for illegal immigrants “should be a red line for every Republican to avoid,” and that circumventing the rules and introducing the bill next week would be “a red line for you to deal with illegal immigration.” We need to let everyone know what we're doing.” You're going in the wrong direction again. ”
Chairman Smith refuted these accusations in a statement to FOX News Digital, saying, “This bill's child tax credit reform is a pro-family policy that preserves the child tax credit structure of Trump-era Republican tax reform.'' .This will prevent any further progress.” “Monthly checks occur and there are no special loopholes for illegal immigrants. In fact, the plan still requires a child's Social Security number, which was added in the 2017 Republican tax reform. It is something.”
“The child tax credit provisions in this bill will help families crushed by inflation, eliminate penalties for families with multiple children, and maintain work requirements,” he said.
Representatives Scott Perry and Chip Roy are leading the Freedom Caucus rebellion against the bill. (Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
Garcia acknowledged he was still hopeful something could be done about the SALT deduction, but acknowledged he pressed Smith on the issue at another Republican caucus last week. He noted that the deduction cap would expire in 2025 anyway.
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“We can now deal with this issue on our terms and win politically,” Garcia said. “Otherwise, we could lose a lot of races because we do nothing and miss this opportunity to address SALT, which is so important to New York and California, and then we try to talk about new policy. Swing District Members We lost the majority because we missed this opportunity to earn the SALT cap.”
The bill, always likely to pass with bipartisan support, passed the committee on a 40-3 vote. But putting the bill on hold underscores the politically unstable position of Johnson, who presides over a razor-thin majority in one of the most divided Republican conferences in modern history.
Fox News Digital has reached out to Johnson's office as well as the offices of Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-Minn.) and Majority Whip Tom Emmer (R-Minn.) for comment. , there was no immediate response.
