4 Things Delaying Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’

Two critical House committees are scheduled to mark up their portions of a massive Republican spending bill that would deliver Donald Trump the first major legislative victory of his second term, but ongoing disagreements – especially among lawmakers in the president’s own party – are threatening to derail the process.

The House Agriculture Committee and the House Ways and Means Committee will begin their markups on Tuesday. Both are expected to be contentious.

Despite the House narrowly approving a budget blueprint in April, discord over tax breaks, a cap on a key tax deduction and cuts to social safety net programs have caused massive delays and yielded little progress.

The clock is now ticking as the House aims to get the bill through the chamber by Memorial Day.

And the stakes for the bill couldn’t be higher. Republicans plan to use the bill as the vehicle to pass the bulk of Trump’s legislative agenda – everything from immigration reform to tax cuts to an increase in the debt ceiling to enhanced military spending. The key is that it will be considered under a special congressional rule called budget reconciliation in which measures pertaining to fiscal matters can be passed in both chambers on a simple party-line vote – instead of the usual 60-vote requirement in the Senate. But even that lower bar might be hard to surmount with the GOP holding a narrow 220-213 advantage in the House and a 53-47 edge in the Senate. In either chamber, more than three holdouts joining Democrats united in their opposition could doom the whole endeavor – and more than a few lawmakers have already logged their objections to one or more of the bill’s provisions.