President Donald Trump arrived on Capitol Hill early Tuesday to try to seal the deal on his big tax cuts bill, using the power of political persuasion to unify divided House Republicans on the multitrillion-dollar package that is at risk of collapsing before planned votes this week. Trump called himself a “cheerleader” for the Republican Party and praised the leadership of Speaker Mike Johnson as he headed behind closed doors to rally Republicans. He also criticized at least one of the holdout Republicans as a “grandstander” in a warning to others. “We have a very, very unified party,” Trump said in hallway remarks at the Capitol. “We’re going to have available one big beautiful bill.” The president arrived at a pivotal moment. Negotiations are slogging along and it’s not at all clear the package, with its sweeping tax breaks and cuts to Medicaid, food stamps and green energy programs, has the support needed from the House’s slim Republican majority. Lawmakers are also being asked to add some $350 billion to Trump’s border security, deportation and defense agenda. Conservatives are insisting on quicker, steeper cuts to federal programs to offset the costs of the trillions of dollars in lost tax revenue. At the same time, a core group of lawmakers from New York and other high-tax states want bigger tax breaks for their voters back home. Worries about piling onto the nation’s $36 trillion debt are stark. “I think it’s pretty obvious that they’re going to need more time,” said Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., the chairman of the House Freedom Caucus. “These are complicated issues with trillions of dollars,” he said. “We’ve got to do this thing right.” Trump’s visit to address House Republicans at their weekly conference will test the president’s deal-making powers. The Republican speaker, Johnson, is determined to push the bill forward and needs Trump to provide the momentum, either by encouragement or political warnings or a combination of both. With House Democrats lined up against the package, GOP leaders have almost no votes to spare. A key committee hearing is set for the middle of the night Tuesday in hopes of a House floor vote by Wednesday afternoon. Democrats argue the package is little more than a giveaway to the wealthy at the expense of health care and food programs Americans rely on. “They literally are trying to take health care away from millions of Americans at this very moment in the dead of night,” said House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York. “If this legislation is designed to make life better for the American people, can someone explain to me why they would hold a hearing to advance the bill at 1 a.m. in the morning?” Trump has been pushing hard for Republicans to unite behind the bill, which has been uniquely shaped in his image as the president’s signature domestic policy initiative in Congress. Asked about one of the conservative Republicans, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Trump lashed out. “I think he is a grandstander, frankly,” the president continued. “I think he should be voted out of office.” The sprawling 1,116-page package carries Trump’s title, the “ One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” as well as his campaign promises to extend the tax breaks approved during his first term while adding new ones, including no […]