By Olivia Beavers

WASHINGTON -- House Republican leaders worked to win over GOP critics of President Trump's sprawling domestic-policy bill headed into crucial votes expected later Wednesday.

Dozens of lawmakers had raised complaints about the revised "big, beautiful bill," which passed the Senate a day earlier, with fiscal hawks wanting deeper spending cuts and moderates worried about cuts to the social safety net.

"I feel very positive about the progress," said House Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.), who has been meeting with lawmakers all day. "I feel good about where we are and where we're headed," he said.

The number of House Republicans who have said they would oppose the Senate version of the legislation has been seen as enough to block the bill's passage, though past standoffs have been resolved after pressure campaigns by the president and party leaders. Given Republicans' thin 220-212 majority, no more than three House Republicans can join Democrats in opposing the bill.

Party leaders were planning to hold a crucial "rule" vote, with full passage possible as soon as later Wednesday or Thursday. Trump wants the bill on his desk this week to meet his self-imposed July 4 deadline, though there are no practical consequences from waiting. Attendance issues and continued talks appeared to stall action Wednesday afternoon.

Already, signs emerged that critics were starting to come around. Some lawmakers seen as potential "no" votes signaled they were ready to support the measure.

"Big day, we hope this all works out," said Rep. Tim Burchett (R., Tenn.) as he left the White House after what he called a "very good conversation" with Trump and Vice President JD Vance. Burchett has sought deeper deficit reductions.

Rep. Morgan Griffith (R., Va.), who supports the bill, says members got assurances from the White House on various issues -- and that the president's approach involved more of a soft touch rather than arm twisting.

Rep. Don Bacon (R., Neb.), a retiring lawmaker who is one of three House Republicans from districts Trump lost, said he would vote for the bill because of the tax cuts and military spending included in it, even though there are portions he doesn't like.

If the House altered or failed to approve the Senate measure, Trump's July 4 deadline probably wouldn't be met, as senators have left town.

Rep. Ralph Norman (R., S.C.), a member of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, voted early Wednesday morning against moving the bill out of the House Rules Committee, joined by fellow caucus member Rep. Chip Roy (R., Texas). The panel debated, then narrowly advanced the bill to the House floor.

"Our bill has been completely changed -- from the IRA credits to the deficit," said Norman, referring to the Biden administration's Inflation Reduction Act that contained clean-energy tax credits. "This bill's a nonstarter. We want to do this, but this bill doesn't do what the president wants it to do."

Democrats have stayed united in opposition, saying the bill cuts Medicaid and other programs for lower income people to pay for tax cuts for the wealthy.

"That so many of you are blindly going along with this just to please the guy in the White House is shameful," Rep. Jim McGovern (D., Mass.), the top Democrat on the Rules Committee, said to his GOP colleagues.

The Senate passed the bill on Tuesday, following an 27-hour marathon of amendment votes. The legislation would broadly fund Trump's biggest priorities including the extension of his 2017 tax cuts; no tax on tips and overtime; and a large funding boost to the president's immigration and border policies.

The House GOP is being asked to digest a series of changes that were made to a version of the bill that passed the lower chamber weeks earlier by one vote.

The House Freedom Caucus released a three-page list of what it called "failures" in the Senate bill on Wednesday. Those include a 12-month runway for wind and solar projects to start construction and still get tax credits and its violation of the House framework that limited tax cuts unless Republicans also approved spending cuts.

The Freedom Caucus also criticized what it described as "pork," including a provision that helped swing vote Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R., Alaska) by giving states with high error rates more time before getting affected by new limits on nutrition-assistance programs.

Conservatives including Roy, House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris (R., Md.) and Eric Burlison (R., Mo.) have warned that they will block the bill if changes aren't made.

Given the tough math, Johnson repeatedly warned the Senate against altering the House bill. In passing the measure back in May, Johnson had wrangled conservatives who were pushing for spending cuts and centrists who were warning against steep changes to programs such as food stamps and Medicaid, the federal-state healthcare program for low-income and disabled people. Johnson told House members that they would have a chance to make changes to the bill when it came back from the Senate.

"I'm not happy with what the Senate did to our product, but we understand this is the process," Johnson told reporters Tuesday. "We will be working to get all our members to 'yes.'"

Fiscal hawks argue that the bill irresponsibly expands the national debt, and the Senate bill breaches the red lines they laid out months ago and reiterated in June. Centrists warn that they could risk losing their seats if they agree to the Senate's more drastic changes.

The Senate version's deeper policy shifts on Medicaid would leave 12 million people without insurance by 2034, according to the Congressional Budget Office, compared with 11 million people in the House version.

While both bills aim to phase out quickly clean-energy tax credits for solar and wind companies, the Senate version would have slightly more lax requirements as to when a company can claim the tax credit. The Senate bill would raise the debt ceiling by a trillion more dollars than the House's proposed $4 trillion.

The Senate version would have a more substantial impact on the U.S. deficit, according to the CBO. It would add $3.4 trillion to the nation's debt over a decade, compared with the House bill, which would add $2.4 trillion, the nonpartisan budget scorekeeper found in an updated score.

Still, they will have to decide if the bill is unpalatable enough to risk crossing Trump, who has already threatened to find primary challengers to those who block it. Skeptics on Capitol Hill said they have seen this film before: Fiscal conservatives and other Republican holdouts say they can't support a bill, only for most of them to fall in line when Trump gets directly involved.

Write to Olivia Beavers at Olivia.Beavers@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

July 02, 2025 16:03 ET (20:03 GMT)

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