Hard-line House conservatives said President Donald Trump assured them his administration would strictly enforce rules for wind or solar projects to qualify for the tax credits under the Inflation Reduction Act — a pledge that persuaded them to back the party’s megabill.

“What he’s going to do is use his powers as chief executive to make sure that the companies that apply for solar credits, as an example, he’s going to make sure that they’re doing what they say when they say they’ve started construction,” Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), a member of the House Freedom Caucus, said on CNBC on Thursday morning. “He’s going to make sure they’ve done that.”

The Senate passed its version of Republicans’ budget reconciliation bill earlier this week that included compromise language on the phaseout of incentives for solar and wind generation projects under the Democrats’ 2022 climate law.

The language gave projects one year to begin construction to claim the current tax credit, while projects that start later would need to be placed into service by 2027. That marked a shift from the language in the House version, H.R. 1 (119), supported by conservative hard-liners that only would provide 60 days for projects to begin construction.

Conservatives also opposed a “safe harbor” clause allowing projects to qualify for the credits if they begin construction by incurring 5 percent of the total cost of the work.

Norman, who voted to proceed to a final vote on the measure, said that Trump gave assurances that changes were going to be made, “particularly with getting permits,” although he did not provide further details. And while the president can’t remove the subsidies, Trump’s pledge on enforcement of the changes helped win support from conservatives.

“They wanted to put when construction began [as] when the time frame would extend from, like the wind and solar. We wanted date of service, which means they can’t take a backhoe out there and dig a ditch and say that’s construction,” he said. “So things like that the president is going to enforce.”

Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) also said Thursday that Trump heard conservatives’ “concerns about the energy sector” and confirmed the administration would vigorously enforce construction dates for the phaseout of the credits.

“That was huge,” Burchett said.

The White House did not immediately return a request for comment Thursday.

Meredith Lee Hill contributed to this report.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries is blasting Republican colleagues over Medicaid as he issues extended remarks ahead of the final GOP megabill vote.

Jeffries is utilizing his so-called “magic minute” to read off letters sent in by individuals in each state who rely on benefits that potentially hang in the balance as a result of the megabill’s provisions.

After reading a story from Arizona and criticizing Rep. Juan Ciscomani (R-Ariz), Jeffries told the chamber: “I’m still in the A section right now, so strap in.”

He read another story from a constituent in GOP Rep. David Valadao’s district in California, which Jeffries said has the highest concentration of Medicaid recipients in the country. The writer’s son has Down syndrome and autism and lives at home with aging parents. He requires in-home care, which is provided through a Medicaid service that could be threatened.

Jeffries said his goal in reading out these stories is to “lift up the voices of every day Americans all across the country.”

“This one big ugly Republican bill has put a target on their back,” Jeffries said. “This is a question for so many individuals of life and death … It is so extraordinary that in the middle of the night, Americans face a bill that will target their healthcare.”

The minority leader is also hinting at the vulnerability of certain Republicans who are voting to advance the bill in potentially toss up districts. Jeffries said one letter came from someone in a district “currently represented by Congressman Gabe Evans — currently represented.”

Speaker Mike Johnson predicted Jeffries would speak for an hour, but it’s unclear how long the speech will go on.

“I’m going to take my time,” Jeffries declared to applause from Democrats on the floor.

Speaker Mike Johnson is potentially just a couple of hours away from sending Donald Trump his “big, beautiful bill,” defying expectations that he could meet the president’s arbitrary but unwavering deadline.

After it appeared to be derailed late Wednesday by hard-right holdouts, Republicans advanced the bill around 3:30 a.m. and are set to vote on final passage around 6 a.m.

During the all-nighter, GOP leaders kept the procedural vote open for almost six hours as they worked to flip 12 votes. Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick was the lone Republican to vote “no” at the end.

Things looked dire until around the 2 a.m. hour, when Johnson and Majority Leader Steve Scalise returned to the House floor saying they had the votes. Not long after, the speaker was seen talking, laughing and what appeared to be praying with some of the House Freedom Caucus holdouts.

How did they get there? Per Meredith Lee Hill, holdouts say they’ve secured commitments from the White House on a variety of topics, especially on how the megabill is implemented. But House Republicans described the hours of talks as more of a venting session for the hard-liners.

“It was more just expression of concerns and priorities that are shared by the administration,” said one person granted anonymity to relay the conversations.

The holdouts said earlier Wednesday they were discussing future legislative opportunities, including a second reconciliation package, and the possibility of executive branch moves to address aspects of the bill they don’t think go far enough.

There was some tough love, too. Several MAGA-world figures including long-time Trump aide Jason Miller and Trump’s 2024 co-campaign manager Chris LaCivita threatened the Republican holdouts on social media. Trump, who’d been privately helping Johnson press them all day, piled on pressure in a series of increasingly irritated missives. “RIDICULOUS!!!” he fired off at 12:45 a.m. as the bill was in limbo.

The mood among House Republicans is that they’re likely to pass the bill later this morning.

“I do so deeply desire to have just [a] normal Congress, but it doesn’t happen anymore,” Johnson said around 1:30 a.m. “I don’t want to make history, but we’re forced into these situations.”

What else we’re watching:

— New E&C subcommittee chair: Rep. Morgan Griffith is in line to be announced today as the next chair of the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee, according three people granted anonymity to discuss the plan. “There’s a good possibility,” E&C Chair Brett Guthrie said Wednesday when asked if Griffith would get the post. “We’re announcing tomorrow though.”

— Race for DHS chair: Rep. Carlos Gimenez has entered the race to lead the House Homeland Security Committee. After Rep. Mark Green announced his retirement, Gimenez sent a letter to the GOP Steering Committee on Tuesday notifying his intent to run for the seat.

David Lim, Bethany Irvine and Ali Bianco contributed to this report.