Congress
House left in limbo as megabill talks continue
Republican holdouts on the Senate-passed version of the party’s “big, beautiful bill” are huddling with House GOP leaders, who are holding open a vote to move the legislation forward as they negotiate.
The procedural vote remained stuck more than 90 minutes after it was first called. Seven Republicans have yet to vote, and several of them are gathered in a room off the House floor where Speaker Mike Johnson and other top leaders have been shuffling in and out.
Placating those hard-line fiscal hawks could be the final test of whether Republicans can send the massive domestic-policy bill to President Donald Trump’s desk before his arbitrary July 4 deadline.
Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), a member of the House Freedom Caucus, said his fellow holdouts on the megabill are deciding between “voting it down and sending it back [to the Senate] or getting our questions answered from the White House and supporting it.”
He added that discussions surround “what the administration can do” to implement the Senate bill in ways that would assuage the concerns conservatives have put forth.
White House budget director Russ Vought arrived at the room around 3:45 p.m. to walk through how the White House could find future spending cuts and how the administration plans implement the policies in the megabill — especially around rollbacks to federal food aid and clawbacks of clean-energy tax credits.
A key GOP holdout, Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, said in a Fox News interview that he was “trying to go through the bill and understand it” after railing against a number of the Senate’s changes.
“I will note that I have now gotten a little bit more information on some of the Medicaid stuff that I feel like it’s a little bit better than I originally anticipated, but I still have concerns,” he said, citing “massive reservations about the Green New Scam subsidies and the overall spending levels.”
The Capitol huddle follows meetings earlier in the day at the White House where Trump participated.
“I think all of the momentum is in the right direction,” said Rep. Dusty Johnson, a South Dakota Republican who attended some of the White House meetings. “The president did a really good job of noticeably moving members toward ‘yes.’”
There is GOP angst about the Senate’s deeper cuts to Medicaid than were in the bill the House passed weeks ago. There are also concerns from House lawmakers about their districts being able to access funds specifically earmarked for rural hospitals — an issue that Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Director Mehmet Oz tried to soothe at a White House meeting earlier in the day.
But the touchiest issue for the hard-liners concerns the additional deficits piled onto the Senate bill, which includes significantly larger tax cuts and additional spending, including the hospitals fund. They are accusing Mike Johnson of violating a budget agreement that stipulated any additional tax cuts would be offset with new spending cuts.
“There were just a lot of promises they’re not living up to,” said a House Republican granted anonymity to describe the sensitive talks.
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), a Freedom Caucus member, said he thinks they will be able to “work something out” to clear the bill on Wednesday, but the path for that is not year clear.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said the only reason the vote was being held open for multiple hours was to accommodate lawmakers whose travel plans back to Washington were disrupted by thunderstorms.
“We need their votes, and they’re going to be here shortly and so when they get here within the next hour, we’ll come back, finish this vote, then go straight into the rule vote,” said Scalise.
But after two of the waylaid GOP members, Pennsylvania Rep. Dan Meuser, and Florida Rep. Neal Dunn, arrived and voted — giving leaders enough votes to move forward — the vote was instead held open as negotiations with the final holdouts continued.
Benjamin Guggenheim, Lisa Kashinsky and Calen Razor contributed to this report.
The House Freedom Caucus is suddenly confronting an unsettled future after more than a decade at the center of GOP politics on Capitol Hill.
Some of its most prominent members are leaving Congress next year after seeking higher office, including former chair Rep. Andy Biggs and several media-friendly voices like Reps. Chip Roy, Byron Donalds and Ralph Norman.
Meanwhile, the group’s current chair, Rep. Andy Harris, is term-limited.
Who will step in to fill the shuffling ranks and maintain the caucus’ role as a hard-right vanguard is very much in question — especially as the group faces a potential shift to a Democratic House majority, which has historically made them less pivotal, and the looming transition to a Republican Party without a President Donald Trump.
The group — which is no stranger to reinventing itself — has a number of relatively unknown members ready to become the new faces of the hard right in the House.
— ERIC BURLISON: The second-term Missouri congressman and current HFC board member said he is considering running to be the next chair.
Last summer he was a vocal member demanding the full release of the Jeffrey Epstein files and has become a leading Republican pushing for more information on UFOs.
— ANDREW CLYDE: Another board member, Clyde has amassed significant power by Freedom Caucus standards by winning seats on the Appropriations and Budget panels.
He said in an interview he had not yet thought about running for chair but noted that “you don’t have to be the chairman to have outsized influence.”
— BRANDON GILL: This Texas freshman, the youngest sitting House Republican, is already seen as a rising star in the House GOP.
He’s made a name for himself through provocative social media posts and splashy legislative moves, such as seeking to impeach James Boasberg, the federal judge who ruled against some of Trump’s deportations last year.
Gill has said he wants to emulate Rep. Jim Jordan, the only founding member of the caucus still serving in the chamber.
— CLAY HIGGINS: Another board member and a more senior member of the group, Higgins said he has not ruled out seeking the chair post but is also “not interested in campaigning” for the job.
Higgins was the only lawmaker to oppose the release of the Epstein files. He said in an interview he’s hoping the group focuses more on policymaking in its next iteration rather than obstructing leadership prerogatives.
— ANDY OGLES: Inside the HFC, Ogles has emerged as a serious force over two terms, with his name floated for chair even before the end of his first term.
He also did not rule out running for chair or another caucus leadership position in a recent interview.
What else we’re watching:
— THUNE RACES TO BREAK SPY POWERS LOGJAM: Senate Majority Leader John Thune is racing to try to confirm the next director of national intelligence and end a stand off over extending a key surveillance power before members break for two weeks. The Senate Intelligence Committee will hold a hearing for Jay Clayton Wednesday — less than a week after the chamber formally received the nomination from the White House. Getting Clayton confirmed is a crucial step to unlocking Congress’ willingness to renew Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act.
— ANTI-FRAUD OPTIONS FOR RECONCILIATION 3.0: Republican leaders say proposals to crack down on fraud in federal safety net programs could be included in another reconciliation package this year. Turns out, a menu of options is developing in plain sight: Just look at the stack of about a dozen bills the House has passed in recent weeks to prevent waste and abuse.
Jordain Carney and Jennifer Scholtes contributed to this report.
After more than a decade at the center of GOP politics on Capitol Hill, the House Freedom Caucus is suddenly confronting an unsettled future.
Several of the hard-right bloc’s most prominent members are leaving Congress next year after seeking higher office — including a former chair, Rep. Andy Biggs of Arizona, and several media-friendly voices such as Reps. Chip Roy of Texas, Byron Donalds of Florida and Ralph Norman of South Carolina, among others.
“We’re losing a lot of talent — there’s no doubt about it,” Rep. Eli Crane of Arizona said. “So it’s just kind of like a next-man-up mentality.”
But which man is very much in question. The current chair, Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland, is term-limited, and a new generation of combative ultraconservatives is ready to step in just as the caucus comes to terms with a potentially changing role on Capitol Hill.
The group will be facing twin challenges — a potential shift to a Democratic House majority, which has historically made the caucus less pivotal, and the looming transition to a Republican Party without a President Donald Trump, who has been an animating force for most of its members.
“Across the country, people know who the Freedom Caucus is,” said Rep. Clay Higgins of Louisiana. “The next couple of years is going to be important for the caucus.”
The group has reinvented itself in the past, with new leaders emerging as old members move on. Donalds recalled when former chair Mark Meadows of North Carolina departed for the White House in Trump’s first term.
“They’re like, ‘Well, what’s going to be the future of HFC?’ And in came Chip Roy, in came a Byron Donalds,” he said with a grin. “We just kind of kept it going.”
The only founding member still serving in the House is Rep. Jim Jordan of Ohio, who could make a play for minority leader if Republicans lose the majority in November — further scrambling the caucus’ historic role as a hard-right vanguard.
Harris will remain a member, as will fellow former chair Scott Perry of Pennsylvania — if he can win what’s expected to be a competitive general-election race. Veteran members such as Reps. Michael Cloud and Keith Self of Texas will also be influential.
But a number of relatively obscure members are ready to make moves and become the new faces of the hard right in the House.
Eric Burlison
Rep. Eric Burlison of Missouri is in his second term but has shown an unmistakable thirst to be at the center of the action since arriving in the House. Currently an HFC board member, Burlinson said he is considering running to be the next chair.
“You obviously have to be selected by your peers, and that would be the greatest honor,” he said in an interview. “There’s no one I respect more than the people that are members of HFC.”
He spent over a decade in the Missouri statehouse before heading to Congress, after working as a software consultant. Last summer he was a vocal member pushing for the full release of the Epstein files and has become a leading Republican pushing for more information on UFOs.
Burlison noted that a future chair will be inheriting a nationally recognized Freedom Caucus “brand” that includes a plethora of state-level and local groups that have adopted the name. He said the original HFC should look at ways to “leverage” that brand but also protect it from being adopted by groups that aren’t in line with its conservative vision.
“We have to kind of protect our image,” he said. ”So I think we need to get that figured out.”
Andrew Clyde
Rep. Andrew Clyde of Georgia has managed to amass significant power by Freedom Caucus standards by winning seats on the Appropriations and Budget committees, which have allowed him to push for conservative positions on those influential panels.
Clyde, another board member, said in an interview he had not yet thought about running for chair but noted that “you don’t have to be the chairman to have outsized influence.”
He added that while the group is losing some high-profile members, the president’s conservative agenda has attracted several likely incoming members to the group.
“We’re seeing some folks that have not supported the Freedom Caucus before that are coming on board to support the House Freedom Caucus,” Clyde said. “So I think you’ll see [an] even greater presence.”
Brandon Gill
Rep. Brandon Gill of Texas, a freshman and the youngest sitting House Republican, is already seen as a rising star inside the House GOP. He has said he wants to emulate Jordanand has a seat on Judiciary, the committee his governing idol chairs.
Gill has made a name for himself through provocative social media posts, regular appearances on Fox News and splashy legislative moves such as seeking to impeach James Boasberg, the federal judge who ruled against some of Trump’s deportations last year.
He does not, however, break with GOP leaders as often as some other Freedom Caucus members and could encounter internal doubts as to whether he’d be willing to play internal hardball in the same way as prior chairs.
Clay Higgins
Higgins is one of the more senior Freedom Caucus members — and one of the more controversial. The former sheriff has been a prominent proponent of conspiracy theories around the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack and he was the only lawmaker to oppose the release of the Epstein files.
Also currently a board member, he said in an interview he has not ruled out seeking the caucus chair post. But he also said he was “not interested in campaigning” for the job and would like to see a “peaceful transition.”
Higgins did boast having “a pretty solid reputation within the caucus as a thoughtful conservative” and is hoping the group focuses more on policymaking in its next iteration rather than obstructing leadership prerogatives.
“We’re either going to go deeper into being a meaningful, effective conservative faction for the entire country, or we could bounce in the other direction and be more like protesters in the parking lot,” he said.
Andy Ogles
Rep. Andy Ogles of Tennessee has been a controversy magnet in the wider political sphere — known for a long-running campaign finance investigation that was recently dropped by the Justice Department and a series of offensive public statements on Muslims, immigrants and other groups.
But inside the Freedom Caucus, he has emerged as a serious force over two terms, with his name floated for chair even before the end of his first term. He did not rule out running for chair or another caucus leadership position in a recent interview.
“All I care about is winning,” Ogles said, referring to the caucus agenda. “If I’m better in a second or tertiary role, that’s what I’ll do to make sure we deliver on the president’s agenda. If that means I’m the chairman, then so be it.”
Ogles said the upcoming turnover represents a good opportunity to renew and potentially rethink how the group operates: “We’re going into the presidential. Sometimes you need fresh ideas, fresh faces.”
The House Oversight Committee requested that Alan Dershowitz, the lawyer who once represented Jeffery Epstein, testify as part of its investigation into the federal government’s handling of the Epstein files.
The interview is tentatively slated for 10 a.m. on July 9, with a video and transcript of the testimony being released “as expeditiously as practical,” Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) wrote in a letter to Dershowitz on Friday.
“Due to public reporting, documents released by the Department of Justice, documents obtained by the Committee, and your former role as Mr. Epstein’s attorney, the Committee believes you have information that will assist in its investigation,” Comer wrote.
Comer told reporters on Wednesday that he wanted to hear from Dershowitz, who helped Epstein secure a controversial plea deal in his 2008 sex abuse case.
“I’m looking forward to testifying,” Dershowitz wrote in a text message to Blue Light News on Friday, adding that he is “trying to adjust my schedule” for July 9.
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