Louisiana House Speaker Mike Johnson will speak to reporters about the Republican budget settlement package at his weekly press conference at the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, June 24, 2025. (Photo: Ashley Murray/States Newsroom)

WASHINGTON – U.S. Senate Republicans scramble Tuesday to reconstruct some proposals with a “big beautiful bill” that doesn’t meet the strict Chamber of Commerce rules for passing settlement packages, and GOP lawmakers on the other side of the Capitol warned that those changes could be doomed to pass the house.

In one major development, the senator on Monday determined that the controversial provision defended by Senate Energy and Natural Resources Chairman Mike Lee requires the sale of at least 2 million acres of public land in 11 states.

Lee, a Utah Republican, said the provision would free up the land to build new homes. But Democrats and some Republicans in the affected states strongly opposed it.

Lee I said it on social media On the Monday evening when he was I’m working on rewriting the proposal To comply with the settlement rules. A spokesman for his office did not reply to a message seeking comment Tuesday morning.

Back to the building and snap a cost sharing with the state

At another event, R-Ark. Senate Agriculture Chair John Booseman has announced that the panel has reworked a provision that will transfer some of the costs of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to the state government. Over the weekend, Congress determined that the previous proposals were not in compliance with the rules.

“Our common sense approach encourages states to adopt better practices, lower error rates, become better custodians of taxpayer dollars, and prioritize the resources of those who really need it,” Boozman wrote in a statement.

The new language gives the option for the state to choose between 2025 or 2026 and the year for which the federal government determines the SNAP payment error rate.

State with error rates above 6% should cover a certain percentage of costs for nutrition programs in low-income households.

Hurry towards the deadline

Internal debate among lawmakers and internal debate about how to rewrite key parts of the tax and spending reduction package has rushed feelings among Republican leaders.

R-La. Mike Johnson, speaker at a press conference shortly after the Door House GOP meeting, which closed Tuesday, said he hopes that the final bill coming out of the Senate will not make too many changes to what was approved earlier this year.

“I remain extremely optimistic that there is no wide crack between what the Senate produces and what we produce – the two products,” Johnson said. “We all know what the touchpoint is and what areas of greatest concern are.”

He said Republicans know they need to focus on maintaining vulnerable compromises on state and local tax credits, or salt, which will help offset the cost of living in several high-tax states, including California, New Jersey and New York.

Johnson, who was intervened with GOP lawmakers at the Salt Caucus, has been heavily rewritten in the Senate, but is expected to return to the House version, although not entirely.

Johnson also mentioned GOP’s efforts to roll back certain clean energy clauses Democrats approved and that President Joe Biden signed the law in 2022 with the Inflation Reduction Act or signed the IRA with the signed climate change, healthcare and tax package.

“You have to get the salt negotiation number right. You need to make sure your IRA grants are handled in the right way,” Johnson said. “Look, you have a lot of regulations.”

Johnson said he hopes the Senate will vote for the final bill by Friday or Saturday, and he told Congressmen to “keep your schedule flexible” about being in Washington, D.C. for the final House vote.

Trump has Republicans

President Donald Trump has urged swift approval of the final bill and attempted to post on social media that GOP lawmakers should deliver the package to him as soon as possible.

“To your Senate friends, lock them in their room if necessary. Don’t go home, close the deal this week. You can work with the house and pick it up and hand it over right away,” Trump wrote Tuesday. “No one will have a holiday until it’s done. Everyone, most importantly, is much better because of our work. Make America great again!”

Oklahoma Sen. Mark Wayne Mullin said there are concerns about everyone among his fellow Republicans. Provisions that require removal or reworking significantly To meet complex rules for moving settlement bills through that chamber. For example, the language was removed while being redoing in hopes of adding it again It would have transferred some costs With the state government running a supplemental nutrition support program, it could potentially entrust billions of states added to their food aid programs for low-income people.

“Every time something comes out that we’re using as a paycheck, it cuts down the deficit cut. And they’ve taken nearly $300 billion so far, and we have to make up for that,” Marin said after leaving the closed door house GOP meeting. “The Senate cannot enter under the House version when it comes to reducing deficits, which makes it difficult.”

Marin, who acts as a salt Republican inside the house and the top negotiator for his room, told reporters he expects the state and local tax credits to remain at the $40,000 level negotiated in the House. However, the Senate said it is likely to rewrite its $500,000 income cap to qualify for the tax credit.

“I think 40 is the number we’ll land,” Marin said. “What we’re in negotiations is the income threshold.”

“Red Line” of the house

New York Republican Rep. Mike Lawler told reporters following the closure meeting that Senate leaders should not assume what they give to them is acceptable to the house.

“I was very clear about where my red line was, so I’ll try to play this process,” Roller said. “I think the Senate should recognize the only number that is 218, 50 plus one. That’s it. How do you get there?”

Republicans have 53 seats in the Senate, so leadership cannot lose more than four votes, and given Democrats’ universal opposition, they cannot approve the package.

In the House, GOP leaders have 220 seats and need almost every member to help the Senate send back to reach the president’s desk before a voluntary deadline.

In addition to compromising on the salt tax, Lawler said he was concerned about how the Senate changed other provisions, including those that addressed Medicaid, a state and local health program aimed at low-income earners.

“Yeah, there’s a lot of concern about the decisions they’re making,” Lawler said. “And obviously, the bill on their side is not final, so we’ll see where it goes.”

Missouri Republican Rep. Jason Smith, chairman of the Methods and Means Committee, who created tax provisions in the settlement bill, stood in the House version of the Opportunity Zone tax incentives. The House version extends the incentive for a year from the 2017 Tax Cuts and Employment Act, and the Senate version makes it permanent.

Tax incentives for the Opportunity Zone were promoted by South Carolina Sen. Tim Scott in the first Trump administration. But it had mixed results.

“The tax bill we are trying to provide is intended for working families, small businesses and farmers,” Smith said.

A House Republican gives a thumbs up

House Freedom Caucus chair Andy Harris (R-Md.), posted on social media that he did not support how the Senate changed the bill and attempted to stop it from becoming law.

“The Senate version of the one big, beautiful bill currently being proposed will weaken the priorities of the major House. It is not enough to eliminate Medicaid waste, fraud and abuse. It will go back to the back of the green new fraud elimination included in the House bill, and will significantly increase the deficit.

“If the Senate tried to jam the house with this version, I wouldn’t vote for ‘present’. I’ll vote. ”