The legislative push for President Donald Trump's massive tax package will begin in earnest next week as key House committees consider the legislation despite lingering divisions among Republicans.
The Ways and Means Committee and the Energy and Commerce Committee will begin on Tuesday considering their respective portions of the bill on tax cuts and reductions to Medicaid. Both panels are key to pushing Trump's legislative agenda through the narrowly divided House.
The scheduled date, confirmed by several people familiar, comes as Republicans are still hotly debating key details, including expanding the state and local tax deduction and restricting the estate tax.
After the measures are approved by the panels — a process that could play out over multiple days — Republicans will combine the various elements of the bill and advance it to the House floor.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee is responsible for finding $880 billion in savings over the next decade. That debate could be thorny, with Republicans particularly fractured over cuts to the Medicaid healthcare program for low-income and disabled people.
"We are still working," Energy and Commerce Chairman Brett Guthrie said after meeting with Republican committee members early Thursday.
The House Agriculture Committee on Wednesday is planning to complete debate on changes to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, colloquially known as food stamps, according to a person familiar with the schedule. Republicans have been divided over reducing nutrition benefits, with some moderates warning that the cuts would harm their constituents.
GOP leaders have said that a vote on the entire tax and spending package will happen by the end of May. Trump needs the support of nearly all House Republicans to get the package through the chamber.
