President Trump made a personal appeal during a White House meeting to win over some of the dozen or so House Republicans who oppose the Senate-passed FY2025 budget resolution, which doesn't change House reconciliation instructions for $2 trillion in spending cuts to accompany $4.5 trillion in Tax Cuts & Jobs Act (TCJA) extensions and other tax cuts — but also doesn't mandate that level of savings from the Senate, where Republicans wrote the instructions for only nominal deficit reduction. Both chambers must pass the same budget to unlock the reconciliation process.

After the meeting, House Republicans were still short of the votes to pass the budget this week, which they want to do to make further progress toward an eventual reconciliation bill, prior to the two-week recess scheduled to begin April 11. Most of the opposing members object to the Senate-passed resolution because it doesn't require significant spending cuts, or because of the approach to tax cuts, which is to rely on a current policy baseline that doesn't count the cost of TCJA extensions and provide an additional $1.5 trillion for tax cuts, for a total of $5.3 trillion under the resolution. Rep. Andy Harris (R-MD), the Freedom Caucus Chair who previously said he won't support the budget before seeing more about deficit reduction plans, declined Trump's invitation saying, "There's nothing that I can hear at the White House that I don't understand about the situation … He's just not going to change my mind."

Other House members who have expressed concerns about the Senate-passed resolution include Freedom Caucus members Reps. Scott Perry (R-PA), Rich McCormick (R-GA), Andy Ogles (R-TN), Josh Brecheen (R-OK), Keith Self (R-TX), and Andrew Clyde (R-GA); Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-IN); House Budget Chairman Budget Jodey Arrington (R-TX); and Ways & Means members Reps. Greg Steube (R-FL), Lloyd Smucker (R-PA), and Dave Schweikert (R-AZ).

President Trump doesn't want a delay in the process, saying at the National Republican Congressional Committee Dinner last night, "We've got to get it done and get it done now. Don't wait two weeks. Don't wait two weeks. Bad things happen." He also posted regarding the meeting with House members, in part, "I let them know that, I AM FOR MAJOR SPENDING CUTS! WE ARE GOING TO DO REDUCTIONS, hopefully in excess of $1 Trillion Dollars, all of which will go into 'The One, Big, Beautiful Bill.' I, along with House Members and Senators, will be pushing very hard to get these large scale Spending Cuts done, but we must get the Bill approved NOW."

It isn't lost on House Republicans that the Senate instructions are operative under a reconciliation bill, which gains a procedural advantage only in the Senate, with a 51-vote threshold for passage rather than the filibuster-proof 60 votes required of most other legislation. Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), an outspoken Freedom Caucus member, posted a warning fellow House Republicans who say, "don't worry about the Senate's weak budget that doesn't reduce spending … they kept the House instructions that DO reduce spending." Roy said "the Senate doesn't care about the House instructions" and cited a 2022 Senate Budget Committee report that said:

When asked in March 2017 whether a House reconciliation bill should qualify for privilege in the Senate when the Ways and Means Committee failed to meet its instruction, the Parliamentarian advised that the only thing that matters is whether the bill complies with the Senate instructions. The Parliamentarian noted that the Parliamentarian's office has years of correspondence on this.

If GOP leaders can't secure the votes for the budget resolution, it's possible the two chambers could go to a conference committee or other negotiations, but that could mean sending the budget resolution back through the Senate. Punchbowl News reported April 8, "House Judiciary Committee Chair Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), one of the most influential conservatives in the conference, said at the closed meeting that the House and Senate should enter into a formal conference to resolve their differences. This is something Johnson and the White House desperately want to avoid. But it's clearly catching on in the conference."

Tax — Rep. Harris also made news for telling constituents on Maryland's Eastern Shore and northeast region during a telephone town hall meeting that he would support a millionaires' tax bracket of 40% to pay for President Trump's proposal to exempt tip income from tax. This follows reporting last week that such a top rate was under discussion. Additionally, Bloomberg reported Deputy Treasury Secretary Michael Faulkender as warning against a corporate tax rate increase at an event hosted by the Managed Funds Association (MFA) yesterday.

Health care — A major concern among Republicans is the House reconciliation instruction to the House Energy & Commerce Committee for at least $880 billion in spending cuts and the prospect that meeting that number would require benefit cuts. Politico reported Energy & Commerce Chair Brett Guthrie (R-KY) as saying this week the Committee could target between $500 billion and $600 billion in health care cuts, with savings coming from policies to reduce fraud, waste, and abuse in Medicaid, create Medicaid work requirements, and adjustment of the federal payment for state Medicaid expansion populations.

Trade — The additional country-specific tariff rates on countries with which the US has large trade deficits and trade barriers took effect today (April 9), following the April 5 effective date of 10% universal tariffs. During the April 8 Senate Finance Committee hearing on the President's Trade Agenda, United States Trade Representative Jamieson Greer repeated the point made by other Administration officials that President Trump's Reciprocal Tariff Policy is already bringing other nations to the negotiating table. But the overwhelming message from members of both parties is they want more certainty on the tariff outlook.

Chairman Mike Crapo (R-ID) asked for clarity on whether the objective is for the US to engage in market access negotiations with other nations. Greer said the idea is to address years of nonreciprocal access that has contributed to trade deficits and say to other nations, 'If you have a better idea to achieve reciprocity and to get our trade deficit down, we want to talk to you.' Ranking Member Ron Wyden (D-OR) criticized the White House for the uncertainty surrounding the tariff rollout, saying, "There is no clear message about how they were determined, what they're supposed to accomplish, how long they will be in place, whether they're a negotiating tool or a move to try and cut the United States off from global trade … " He plans to introduce a bipartisan privileged resolution to roll back the tariffs.

Greer said during Q&A:

• the President made clear that he won't be making exceptions, exclusions, or exemptions soon
• most countries have said they won't retaliate and, for those that do, the hope is they will bring down their tariff and nontariff barriers
• the system needs to be changed so products are produced in the United States

Senator Steve Daines (R-MT) said he hopes countries will make concessions and negotiate trade deals to protect and grow US jobs and improve market access. Senator James Lankford (R-OK) asked for a timeline of how long tariffs will be in effect. Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) expressed concern about the use of tariffs as a broad instrument that will result in collateral damage, and maybe some companies going bankrupt. Senator Thom Tillis (R-NC) questioned the approach of tariffs for products that are only made in foreign nations and that don't compete with US production and suggested there be exemptions for nations we have relationships with, as well as developing countries.

USTR Greer is at the House Ways & Means Committee today.

Treasury — Secretary Scott Bessent officially announced appointments for senior positions at the Treasury Department:

• Rebecca Oakes Burch, formerly at WCEY, is Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Tax Affairs
• Kevin Salinger will serve as Deputy Assistant Secretary for Tax Policy
• Derek Theurer, who currently serves as Counselor to the Secretary of the Treasury, is President Trump's nominee to serve as Deputy Under Secretary of the Treasury for Legislative Affairs and upon confirmation will be designated as Assistant Secretary for Legislative Affairs

The Senate Finance Committee is holding a hearing tomorrow — Thursday, April 10 at 10 a.m. — to consider the nominations of William Kimmitt to be Under Secretary of Commerce for International Trade and Ken Kies to be an Assistant Secretary of the Treasury (Tax Policy).

Friday, April 11 at 12 p.m. is the EY Webcast, "Tax in a time of transition."