As House Republicans face pressure to pass President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a Tennessee congressman said the bill didn’t have the votes as of Wednesday morning.
“Right now, the votes aren’t there, and I think the bill would die,” U.S. Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Knoxville, said by phone late Wednesday morning. “I don’t think that’s what the White House or our leadership would want, so if I were advising them, I’d say, ‘Let’s slow down, we can get there a little sooner.'”
The legislation includes Trump’s desired tax breaks, spending cuts and enhanced border security, according to the Associated Press.
The legislation has not won over some conservative lawmakers who have been pushing a further decrease in Medicaid spending and are against lifting the state and local tax deduction cap, something New York lawmakers have been advocating for, according to The Associated Press.
“The deal’s falling apart,” Burchett said. “We negotiated in good faith what the president had requested of us in conference and somehow that is being taken off the table, and there’ll be a meeting with the president today to further discuss that.”
Burchett said New York lawmakers need to fix their own problems.
“We don’t need to be rewarding bad behavior in New York, with the SALT, and they make bad decisions,” Burchett said, “and so the people of Tennessee who don’t pay an income tax are going to have to supplant their bad decisions.”
Burchett said it is a lie that low-income people will be kicked off Medicaid.
“If you’re able-bodied and can work, you should work. You shouldn’t be on Medicaid,” he said. “If you’re an illegal, you shouldn’t be on Medicaid. That’s the bottom line. That’s all we’re trying to do.”
Burchett said he thinks enough people share his perspective on the matter to stop the bill.
“This isn’t what America wanted,” Burchett said.
Burchett said he hopes he and his colleagues can reiterate the points discussed with the president previously at a meeting later in the day.
Contact Sarah Dolgin at sdolgin@timesfreepress.com or 423-757-6556.