Americans didn’t elect Trump to bust SALT caps or overhaul Medicaid

Republican lawmakers from every faction threaten to derail President Trump’s agenda if they don’t get what they want. Some raise valid concerns. Others don’t. But all of them want more. It’s a familiar scene in Washington: a president forced to spend political capital appeasing members of Congress who didn’t — and could not possibly — win a national mandate in 2024.

When it’s time to vote, most of them will likely fall in line, take the win, and move on. But if they choose brinksmanship instead — if they blow up the president’s agenda over narrow demands — then there will be hell to pay.

The White House is ready to vote — and ready to put every holdout on the record.

The holdouts span the ideological spectrum. From blue states, the so-called SALT Caucus is fighting for higher caps on federal deductions for state and local taxes — benefits aimed at wealthy constituents. From red states, the fiscal hawks are demanding deeper spending cuts, Medicaid reforms, and full repeal of what’s left of Obamacare.

You will notice not one of these fights aligns with the core message of Trump’s 2024 campaign. Deregulation and rooting out “waste, fraud, and abuse” always make the list, and Trump emphasized them again during Tuesday’s visit to Capitol Hill. But the driving message of rally after rally was clear: Secure the border, deport dangerous criminals, and cement the gains of his first term.

Even so, the current budget deal includes major wins for every faction at the table. The SALT deduction cap would now reportedly increase by 400% for those making under $500,000 — a more generous proposal than many in the SALT Caucus ever seriously pushed and one they finally seem willing to accept Wednesday morning. Meanwhile, the threat they’ve consistently floated — that rejecting the deal means they’ll get an even better deal later — is nonsense. If they kill reconciliation, the Trump tax cuts from 2017 will expire. Their wealthy constituents will see a tax hike, even with SALT caps disappearing.

That’s not leverage. That’s surrender.

Then there’s the spending side. Congress hasn’t enacted a major discretionary spending cut since 1997, when the deal trimmed $138 billion. This legislation would slash more than $1.5 trillion. That figure doesn’t even account for new tariff revenue flowing steadily into the treasury. It’s a serious cut that checks the box on many of the early demands from fiscal conservatives.

That doesn’t mean their stand for more has come to naught. The speaker of the House has promised to move up work requirements for able-bodied adult Medicaid users in response to House Freedom Caucus demands. He’s also reportedly quickened the timeline for phasing out some of President Joe Biden’s green energy corporate handouts. There’s no chance we would have a bill this strong without the hard work of the Freedom Caucus.

No wonder Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought — arguably the most trusted voice on the fiscal right — is enthusiastically selling the deal in D.C. He sees the value.

And that’s not even counting immigration.

The reconciliation bill includes funding for immigration enforcement — critical dollars for Border Patrol and ICE. If Republicans want to see real deportation numbers that match the president’s campaign promises, this is how it happens. No amount of bluster or floor speeches will get it done without the budget to back it up.

This bill gives the administration the resources to ramp up removals of violent and criminal illegal aliens. It’s a concrete step toward restoring law and order at the border. If Republicans blow it now in pursuit of a perfect bill, they risk squandering a once-in-a-generation opportunity to reset the country’s trajectory.

Some hesitation is understandable. Many worry this may be the only shot before the midterms — and historically, the party in the White House takes a beating. But this cycle isn’t following the usual script.

Democrats have boxed themselves in by amplifying the very issues that alienated voters in the first place. And the 2026 map looks nothing like 2018. This isn’t a moment to play defense. It’s a moment to deliver.

Look closer at 2018 for a minute. In that election, 25 Republican House members were defending districts Hillary Clinton had won in 2016, compared to only 12 Democrats defending districts Trump had won. Now jump to 2026, and only three Republicans are defending seats Kamala Harris won in ’24. Meanwhile, 13 Democrats are set to defend Trump ’24 districts.

Trump’s new working-class coalition wants real results — measurable changes that help their bottom lines. That means no taxes on tips. No taxes on overtime. And yes, it also means delivering on promises Republicans have already voted for: serious immigration enforcement, permanent tax cuts, deregulation, and a renewed push for American energy dominance.

This is how you build a durable majority. By showing people — not just telling them — that you can fight and win on their behalf.

Total victory doesn’t come in one vote. Democrats spent over a decade reshaping the country piece by piece, gaining real speed in 2008. Republicans should take the same long view. With only a three-vote margin in the House and a narrowly divided Senate, demanding perfection at the expense of progress is a losing strategy.

The budget deal on the table reflects national priorities. It’s backed by a president who won a national mandate — and it requires a national perspective. The time for slicing off niche concessions is over. The White House is ready to vote — and ready to put every holdout on the record.

Inside the Beltway, Republicans and conservatives increasingly view this deal as a smart, hard-fought win. Everyone understands that different factions have different priorities. But in the real world, those interests often need to be triangulated to achieve meaningful compromise.

The votes are coming. If certain Republicans decide to sabotage the president’s agenda over narrow demands, we’ll find out soon enough. But they shouldn’t expect applause.

Not from a base that came to Washington to win.

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