House GOP’s 'Big, Beautiful Bill' Faces Crucial Sunday Budget Showdown

House Republicans are burning the midnight oil, piecing together the so-called big, beautiful bill with frantic phone calls and in-person huddles as Sunday night’s Budget Committee meeting looms. The stakes are high, and the clock is ticking.

Three major sticking points remain: green energy tax credits, Medicaid work requirements, and the ever-thorny SALT deduction. The green energy credits could be a key financial backbone for the bill, but the details are still hazy—think handshake deals and gentlemen’s agreements rather than ironclad contracts. Medicaid work requirements are another hot potato, with debates swirling over when they’d kick in. Then there’s the SALT deduction, a lifeline for moderate Republicans in high-tax states like New York and California. The original $600 billion tax break idea was slashed to $230 billion, with a compromise floating to front-load the deduction and taper it off over a decade.

The bill’s fiscal math is a tightrope walk—it can’t add to the deficit over ten years to dodge a Senate filibuster. The White House is eyeing a manager’s amendment to lock in changes before the Rules Committee meets later this week. GOP leadership is cautiously optimistic, with one senior source saying they’re in striking distance—so long as nobody sneaks in last-minute add-ons.

Sunday’s Budget Committee meeting at 10 p.m. ET is make-or-break. After Friday’s resolution flopped, this session is about raw numbers, not grand debates. A quick motion to reconsider the failed vote kicks things off. If that passes, the real test is re-voting on the package. Success here sends the bill to the Rules Committee, possibly as early as Tuesday, with a floor vote by Wednesday or Thursday. If it fails, the GOP’s stuck in the mud.

The mood? Tense but hopeful. If all goes smoothly, the meeting could wrap in 20 minutes. But in politics, smooth is rarely the default setting.