| The tax-cut and spending plan that forms the centerpiece legislation of Donald Trump’s second term has been months in the making, the subject of late night and early morning committee debates as well as meetings and phone calls between the president and Republican lawmakers. Yet... “There’s a long way to go,” Texas Representative Chip Roy, a member of the hardline House Freedom Caucus, said this morning before being summoned to yet another meeting with Trump. That means another late night for House Speaker Mike Johnson if he has any hope of getting a bill passed before lawmakers take a weeklong break for the Memorial Day holiday, his self-imposed deadline. Johnson managed to cover one of his flanks with a deal to raise the cap on the state and local tax deduction with a group of Republicans from high-tax states like New York and California.  Trump and Johnson at the Capitol Photographer: Bloomberg/Bloomberg Yet that agreement didn’t sit well with some Freedom Caucus members because of its effect on the deficit and because it mostly benefits Democratic-run states. Roy and other hardliners also want deeper Medicaid cuts and a quicker end to Biden-era tax breaks for clean energy, Bloomberg’s Erik Wasson and Akayla Gardner report. With an eight-vote majority, Johnson can’t afford too many defections. Now enters Trump, who’s accustomed to governing via executive order and dealing with a compliant Republican majority in Congress. He summoned holdout conservatives to the White House this afternoon to break the impasse. In any case, there’s no legislation to vote on yet. It’s still being being written. And once the House does vote, the bill will head to the Senate where it almost assuredly will changed. None of that means the tax-cut bill won’t — eventually — pass Congress. But getting there will be a long summer slog. — Joe Sobczyk Key Reading: | 
