President Pressures Republican Holdouts to Pass “Big, Beautiful Bill;” Fed Benefit Cuts Hang in Balance
President Trump continues to pressure Republicans lawmakers to get behind the “big, beautiful bill” as conservative hardliners remain on the fence. There was a meeting on Wednesday between the president, House Republican leadership, and members of the Freedom Caucus to try and get everyone on the same page for the massive tax cut and spending package.
While House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) wants the legislation passed by Memorial Day, some Freedom Caucus members say spending cuts do not go far enough.
“As I’ve said all along, we may need a couple of weeks to iron everything out, but it’s not going anywhere today,” said Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris (R-MD).
Others like Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY), say it amounts to malpractice to vote on a 1,100 page bill that’s still being written.
“Major provisions of the big beautiful bill are still being negotiated and written, yet we are being told we will vote on it today,” wrote Representative Massie on X. “Shouldn’t we take more than a few hours to read a bill this big and this consequential?”
Conservative holdouts also demanded a series of conditions to win their support, such as speeding up elimination of the green energy tax credits and limiting the size and scope of Medicaid spending. Some are also annoyed that moderate Republicans from blue states secured a deal on raising the state and local tax (SALT) deduction cap, which the fiscal hawks say needs to be offset with additional spending cuts.
Meanwhile, the White House is talking tough.
“President Trump is committed to keeping his promises, and failure to pass this bill would be the ultimate betrayal,” the White House wrote in a statement.
Federal Benefit, Pension Changes
Nevertheless, if the bill ultimately passes, there will be effects to federal employees and retirees.
The House Rules Committee made changes to federal benefit cuts as it marked up the legislation. No longer included in the updated legislation was a proposal to raise the Federal Employees Retirement System (FERS) contribution rate to a mandatory 4.4 percent for all federal employees.
Also out is calculating retirement benefits based on the High-5 instead of High-3.
Other federal benefit cuts remain in the legislation, although some of the dates were changed. Notable provisions include:
The bill eliminates higher pension contribution requirements for all 6(c) and non-6(c) law enforcement officers.
The elimination of the FERS annuity supplements for those who have not yet reached the age of 62 to collect Social Security, was delayed until 2028.
There were also additional exceptions created to receive the FERS supplements, including for those who accrue 20 years of service by age 50, or reach 25 years of service at any age. The exception for feds who retire at age 57 due to mandatory early retirement was included in the earlier text.
Federal employees subject to mandatory early retirement are also exempt from the provision requiring employees to choose between “at-will” employment status or accepting a five percent increase to their FERS contribution rate.
“We have worked hard and continued to move this reconciliation bill in the right direction,” wrote Federal Law Enforcement Officers Association (FLEOA) President Mathew Silverman in a message to members. “We are fully aware that there is more work to be done, particularly as it relates to ensuring our non-6(c) members are fully protected.”
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget says that recent changes to the federal benefits provisions would cancel most of the $51 billion in federal worker retirement savings from the original version of the bill, which is necessary to meet the Oversight Committee’s $50 billion savings floor.
“Policymakers should avoid missing the forest for the trees in this process: reconciliation is an opportunity to lower deficits and narrow the gap between spending and revenue, yet we’re taking an already massive debt increase and worsening it at the last minute,” said Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget President Maya MacGuineas.
The Committee estimates the bill would add $3.3 trillion to the debt.