Members of the House Ways and Means Committee participate a markup hearing in the Longworth House Building on Capitol Hill on May 13, 2025 in Washington, DC. (Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)
"People would love to do it. Rich people. I would love to do it, frankly. Giving us something up top in order to make people in the middle income and the lower income brackets [have] more. So, it's really a redistribution," said the president.
First, President Trump suggested a form of rations, limiting how many pencils kids need or how many dolls a little girl should have. That puzzled free marketeers in the GOP.
Now, to use his phrase, "redistribution."
You understand how much heartburn this gives capitalists in Congress. But what’s worse is the mixed messaging.
When writing on Truth Social about creating a higher tax bracket for the wealthy, the president muddled his instructions for lawmakers:
"Republicans should probably not do it, but I’m OK if they do!!!" declared President Trump.
CIVIL WAR THREATENS GOP OVER MILLIONAIRE TAX HIKES IN TRUMP'S 'BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL'
This exasperated Congressional Republicans who oppose raising any taxes – a long-held tenet of the Republican Party.
In another political universe, taxing the wealthy would be – at best – a trial balloon. So, most Congressional Republicans decided it was time for this to pop.
"No, we are not going to do tax increases," said Rep. Darrell Issa, R-Calif., on Fox Business.
On the White House's South Lawn, U.S. President George H.W. Bush speaks prior to the signing ceremony of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 (or ADA), Washington DC, July 26, 1990. (Ron Sachs/CNP/Getty Images)
"No new taxes," intoned the late President George H.W. Bush in his address to a Joint Session of Congress in 1989.
But Bush famously reversed himself as part of a 1990 budget pact. That was not necessarily the reason "Bush 41" lost reelection in 1992 to former President Clinton. And President Trump was sure enough to point that out on social media.
"The Radical Left Democrat Lunatics would go around screaming, ‘Read my lips,’ the fabled Quote by George Bush the Elder that is said to have cost him the Election. NO, Ross Perot cost him the Election!" wrote Trump.
Presidential candidate Ross Perot speaks during the 1992 Presidential Debates. (Wally McNamee/CORBIS/Corbis via Getty Images)
The "Perot Effect" certainly deprived George H.W. Bush of a second term more than breaking the "no new taxes" promise. But that doesn’t mean that Republicans aren’t skittish about voting for tax increases.
And regardless, the legislative product that emerged from the Ways and Means Committee markup this week lacked the type of tax hike dangled by President Trump.
That said, Congressional Republicans certainly have their opinions about what they think of the developing "big, beautiful bill."
"A growing number of us, we don’t want smoke and mirrors. We want real cuts," said Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C. "$2 trillion (in cuts) is really a teardrop in the ocean."
"You’ve got front-loaded tax [cuts]. Backloaded spending restraint," groused Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas. "Medicaid reforms and work requirements don’t kick in for four years."
"It’ll be ironic and sad in a way that conservatives will be voting for the largest increase in the debt ceiling," mused Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky. "I have a feeling it’s going to be wimpy on the spending cuts and maybe a little wimpy on the taxes, too."
So, at least some Republicans grasp what they want in the bill. And they’re willing to take direction from the president. That’s why clear direction from 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. will be key next week as the House tries to pass the measure.
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Members will say they can’t vote for the bill because it has this or excludes that. But they just might be able to vote yea if President Trump knows what he wants – and makes that clear to lawmakers.
Chad Pergram currently serves as a senior congressional correspondent for FOX News Channel (FNC). He joined the network in September 2007 and is based out of Washington, D.C.
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https://www.foxnews.com/politics/republicans-struggle-trumps-mixed-signals-big-beautiful-bill