The top House Republican was making a low-key — but high-stakes — visit to the House Budget Committee before the panel’s second meeting on President Donald Trump's "big, beautiful bill." The first meeting on May 16 had blown up without resolution when four fiscal hawks balked at the legislation and voted against advancing it to the full House.

The One Big Beautiful Bill promises to maintain the tax cuts from the US president’s first term, implement new ones and expand spending on defence and border security.

According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the legislation would reduce Medicaid spending by roughly $700 billion compared to the existing policy and result in approximately 8.6 millio...