House Ways and Means Committee members hold a markup of the proposed GOP tax reform legislation. | Getty Images House Republicans confident on tax bill A vote is expected on Thursday, and GOP leaders say they have the votes.

House Republicans are stepping up their whip effort behind a major tax-cut package, with top leaders expressing confidence they'll have the votes to pass the measure on Thursday.

With many Republicans calling it a “make-or-break” moment for their majority, House GOP leaders and Ways and Means Committee Chairman Kevin Brady are sounding decidedly bullish. President Donald Trump, returning from a 12-day Asia trip, will meet with House Republicans before the vote.


Speaker Paul Ryan and other top Republicans are so confident that they can pass the bill that they are resisting efforts by Trump to include a repeal of Obamacare's individual mandate in the package. They've also rejected attempts by blue-state Republicans to revise their proposal to limit state and local tax deductions.

"We're pushing this bill as we have it," Ryan told reporters on Tuesday morning following a GOP members-only meeting in the Capitol. Ryan told his members that if they pass their bill this week, Congress can finish work on the issue by the end of the year, GOP sources said.

Ryan noted the Senate Finance Committee is just beginning, and he expects further changes in the legislation following House-Senate negotiations.

The chairman of that committee, Sen. Orrin Hatch, unveiled major changes to his plan late Tuesday. A raft of tax cuts for individuals would become temporary under the revision, expiring after 2025. At the same time, he would beef up the child tax credit more than he had proposed, to $2,000, while reducing the income threshold at which it would begin to phase out, to $500,000 from the previously proposed $1 million.

And as expected, the plan would kill the Affordable Care Act’s individual mandate to buy health insurance beginning after next year.

House Chief Deputy Whip Patrick McHenry (R-N.C.) said he felt “very good” about the whip check on that chamber's bill. And a half-dozen deputy whips echoed those comments after huddling with White House chief economic adviser Gary Cohn in the basement of the Capitol, where there was no talk of delaying the vote.

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Indeed, party leaders and aides said the process has gone surprisingly well — a sign of how desperate Republicans are to notch a legislative victory after their failure to repeal Obamacare.

"We're gonna pass this bill, yes," insisted House Majority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.).

Debate on the House floor is expected to begin Wednesday, with final passage set for Thursday.

"It's probably the most unified we've been in a while," added Rep. Doug Collins (R-Ga.). "We all have our issues, and we know the Senate is going to do something different. But I think everyone is very focused and we know we need to get this thing done."

But a bloc of Republicans from the Northeast and California are openly opposing the bill because of the state and local tax deduction issue. Despite meeting with leaders on Monday night, the proposal has not been altered. Ryan, McCarthy and Majority Whip Steve Scalise (R-La.) clearly feel they have 218 votes without these Republicans.

"I'm still a no, my position hasn't changed," said Rep. Peter King (R-N.Y.). Rep. Frank LoBiondo (R-N.J.) added that leadership "hasn't changed" the bill at all, and he remains opposed.

The mostly positive GOP vibes — arguably their first since this summer's failure to repeal Obamacare — comes as Trump returns to Washington on Tuesday. Some Republicans have worried privately that the president could upset the talks with off-the-cuff tweets or statements. Many Republicans were relieved that Trump was gone for much of the House’s legislative work on the bill.

As if on cue, Trump tweeted Monday morning that while he is “proud” of Congress’ tax reform progress, he still wants it to include a repeal of Obamacare’s individual mandate as part of the bill — and slash the top individual rate from 39.6 percent in the House to 35 percent.

“How about ending the unfair & highly unpopular Indiv Mandate in OCare & reducing taxes even further? Cut top rate to 35% w/all of the rest going to middle income cuts?” he wrote.

While Brady said Monday that such changes “remains under consideration,” Ryan and other senior House Republicans say neither is going to happen. Many Republicans agree in theory with Trump on rescinding the individual mandate. But House leaders worry that adding controversial health care policy into the mix would sink their tax bill.

Cutting the top individual rate to 35 percent is also unlikely due to the sheer cost — money Republicans can’t spare if they want to circumvent Democrats and pass the tax bill by a majority vote in the Senate. Trump originally urged the House to keep the top rate at 39.6 percent, and Republicans are trying to sell their bill as a boon to the middle class, not the wealthy.

Most Republican supporters of Trump’s ideas aren’t prepared to fight for them at this point — if only because they want to move the process along. House Freedom Caucus Chairman Mark Meadows (R-N.C.) said that while he’d prefer to include the individual mandate repeal, he and his fellow conservatives aren’t going to hold up the tax bill this week.

The group, typically a thorn in leadership’s side, has given leaders rare space to write and negotiate the tax bill. While the caucus did not endorse the tax bill during its weekly meeting Monday evening, Meadows said he believes members are mostly "cautious yeses."

“I do fully expect that the bill will move forward and pass on Thursday, based on our whip count and based on the general understanding of where the rest of the conference is,” Meadows said. “If anything, it’s just a cautious ‘yes’ on moving the process forward with the full understanding that there’s still a number of issues that have to be worked out before final passage.”

Meadows said the group has a number of outstanding concerns that need to be addressed in conference committee.

“Some of the private conversations have indicated a greater willingness to look at changing it in conference," he said, "and ultimately the reason why we believe we have that is we have enough votes to make sure it doesn’t pass on final passage if they’re not addressed.”

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Despite caution where Trump is concerned, Republican leaders have invited the president to come rally the House GOP conference Thursday morning before passage. The White House also stands at the ready to make any calls necessary to get the bill over the finish line.

Cohn told lawmakers at the whip meeting that “the president is happy with the progress, and supportive of the House bill,” according to Rep. Roger Williams (R-Texas). Rep. Joe Barton (R-Texas) said the plan is to vote Thursday at 5:30 p.m.

Cohn said he was in touch daily with Trump about the tax bill, sometimes multiple times a day, as the president traveled around Asia.

GOP leaders, meanwhile, are still working behind the scenes to bolster their numbers. They met Monday night with lawmakers from high-tax states like New York and New Jersey, who are currently opposed to the legislation.

It is unlikely that leaders can win over those members, whose constituents rely on the state and local tax deduction. But Rep. Devin Nunes (R-Calif.), a Ways and Means member close with leaders, predicted that there aren't enough opponents from high-tax states to defeat the bill.

After Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) came out against the legislation last week, GOP leaders worried that other California Republicans would follow suit. So far, that hasn’t happened.

Rep. Doug LaMalfa (R-Calif.) said he supports the Republican legislation, though he expects it to be improved in conference committee in order to win his vote on final passage.

“That’s the one that better have the right things in it,” LaMalfa said.

Brian Faler contributed to this story.