Trump touts unity at Capitol visit, says does not want to 'benefit Dem governors' with budget bill

President Trump touted unity during his visit to the Capitol on Tuesday, saying he does not want to "benefit Democrat governors" with the House GOP budget bill.

"We have governors that are from the Democrat Party – let's say New York, Illinois, big ones – let's say Gavin Newsom, who's done a horrible job in California," Trump said before meeting with House Republicans to help them pass his signature budget bill. 

"We want to benefit Republicans because they are the ones that are going to make America great again. The Democrats are destroying our country, and you see that with the past administration, with an open-borders policy that allowed 21 million people into our country – many of those people are stone-cold murderers, killers, and trouble."

Trump arrived on Capitol Hill to help GOP House Speaker Mike Johnson bring together the moderates and conservatives in his conference to pass the bill, with a key vote set for 1 a.m. Wednesday.

Other important items in Trump's so-called "Big, Beautiful" budget bill include making his 2017 tax cuts permanent and ending taxes on tips.

Regarding helping Democratic governors, Trump argues that raising the cap on SALT deductions is mostly beneficial in states with a high cost-of-living and are led by a Democratic governor, including California and New York. 

House Republicans in Blue states argue them getting elected in 2024 helped the GOP retake the House and that the SALT changes are needed to help them get reelected and for Republicans to keep the House majority.

"We're going to make a couple of tweaks," Trump said about the bill." We don't want to benefit Democrat governors – although, I would do that if it made it better, but they don't know what they're doing. We don’t want to do any damage to a state. We want to help all the states."

Johnson has set a deadline for Monday, Memorial Day, to pass the budget bill.