Latest on Trump’s presidency as he pushes for House GOP to pass budget bill.see more

President Donald Trump expressed confidence after meeting with House Republicans on Capitol Hill this morning as he made a personal pitch for passing his sweeping tax and spending cuts bill.

Trump urged House Republicans to stop negotiating and move ahead with the bill and warned them to stay away from changes to Medicaid, sources in the meeting told CNN, as GOP holdouts threaten to stall his agenda amid several sticking points.

Several Cabinet secretaries are in the hot seat on Capitol Hill today — including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem — as they defend their agencies’ budgets in front of respective committees.

• Ukraine war talks: Rubio told the Senate Foreign Relations Committee that threatening Russia with additional sanctions could cause Moscow to stop talking about a potential end to the war in Ukraine. His remarks come a day after Trump’s call with Russian President Vladimir Putin.

President Donald Trump and GOP Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky found themselves in a familiar position earlier today as the commander-in-chief met with lawmakers on Capitol Hill: opposing each other.

Walking into his closed-door meeting with House Republicans, Trump singled out Massie directly, who opposes the president’s legislative agenda.

“I don’t think Thomas Massie understands government. I think he’s a grandstander, frankly,” Trump said ahead of the meeting. “We don’t even talk to him much. I think he should be voted out of office.”

Massie told CNN that inside the room, Trump called him out “eight times.” But he said the president was nicer to him there than his public comments would reflect, and the lawmaker made light of the ire he faces from the president.

“I was flattered,” Massie said. “I wasn’t offended by anything he said.”

Massie is comfortable being the lone no vote against Trump, and he has staked out a rare position in the Republican Party where he finds his most consistent company to be his state’s senator, GOP Sen. Rand Paul.

While he predicted his Republican colleagues would cave to Trump’s demands, Massie said he remains immovable.

“It’s math, is what it is,” he said. “If this vote were based on intuition or likeability of the president, I might vote yes. But it’s not. Not for me. There are real consequences. And they probably have the votes anyway to pass it. I think he was talking to the people who have leaned no, trying to persuade them more than me.”