House GOP to Senate: "Touch very lightly" on Trump budget bill

• "Change it 10%, but I think 30% is a lot," McClain (R-Mich.) told Axios in a wide-ranging interview on Wednesday.
• McClain was responding to Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), who on Wednesday talked about preserving just 60% or 70% of the House-passed legislative text.
• "I realize the Senate has to put their fingerprints on it," McClain told Axios. "Touch very lightly."

Driving the news: Senate Finance Chair Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) laid out the changes he plans to make to his portion of the bill to fellow senators on Wednesday.

• Atop his list: Bring the SALT cap down, and make the business tax cuts permanent. They're also looking at changes to renewable energy tax credits and the number on border security.
• If the Senate makes substantial changes, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) will be forced to go to conference and hammer out the differences in July, with the threat of a debt default hanging over negotiations.
• "I really don't think there's a huge appetite to go to conference because of the timing," McClain said.

Zoom out: "I happen to believe them when they say that," McClain told Axios about blue state Republicans threatening to crash the entire bill if the $40,000 SALT deduction cap is lowered.

The big picture: House lawmakers want to move on a $9.4 billion rescissions package on Thursday.

• "If we can't pass this rescission package, we are really in trouble," she said.
• "I think we're going to pass it," she said, saying she expected more rescissions requests throughout the year.

Go deeper: As conference chair, McClain is working to elevate her members and often does joint media appearances with them.

• She also wants them to venture into potentially hostile territory to sell the GOPs agenda.
• "We need to go tell our story to the CNNs and the MSNBCs," she said.
• "What I found, if you're respectful to any news anchor, any media, they're usually pretty respectful to you."