WASHINGTON >> Tax breaks tallying more than $5 trillion — but also sizable reductions in Medicaid health care, food stamps for older Americans and green energy strategies to fight climate change — faced sharp debate Tuesday as House Republicans grind through marathon hearings on their “big, beautiful bill.”

Republicans are working to push President Donald Trump’s signature legislative package through a gauntlet of committees over mounting opposition from Democrats, advocacy groups and even some wary Republicans themselves.

Right from the start, one meeting was immediately disrupted by protesters shouting down what the panel’s top Democrat called “cruel” cuts to Medicaid.

“People feel very strong because they know they’re losing their health care,” said Rep. Frank Pallone, D-N.J., on the Energy & Commerce Committee.

And on it went for hours.

It’s the biggest political and legislative debate for the Republicans leading Congress since Trump’s first term, setting up a career-defining clash over the nation’s priorities, all coming at a time of economic unease with Trump’s trade war and other uncertainties.

Trump, speaking at a forum in the Middle East, struck an ambitious chord, saying Congress was “on the verge of passing the largest tax cut and regulation cut in American history.”

“If we get that, that will be like a rocket ship for our country,” Trump said in Saudi Arabia.

But to be sure, there are many more steps before the package becomes law.

At its core, the goal for GOP lawmakers is to extend — and enhance — tax cuts approved in 2017, adding the president’s 2024 campaign promises for no taxes on tips, Social Security income and car loan interest.

There’s also larger standard deduction, $32,000 for couples, a boost to the Child Tax Credit and a potentially higher cap of $30,000 on state and local tax deductions, known as SALT, that’s still being negotiated.

That’s offset by $1.9 trillion in savings largely from the rollback of green energy tax credits, for a net tally of $3.7 trillion in costs over the decade, according to the most recent estimates — along with billions more in savings from the safety net cuts

Additionally, the Republicans are boosting spending on their GOP priorities, with $350 billion for Trump’s mass deportation plans and funding for the Pentagon.

At the same time, the Republicans are seeking to defray the lost tax revenue and avoid skyrocketing national deficits by with another GOP goal, which is scaling back federal spending.

The Republicans are proposing cuts of nearly $800 billion over the decade to the Medicaid health care program, which is used by 70 million Americans; $290 billion to food aid in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP; and others.

Tucked into the package is a smattering of other provisions important to the White House — including one that would allow the Trump administration to yank the tax exempt status of groups it says support terrorists, sending a chill through civil society organizations who warn it’s a way to punish opponents.

House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries accused Republicans of “jamming another GOP tax scam” that benefits the wealthy at the expense of programs and services used by many Americans.

Speaker Mike Johnson is determined to push the package through the House by Memorial Day, sending it to the Senate, where Republicans are working on their own version.

Johnson and his leadership team have been conferring constantly with Trump at every step.

On Tuesday, the final three of 11 House committees working on the package drilled down on some of the largest components.

Tempers flared in the hearing rooms. At one point, Rep. Brett Guthrie, the Republican chairman of the Energy & Commerce Committee, banned lawmakers from accusing colleagues of “lying.”

Democrats put up posters of constituents with the words “Medicaid Matters.” One, Rep. Marc Veasey of Texas, put one on speakerphone to share her story — until her testimony was ruled out of order.

The U.S. Capitol Police said 26 people were arrested in the Rayburn House Office Building where the panel was meeting.