While America's skies went quiet, the White House was talking movies: Donald Trump used a tearful meeting with Jon Voight to tell Congress to pass Hollywood's long-awaited federal tax credit now.

President Donald Trump on Friday, November 13, publicly urged Congress to pass the Motion Picture, Television, and Entertainment Revitalization Act, a bipartisan bill that would create the first federal tax incentive for film and TV production in the United States. He made the push in a Truth Social post sent while actor Jon Voight, his so-called "ambassador to Hollywood", was in the room with him at the White House, according to Variety. The timing drew attention: the meeting and the post came as a rare nationwide ground stop halted flights across the US, and the post went out before Trump had said anything in public about the flight shutdown.

A White House Meeting and a "Get This Done!" Post

Voight came to the White House with his team, producer Steven Paul and Scott Karol, to press the president to back the incentive during the "lame duck" session of Congress, before newly elected lawmakers take their seats. Variety reports that Voight made an impassioned case for the bill. Paul told the outlet the veteran actor "was crying by the end of the meeting," calling it "an Academy Award-winning speech."

In his post, Trump named a list of supporters from both parties, including Senators Tim Scott, John Cornyn, Raphael Warnock and Dick Durbin, and, "believe it or not," Senator Adam Schiff of California, one of his best-known political opponents. He argued that Hollywood had been "virtually 'emptied out'" by tax breaks offered by other countries, and that the industry "has largely moved to Canada, the United Kingdom, Australia, and other countries." He claimed the money spent on the incentives "will be made up tenfold" in tax revenue and said meetings were being set up with leaders of both parties to "GET THIS DONE!", Deadline reported. Those revenue claims are Trump's own and have not been backed by an official cost estimate.

What the Bill Would Actually Do

The legislation was formally introduced on September 24 by a bipartisan group led by Scott, a South Carolina Republican, and Schiff, a California Democrat. It would give a 20% federal tax credit on pay directly tied to a production, not counting residuals, according to Deadline's breakdown of the bill. Extra 5% "uplifts" would apply to shoots in opportunity zones or federally declared rural disaster areas, with more incentives proposed for productions that film across 10 or more states, for independent producers, and for companies that bring more of their work back from abroad. Variety describes the total as a 20% to 30% rebate on domestic labour costs.

To qualify, a film or TV project would need to cost more than $1 million and have at least 75% of its production in the US, with separate rules for post-production and visual effects. News, live sports, talk shows, daytime dramas, social media content, advertising and corporate videos would not qualify. The credits could be sold to another taxpayer and combined with existing state incentives. That second point matters to supporters, who say states like California cannot match foreign tax breaks by themselves.

The Numbers and the Politics Behind the Push

The big unknown is the price tag. The Joint Committee on Taxation, Congress's official scorekeeper on tax bills, has not yet published its estimate. The libertarian Cato Institute has put the cost at $33 billion to $49 billion, Deadline noted, while supporters have released their own studies arguing the credit would bring in far more in economic activity.

The politics have also changed. Democrats won control of both chambers of Congress in last week's midterm elections, and there are worries the bill could stall as Republicans work through a long list of other priorities before January. One plan has been to attach the incentive to year-end government funding legislation. But Deadline pointed out that the funding fight could end with a short-term extension or even another shutdown. Variety also cited a Politico report from the same day, headlined "Hollywood's tax credit push runs into a post-midterm wall," which quoted Democratic Rep. Don Beyer as saying the chances of passing any tax bill in the lame duck were "pretty low."

How Lawmakers and the Industry Responded

Democrats who back the bill took up the president's call quickly. Schiff replied on X: "President Trump and I agree: it's time for Congress to pass a federal film incentive," adding that the bill should not wait until Democrats take over in January. Rep. Laura Friedman, a Democratic co-author, wrote that "there's no excuse to wait," saying a national incentive "means jobs in California, Georgia, New York, New Jersey and every state across the country."

Karol told Variety that the main challenge is finding a bill to attach the incentive to, and that momentum had not dropped since the election. "There's good energy on both sides," he said. He also said Schiff had met the Voight team earlier that day and asked them to pass on a message to Trump: "This is Tim Scott's bill and I'm there to help."

The industry has strongly backed the effort since it was introduced. In September, Motion Picture Association chief Charles Rivkin called the bill "a true gamechanger," and Directors Guild of America president Christopher Nolan described it as "the most significant legislative effort in a generation" to promote domestic film and TV production. Not everyone agrees. The Wall Street Journal's editorial page has called film incentives "handouts" to Hollywood.

Why It Matters and What Comes Next

For years, big-budget films and series have chased generous tax breaks in Canada, the UK, Australia and Europe, leaving US crews with less work at home. A federal credit that stacks on top of state programmes would be the biggest attempt yet to reverse that trend.

Analysis: Trump's public support gives the bill a rare level of cross-party backing, and he has been involved before. Variety notes that Voight's earlier meetings led to Trump first endorsing the idea in August, which helped get the bill introduced. Even so, a presidential post does not create a legislative vehicle, and the clock is running. The next signs to watch are whether the incentive appears in year-end funding talks, whether the Joint Committee on Taxation publishes its cost estimate, and whether congressional leaders give it floor time before the new Congress is sworn in.