WASHINGTON: With a shove from President Donald Trump, House Republicans were working to hoist their budget framework to approval late Wednesday, trying to flip conservative GOP holdouts who had raised grave misgivings over allowing trillions of dollars in tax breaks without deeper spending cuts.
Speaker Mike Johnson almost dared the Republican hard-liners to defy Trump and risk upending what the president calls the “big, beautiful bill,” which is central to his agenda of tax cuts, mass deportations and a smaller federal government. The GOP speaker cannot afford many defections from his slim majority, when faced with unified Democratic opposition.
“Stop grandstanding!” Trump had admonished Republicans during a black-tie fundraising dinner at the National Building Museum Tuesday night.
Trump told them, “Close your eyes and get there.”
But by Wednesday afternoon, the conservative Republicans stood firmly against the plan, throwing the schedule in flux. Several of them met privately with Senate GOP leaders to insist on deeper cuts. Johnson later pulled a group of Republicans into a private meeting room off the House chamber.
“The intention is to have the vote by this evening, and we’ll see when that time is,” Johnson told reporters at the Capitol. “Very positive, productive discussions. Everybody is moving forward.”
Pushing the budget framework forward would be a milestone for Johnson, who had set a deadline of the congressional spring break recess Thursday for advancing the resolution. But a failed vote, particularly as the economy is convulsing over Trump’s trade wars, would prove a major setback for the embattled speaker and the Republican agenda in Washington.
It’s coming as Trump’s tariff onslaught has left lawmakers on edge. Hours before the House was ready to vote, Trump paused much of his ambitious tariffs scheme, giving financial markets a bounce after days of turmoil and warnings of a US recession.
“We are at a critical inflection point, with a generational opportunity,” said Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, the chair of the House Budget Committee, at a rules meeting ahead of voting.
But House GOP conservatives, including several of those who met personally with Trump at the White House this week, remain concerned that the Senate GOP’s blueprint, approved last weekend, does not slash spending to the level they believe is necessary to help prevent soaring deficits.
“The Math Does Not Add Up,” Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, posted on social media. He said he would not support it.
In an unusual move, Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., the chair of the ultraconservative Freedom Caucus, and others walked across the Capitol to met with Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., and other Senate GOP leaders.
Sen. John Barrasso, the GOP whip, exited a short time later calling it a very positive meeting. “The House and the Senate Republicans are all on the same page, and we’re all committed to serious and significant savings for the American taxpayers,” Barrasso said.
Wednesday’s vote would be another step in a weeks, if not months, long process. The House and Senate must resolve their differences with more votes ahead on the final product later this spring or summer.
Democrats, in the minority, do not have enough votes to stop the package, but have warned against it.
Pennsylvania Rep. Brendan Boyle, the ranking Democrat on the budget committee, said whether the House or Senate version, the proposed GOP budget cuts would deeply harm Medicaid, the health care program used by tens of millions of Americans.
“This will have a devasting impact on my district, my state — and all 435 congressional districts throughout our land,” Boyle said.
House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York said the Republicans’ budget plan is reckless and callous as it proposes slashing budgets to give tax breaks to the wealthy.
“We’re here to make it clear,” Jeffries said. “Hands off everyday Americans struggling to make ends meet.”
The budget framework starts the process of the Republican effort to preserve the tax breaks approved in 2017, during Trump’s first term, while potentially adding the new ones he promised on the campaign trail. That includes no taxes on tipped wages, Social Security income and others, ballooning the price tag to some $7 trillion over the decade.
The package also allows for budget increases with some $175 billion to pay for Trump’s mass deportation operation and as much for the Defense Department to bolster military spending.
It all would be partly paid for with steep cuts to domestic programs, including health care, as part of the $2 trillion in reductions outlined in the House GOP version of the package, though several GOP senators have signaled they are not willing to go that far.
To clip costs, the Senate is using an unusual accounting method that does not count the costs of preserving the 2017 tax cuts, some $4.5 trillion, as new spending, another factor that is enraging the House conservatives.
Two Republican senators voted against their package during an overnight weekend session — Maine Sen. Susan Collins objected to steep cuts to Medicaid in the House’s framework, while Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul argued the whole package relied on “fishy” math that would add to the debt.
The package would also boost the nation’s debt limit to allow more borrowing to pay the bills. Trump had wanted lawmakers to take the politically difficult issue off the table. With debt now at $36 trillion, the Treasury Department has said it will run out of funds by August.
But the House and Senate need to resolve their differences on the debt limit, as well. The House GOP raises the debt limit by $4 trillion, but the Senate GOP boosted it to $5 trillion so the Congress would not have to revisit the issue again until after the fall 2026 midterm election.
With Trump’s trade wars hovering over the debate, House Republicans tucked a provision into a procedural vote that would prevent House action – as the Senate has taken – to disapprove of Trump’s tariffs.