Update (1117ET): The House passed the GOP budget blueprint minutes ago – giving Speaker Mike Johnson a victory just one day after he delayed the vote over vocal opposition within Republican ranks.
During the vote, Johnson huddled with Majority Leader Steve Scalise, House Budget Chair Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) and multiple GOP holdouts just off the House floor in an effort to seal the deal.
Earlier in the morning, Johnson appeared alongside Senate Majority Leader John Thune to project unity, and reiterate a promise to reduce the deficit by at least $1.5 trillion in the overall package of Trump tax cuts, beefed up border security, energy policies and more, Politico reports.
The budget measure passed 216-214, and paves the way for a follow-on package to cut taxes by up to $5.3 trillion over a decade, and raise the debt ceiling by $5 trillion, in exchange for deep spending cuts. GOP Reps. Thomas Massie (KY) and Victoria Spartz (IN) joined Democrats in voting against it.
The holdouts in the House – around 20 budget hawks and members of the House Freedom Caucus, remained staunchly against the Senate-amended budget resolution until the Senate was willing to guarantee that they would reduce spending levels by the House’s $1.5 trillion over 10 years vs. the paltry $4 billion in cuts the Senate had originally proposed.
“Our ambition in the Senate is we are aligned with the House in terms of what their budget resolution outlined in terms of savings,” Thune said Thursday. “The speaker has talked about $1.5 trillion, we have a lot of United States senators who believe that is a minimum. We’re certainly going to do everything we can to be as aggressive as possible to see that we are serious about the matter.”
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House Speaker Mike Johnson announced Thursday morning that they “believe they have the votes” to pass a budget resolution and plan to move forward later in the morning with a vote in the House, as House Republicans have been trying to get a budget blueprint for President Trump’s agenda over the finish line, CBS News reports.
Negotiations had continued into Wednesday night, as Johnson and the White House struggled to convince GOP holdouts who wanted deeper spending cuts. The lower chamber was set to vote Wednesday evening on the budget resolution but punted after several House conservatives resisted increasing pressure from Mr. Trump to accept the blueprint that would open the door to implementing his border security, defense, energy priorities and extending expiring tax cuts.
“I’m happy to tell you that this morning, I believe we have the votes to finally adopt the budget resolution so we can move forward on President Trump’s very important agenda for the American people,” Johnson told reporters Thursday morning on Capitol Hill.
Johnson called the budget a “big beautiful bill,” mirroring Mr. Trump’s language. The speaker said they’re looking for $1.5 trillion in savings, at a minimum.
“Our aim is to deliver on our promises in this big beautiful bill regarding things like border security, restoring peace through strength and American energy dominance, and regulatory reform to get the economy really humming again. And of course also, tax relief, tax reductions. We have to make the tax cuts permanent. And that’s all involved and enveloped in this big effort.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune told reporters that Republicans are “aligned on the need to make the 2017 tax cuts permanent.”
“We’re ready to move forward,” Thune said.
Approving the budget plan in both chambers is the first step in the reconciliation process, which allows Congress to bypass the 60-vote threshold required to advance most legislation in the Senate and pass Mr. Trump’s agenda with a simple majority. Going that route allows Republicans, who have control of the House and Senate, to pass the measure without any support from Democrats.
The House and Senate worked on separate blueprints earlier this year but more recently reached a compromise resolution, which the Senate adopted early Saturday morning. Republican leaders in the House had hoped to unite their divided party behind the budget plan this week before Congress leaves town for a two-week recess.
But Johnson said Wednesday night that he could keep the House in session next week if they can’t get it done before the weekend.
The Senate set much lower minimum floors for spending cuts at just about $4 billion dollars, though committees could find far more. The compromise resolution also allows for the House to slash at least $1.5 trillion in spending.
The Senate also wants to account for tax cuts enacted during Mr. Trump’s first term with a tactic known as “current policy baseline,” which assumes that continuing expiring policies will cost nothing. Under that baseline, the nearly $4 trillion it would cost to extend the 2017 tax cuts would not be counted, further frustrating House conservatives.
Before backing the resolution, House conservatives want assurances from the Senate that there will be deeper spending cuts, which sent leadership scrambling to find another compromise.
“We just don’t trust the Senate,” Rep. Eric Burlison, a Missouri Republican, told reporters Wednesday night after fiscal hawks huddled with Johnson for more than hour as the vote was delayed. “We all campaign on spending cuts, but again and again, that doesn’t happen. And when the Senate sent over something that said $4 billion is their floor, that was unacceptable to a lot of us.“
Trump, meanwhile, has increased pressure on House Republicans in recent days to swallow the blueprint, telling holdouts on Tuesday night, “close your eyes and get there.” He added that individual lawmakers may not get “every little ounce” of what they want in the legislation.
“It’s a phenomenal bill. Stop grandstanding,” Mr. Trump said at the House GOP campaign arm’s fundraising dinner.
