House Republicans’ budget proposal to advance President Trump’s legislative agenda is facing serious headwinds with several GOP members suggesting they will vote against the bill.
Speaker Mike Johnson is facing a pivotal moment in his leadership over the House to pass a budget resolution advancing the president’s first-year tax and spending priorities — the first step of the budget reconciliation process — this week. Though Johnson says the House is on track to hold a vote on the resolution as early as Tuesday, several GOP holdouts could force House GOP leadership to delay the vote.
“There may be a vote tonight, there may not be,” Johnson said at a House GOP leadership press conference Tuesday morning.
Johnson’s equivocation on when a floor vote will take place comes after House GOP leadership previously said the budget resolution would be voted on Tuesday evening.
Johnson is attempting to pass the president’s agenda in “one big, beautiful bill” as he leads the smallest House majority in American history.
The House’s budget resolution approves up to $4.5 trillion in deficit increases to execute the president’s tax agenda and aims to cut between $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion in spending. The House resolution also approves a $4 trillion hike in the statutory debt limit.
Senate GOP leadership is advocating for a two-bill approach that gives the president early wins on border security and defense spending first and focuses on Trump’s tax agenda later in the year. The Senate passed its slimmed-down budget proposal on Friday along party lines after all overnight vote-a-rama.
Trump endorsed the House budget proposal on Feb. 19, increasing pressure on Johnson to deliver the votes to pass a budget resolution this week despite having a smaller majority than the Senate and several members fiercely opposed to a budget plan that could increase the deficit.
Republican Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, Tim Burchett of Tennessee, Victoria Spartz of Indiana and Warren Davidson of Ohio have all suggested they will vote “no” on the current version of the House Budget resolution. House GOP leadership can afford to lose just one Republican vote given their current one-seat majority.
Massie, who frequently votes against government spending bills and opposed Johnson’s speakership bid in January, cited concerns that the forthcoming budget bill that will be unlocked by passage of the budget resolution will add to the nation’s $36 trillion-and-growing debt.
“If the Republican budget passes, the deficit gets worse, not better,” Massie wrote on X Monday.
Burchett told reporters he is also opposed to the current version of the bill. He is advocating for deeper spending cuts and a permanent extension of the 2017 Trump tax cuts, which are set to expire at the end of the year.
Republican lawmakers have argued that Americans and businesses will see the largest tax increase in recent U.S. history if the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act provisions, signed into law by Trump during his first administration, are not extended this year.
House GOP leadership is also working to assuage moderate GOP lawmakers concerned that the floated spending cuts could impact Medicaid benefits and access to food assistance programs.
Republican New York Rep. Nicole Malliotakis told reporters Monday evening that she is now inclined to vote for the resolution after receiving assurances that certain policy changes to Medicaid, such as capping federal Medicaid funding, were not being considered.
“There’s a lot of space to address the issue without hurting beneficiaries,” Malliotakis told reporters.
Heritage Foundation director of the Center for the Federal Budget Richard Stern previously told the Daily Caller News Foundation that the House Energy and Commerce Committee would be able to identify roughly $500 billion in improper Medicaid payments over a decade and that the committee could also make changes to federal energy policy to find additional savings.
Johnson voiced confidence that House GOP leadership will be able to convince enough skeptical members to ultimately support the budget resolution’s passage.
“We’re going to get everybody there,” Johnson told Fox News’ Guy Benson during an event sponsored by Americans for Prosperity on Monday. “This is a prayer request. Just pray this through for us because it is very high stakes. And everybody knows that.”
“I don’t think anyone wants to be in front of this train, I think they want to be on it,” Johnson continued. “This can be an historic moment for our party and our principles. And this is the first step in what will be many steps. It’s day by day.”
Editor’s note: This post has been updated to reflect additional statements from Speaker Mike Johnson.
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