House Republicans on Wednesday advanced the Senate’s blueprint to enact key parts of President Trump’s legislative agenda, teeing up the measure for a final vote — even as its fate hangs in the balance amid conservative opposition.
The chamber voted 216-215 along party lines to adopt the rule, which governs debate for legislation, the last step before the entire House weighs in on whether to adopt the measure. Three Republicans voted with all Democrats against adopting the rule. A final vote is slated for around 5:30 p.m.
While most hardliners stuck with their party to advance the budget resolution, many are vowing to vote against the measure when it comes up for a final vote, brushing aside heavy lobbying from President Trump.
Reps. Chip Roy (R-Texas), Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), Andy Harris (R-Md.), Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.) and Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.), among others, have said they will oppose the budget resolution later on Wednesday despite supporting the procedural vote.
“While I will vote for the rule out of respect for the chairwoman and the process, I will not vote for this bill because it is not responsible,” Roy said during the Rules Committee meeting.
The opposition, if it sustains, would be enough to tank the resolution when it hits the floor for a vote later on Wednesday. Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) can only afford to lose three GOP votes, assuming united Democratic opposition and full attendance, a margin that leaves little room for error.
Johnson, for his part, was optimistic ahead of the rule vote that the resolution would be adopted by close-of-business.
“I believe we will” have the votes, Johnson told reporters earlier in the day. “Eventually we will.”
With little time to go until the final vote, Trump may get more involved in trying to get the measure over the finish line. The president met with some hardliners at the White House on Tuesday afternoon, published a number of Truth Social posts urging the GOP conference to back the measure, and turned up the heat on hardliners during his remarks at the National Republican Congressional Committee’s (NRCC) fundraiser Tuesday evening.
“They have to do this. We have to get there. I think we are there. We had a great meeting today,” Trump said at the dinner in Washington, which some of the critics of the resolution were attending. “But just in case there are a couple of Republicans out there. You just gotta get there. Close your eyes and get there. It’s a phenomenal bill. Stop grandstanding. Just stop grandstanding.”
The next step could include Trump directly calling the holdouts. Johnson told Politico earlier on Wednesday that the president offered to phone the hardliners but not that he hoped it would not reach that point.
“The president’s willing to help, he’s told me that this morning, but I think we get this job done,” he later told reporters.
The hardliners have been up in arms over two key parts of the Senate’s budget resolution.
First, the measure includes different spending cut minimums for each chamber, and the holdouts are concerns that the Senate may win out. House committee were directed to find at least $1.5 trillion in spending cuts, while Senate panels are mandated to slash at least $4 billion of federal spending — a small number in comparison.
“$4 BILLION in cuts compared to the House’s baseline of $1.5 TRILLION is a slap in the face, so let’s get serious!! It’s time for Republicans to face the truth. We’ve got an arithmetic problem we’ve got to solve!” Norman wrote on X.
Johnson on Wednesday said he is sympathetic to their concern, but emphasized that the final package would trend closer to the House’s blueprint and not the Senate’s.
“I understand the holdouts, I mean their concerns are real, they really want to have true budget cuts and to change the debt trajectory the country is on. So do I,” Johnson said. “And so there, sometimes there’s a lack of trust in these institutions between the two chambers, but I’m trying to assure my colleagues that we have it on good faith with the Senate that they’re committed to this as we are, and that we can protect essential programs and cut unnecessary waste, fraud and abuse and other savings in the government that will make it work better for everybody.”
Secondly, those on the right-flank are frustrated that the Senate is utilizing a budgetary gimmick known as current policy baseline to permanently extend the 2017 Trump tax cuts. The theory assumes that the extension of the tax cuts would not add to the deficit, despite the Joint Committee on Taxation estimating it could cost around $4 billion.
Mike Lillis contributed.