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.
\nSpeaker Mike Johnson almost dared the Republican hard-liners to defy Trump and risk upending what the president calls the \u201cbig, beautiful bill,\u201d 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.
\n\u201cStop grandstanding!\u201d Trump had admonished Republicans during a black-tie fundraising dinner at the National Building Museum Tuesday night.
\nTrump told them, \u201cClose your eyes and get there.\u201d
\nBut 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.
\n\u201cThe intention is to have the vote by this evening, and we\u2019ll see when that time is,\u201d Johnson told reporters at the Capitol. \u201cVery positive, productive discussions. Everybody is moving forward.\u201d
\nPushing 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\u2019s trade wars, would prove a major setback for the embattled speaker and the Republican agenda in Washington.
\nIt\u2019s coming as Trump\u2019s 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.
\n\u201cWe are at a critical inflection point, with a generational opportunity,\u201d said Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, the chair of the House Budget Committee, at a rules meeting ahead of voting.
\nBut House GOP conservatives, including several of those who met personally with Trump at the White House this week, remain concerned that the Senate GOP\u2019s blueprint, approved last weekend, does not slash spending to the level they believe is necessary to help prevent soaring deficits.
\n\u201cThe Math Does Not Add Up,\u201d Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, posted on social media. He said he would not support it.
\nIn 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.
\nSen. John Barrasso, the GOP whip, exited a short time later calling it a very positive meeting. \u201cThe House and the Senate Republicans are all on the same page, and we\u2019re all committed to serious and significant savings for the American taxpayers,\u201d Barrasso said.
\nWednesday\u2019s 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.
\nDemocrats, in the minority, do not have enough votes to stop the package, but have warned against it.
\nPennsylvania 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.
\n\u201cThis will have a devasting impact on my district, my state \u2014 and all 435 congressional districts throughout our land,\u201d Boyle said.
\nHouse Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York said the Republicans\u2019 budget plan is reckless and callous as it proposes slashing budgets to give tax breaks to the wealthy.
\n\u201cWe\u2019re here to make it clear,\u201d Jeffries said. \u201cHands off everyday Americans struggling to make ends meet.\u201d
\nThe budget framework starts the process of the Republican effort to preserve the tax breaks approved in 2017, during Trump\u2019s 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.
\nThe package also allows for budget increases with some $175 billion to pay for Trump\u2019s mass deportation operation and as much for the Defense Department to bolster military spending.
\nIt 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.
\nTo 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.
\nTwo Republican senators voted against their package during an overnight weekend session \u2014 Maine Sen. Susan Collins objected to steep cuts to Medicaid in the House\u2019s framework, while Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul argued the whole package relied on \u201cfishy\u201d math that would add to the debt.
\nThe package would also boost the nation\u2019s 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.
\nBut 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.
\nWith Trump\u2019s trade wars hovering over the debate, House Republicans tucked a provision into a procedural vote that would prevent House action \u2013 as the Senate has taken \u2013 to disapprove of Trump\u2019s tariffs.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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