A budget resolution championed by President Donald Trump cleared a critical test vote Wednesday afternoon in the House despite several Republicans threatening to doom its final passage.
All but three Republicans voted for the procedural rule, with a final vote on the budget blueprint expected for 5:30 p.m. ET. Budget resolution is the first step in the reconciliation process, which allows Republicans to pass legislation by simple majority on tax policy, the border, and national security, which is paramount to Trump’s agenda.
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Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY) and Victoria Spartz (R-IN) were among the GOP “no” votes on the rule.
Concerns over whether the rule would pass carried right up until the vote, as some holdouts such as Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC), Kat Cammack (R-FL), and Lloyd Smucker (R-PA) remained undecided on the procedural move ahead of the vote. Norman voted for the rule out of committee but said he’d vote against the bill on the floor, saying it “doesn’t make financial sense.”
Right now, the budget resolution calls for $4 billion in spending cuts, a drastically lower number compared to the original resolution the House passed in February.
“They’ve indicated they’re not willing to go above the $4 billion, which is 0.2% of the $2 trillion that we offer,” Norman told reporters Wednesday. “All we’re asking is, put it in writing. We’ve got to have — the math doesn’t add up to what they’re saying. And I don’t agree with that.”
The procedural hurdle, which is an easy party-line vote on paper, has been weaponized over the last few Congresses by hard-liners upset with legislation backed by leadership.
However, many Freedom Caucus members who have blasted the legislation for the spending cuts not going far enough opted to vote for the rule. Chairman Andy Harris (R-MD) voted yes to the rule but is a no on the current budget resolution “without a Senate outline of spending reduction,” his office confirmed to the Washington Examiner.
Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), the Freedom Caucus’s policy chairman who sits on the Rules Committee, said he is still a no on the bill despite voting for the rule.
“Stop making up math,” Roy shouted during the committee hearing, directing his comments toward the White House and Senate and House Republicans. “It’s all a joke.”
Roy told reporters Tuesday that, like Harris, he wants to see concrete evidence that there will be significantly more spending cuts.
“All I see are promises,” Roy said. “I do not believe in promises in Washington. So, I want to see the bill. The Senate has now sent a bill to us that doesn’t add up.”
Eyes were also on centrist Republicans heading into the rule vote. Tucked into the rule is language that bans the House from voting to terminate Trump’s emergency declaration to impose tariffs until October. This is a severe blow to Reps. Don Bacon (R-NE) and Jeff Hurd (R-CO), who are cosponsoring bipartisan legislation to rein in Trump’s tariffs authority.
With at least 12 “no” Republicans and a handful of undecided lawmakers, it will be an uphill battle for Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) to pass the legislation. He can only afford to lose three votes to pass the budget resolution along party lines, and he won’t get any help from Democrats who are unified against the legislation.
Trump has engaged in a pressure campaign to get the resolution passed through social media, in-person meetings with holdout Republicans, and during a speech in front of the National Republican Congressional Committee Tuesday evening.
At the dinner with House Republicans, Trump implored Congress to pass the budget legislation now, telling members to “Get the damn thing done and stop showboating.”
Influence from Trump may not be enough; many holdouts who were publicly against the resolution were not invited to the White House to meet with the president yesterday. Harris said, “Nothing that I can hear from the White House” would get him to change his mind.
Roy, who did attend the White House meeting but didn’t provide specific details on the conversation, said Tuesday that he didn’t think Johnson should put the bill on the floor. Roy and others have floated staying in Washington instead of going on the two-week Easter recess to find consensus.
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Johnson told reporters, “I think it is going to pass today,” and he’ll eventually have the votes, but he acknowledged there is still ground to cover.
“The president’s willing to help. He told me that this morning. But I think we get this job done,” Johnson said. “I understand the concerns of holdouts. Their concerns are real. They really want to have true budget cuts and to change the debt trajectory that the country is on. So do I. Sometimes there’s a lack of trust in these institutions between the two chambers, but I’m trying to assure my colleagues on good faith with the Senate that they’re committed to this.”
Hailey Bullis contributed to this report.