House Republican leadership is aiming for a May vote on President Donald Trump‘s signature piece of legislation. This vote will be a crucial test of whether the GOP can garner enough support from fiscal hawks who tie the tax cuts to substantial spending offsets.
Leaders are planning to put the bill on the floor the week of May 19, the last session before Memorial Day recess, according to Punchbowl News. This pushes back Speaker Mike Johnson‘s (R-LA) targeted deadline of having the legislation on Trump’s desk before the holiday. However, that was always considered an ambitious goal due to the infighting between leadership and the Freedom Caucus over spending levels.
The “one big beautiful” bill, which will codify Trump’s agenda on the economy, border, and national security, reportedly has a working title of “Renewing the American Dream Act.” Trump was instrumental in pushing a blueprint for the measure over the finish line earlier this month, arguing a single bill is the best way to unite House Republicans, who only control the chamber by a few votes.
Fiscal hawks are standing in the way of easy passage. They delayed a vote on the blueprint because they had not received concrete assurances on spending cuts from both Johnson and Senate GOP leadership. The Senate had treated the House’s call for $1.5 trillion in cuts as an aspirational goal and set spending cuts at just $4 billion, a placeholder value.
After holding up the vote in mid-April, fiscal hawks finally relented after talks with Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), and the resolution was adopted with only two GOP dissenters. But the hard-line conservatives have warned that their vote is contingent on leadership keeping its promises.
Politico had reported shortly after the budget vote that Johnson told holdouts they could oust him from the speakership if he didn’t follow through with his promises. However, one House Republican close to the conversation told the Washington Examiner it was “false.”
One area of particular concern for House conservatives was the Senate’s use of a novel accounting method that assumes the extension of Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act would not affect the deficit, therefore blunting the need to find trillions in cuts elsewhere to pay for it.
“If they try to roll us on TRUE deficit neutrality it will be a cold day in hell I vote for the bill,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX), the Freedom Caucus policy chairman, told the Washington Examiner shortly after the resolution passed.
The Freedom Caucus said in a statement that the approval of a “fiscally responsible” budget resolution was due to the efforts of caucus members, including a warning to Thune and Johnson.
“Given these new commitments, anything that falls short will face serious problems in the House,” the caucus said.
Republicans are also in the crosshairs as they look to find $880 billion in cuts from programs under the Energy and Commerce Committee. Democrats have pointed to nonpartisan analyses that show that a partial rollback of Medicaid may be unavoidable in reaching that level of spending reductions, but House Republicans have more recently promised not to slash benefits.
TRUMP GIVES DEMOCRATS OPENING TO REGAIN VOTER TRUST ON THE ECONOMY
Reconciliation, the budget process congressional leaders are using to pass Trump’s agenda, will be one of the first legislative tests for Republicans ahead of the 2026 midterm elections. The House traditionally flips to the party opposite the White House in midterm elections, but Republicans have insisted they are on offense and will maintain and expand their razor-thin majority.
Johnson can only afford to lose three GOP lawmakers on a given piece of legislation to still pass the legislation along party lines, but that number is sometimes flexible due to recent deaths and illnesses among House Democrats.