Key House committee advances Trump agenda bill after appeasing conservatives

The House Budget Committee advanced President Donald Trump’s multitrillion-dollar domestic package Sunday night, two days after a group of conservatives voted to reject it.

WASHINGTON — The House Budget Committee advanced President Donald Trump’s multitrillion-dollar domestic policy package Sunday night, two days after a group of conservatives voted to reject it.

The vote was 17-16 along party lines, with the four Republicans who opposed the bill in committee Friday voting "present."

The outcome is a positive sign for the massive party-line bill after a significant setback Friday, but it will still need changes before it secures the votes to pass the full House. And if it does, it will face plenty of challenges in the Senate, where Republicans have made it clear it won't pass without major changes.

The package includes a major spending increase for immigration enforcement and the military, and it would extend Trump's 2017 tax cuts, which are scheduled to expire at the end of this year. It includes a series of cuts to Medicaid, food assistance and clean energy funding to pay for the trillions of dollars in tax cuts and new red ink.

The successful vote was a product of Republican leaders’ making inroads over the weekend with conservative hard-liners who said the bill failed to achieve meaningful spending cuts and would increase the U.S. deficit. Those conservatives have insisted that Medicaid work requirements take effect immediately and that the clean energy tax credits be eliminated sooner.