House Republican leaders struggle to corral votes for Senate budget plan to advance Trump's agenda
President Donald Trump is set to meet with some of the House GOP budget holdouts at the White House as Speaker Mike Johnson eyes a vote this week.
WASHINGTON — Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is facing a growing rebellion from conservative hard-liners in the House as Republicans seek to take up a budget blueprint that was recently adopted by the Senate to pass President Donald Trump’s agenda.
House GOP leaders are eyeing a vote this week on the measure, which would unlock the path for committees to craft a massive bill to cut taxes, boost immigration enforcement and defense spending and lift the debt limit without Democratic votes.
But a slew of House conservatives have blasted the Senate's version for requiring just $4 billion in spending cuts. The House's version, by contrast, called for $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion in spending cuts while largely steering clear of specifics.
"Put it in writing. The Senate's got to put the math in writing, like we did ... and let us look at it," Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., a member of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, said of the Senate's proposed cuts. "We've got a solid group that's a no on this," estimating that he was among 15 to 20 Republicans vowing to vote down the budget.
Those conservatives have threatened the measure's prospects in the House, where Republicans currently have a 220-213 majority and can afford just three defections. So Johnson, once again, is leaning on Trump to twist arms and push the holdouts to back the measure, a tactic that succeeded on an earlier budget resolution and a recent government funding bill.
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