House Republicans on Thursday adopted the Senate’s framework that will be used to enact key parts of President Trump’s legislative agenda, getting the blueprint over the finish line after a last-minute scramble to win over conservatives who had spent days railing against the measure.
The largely party line 216-214 vote marks a big win for Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who has pushed an aggressive timeline to advance Trump’s domestic policy priorities, and President Trump, who endorsed the legislation and lobbied those on the right flank to get on board.
Only two Republicans — Reps. Thomas Massie (Ky.) and Victoria Spartz (Ind.) — voted against the measure.
“It was a good day in the House,” Johnson told reporters after the vote. “I told you not to doubt us. The media always does. The Democrats always do. But we get the job done, and we’re really grateful to have had the big victory on the floor just now.”
It was not, however, an easy path to success for the GOP leadership. More than a dozen hardline House conservatives had come out against the Senate resolution, vowing to vote against the legislation if it came to the floor out of concern over the level of spending cuts mandated in the measure — despite Trump’s continued pressure to back the measure.
That opposition forced Johnson to yank a planned vote on the measure Wednesday night. As leadership held open an unrelated vote for almost 90 minutes, Johnson huddled in a room off the House floor with several of the conservative holdouts in an unsuccessful attempt to secure their support — prompting the delay.
The linchpin in leadership’s effort appeared to be a joint press appearance Thursday morning by Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.), where the pair delivered brief remarks regarding spending cuts. The hardliners were incensed that the budget resolution directed Senate committees to find far fewer spending cuts than House panels — at least $1.5 trillion compared to at least $4 billion — worried that the upper chamber would reign supreme.
During their remarks, Johnson committed to including at least $1.5 trillion in cuts, while Thune said the Senate was “aligned with the House in terms of what their budget resolution outlined in terms of savings” — remarks that stopped short of a firm commitment, but were encouraging enough to House hardliners to get them on board.
Still, passage remained far from a sure thing. Though members of the Freedom Caucus expressed cautious optimism, a group continued to meet even as the vote took place on the floor. Johnson, at the same time, huddled on the House floor with moderate Republicans who had expressed unease about the effects of severe spending cuts.
After the vote, members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus said they received assurances from Johnson, Thune and the White House that significant spending cuts will be included in the final bill.
“We have now three strong statements from the Speaker, the president and the Senate majority leader,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-Texas), flanked by other hardliners, told reporters. “We did not have those 48 hours ago, we do now.”
“The first time publicly, the Senate leader has come out and actually said that we’re in the same ballpark with the House and Senate reductions,” Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.), the chair of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, told The Hill. “Obviously we were happy with the House spending reduction because we all voted for it so I think that’s a step in a positive direction.”
The successful vote puts a bookend on the first phase of the budget reconciliation process, which Republicans are hoping to use to advance Trump’s domestic policy priorities. The process allows the Senate to bypass Democratic buy-in by working around the 60-vote filibuster. The initial part of the procedure requires both chambers adopting a resolution, which acts as instructions for the rest of the process.
Now, however, the even tougher part begins. Republicans in both chambers must craft a package that is in line with the levels laid out in the budget resolution and make decisions on a number of hot-button issues like spending cuts, how long the tax cuts are extended for and the cap on the state-and-local-tax deduction, among other details.
In a sign of the treacherous waters ahead, a band of moderate House Republicans huddled with Johnson on the floor for an extended period of time ahead of Thursday’s vote, during which the group discussed how the party would approach Medicaid as it begins writing the final Trump agenda bill.
The adopted budget resolution directs the House Energy and Commerce Committee to find at least $880 billion in spending cuts, which many moderates worry will require deep slashes to Medicaid — a nonstarter for them. The comments on Thursday about finding at least $1.5 trillion in cuts appeared to exacerbate those concerns.
“We just wanted to be clear, again, with the Speaker, as we’ve had numerous times before, that we will not vote for something that strips benefits from seniors and our vulnerable population that rely on traditional Medicaid services,” said Rep. Nicolle Malliotakis (R-N.Y.), who was part of the conversation on the floor.
“Now let’s let the real negotiations begin, and we will fight it out for seniors and our vulnerable and of course our New Yorkers who deserve to have relief from SALT,” she added.
The adopted budget resolution — which was crafted after House and Senate Republicans advanced their own, contrasting blueprints — seeks to extend Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, with many provisions set to expire at the end of the year, in addition to raising the debt limit, appropriating money for the border and enacting energy policy.
Senate Republicans adopted their own budget resolution in February, which utilized a two-bill strategy — the first bill including border and energy, and the second covering tax cuts. Shortly after, however, the House GOP conference cleared a budget resolution for “one big, beautiful bill,” as Republicans and Trump referred to it, encompassing all the priorities.
Last week, Senate GOP leaders released a compromise version, which was adopted in both chambers.
Johnson has been pushing an aggressive timeline for getting a bill to Trump’s desk, hoping to do so by Memorial Day. Underscoring that path is a looming deadline to raise the debt limit, which the Congressional Budget Office said could come in August or September.
“Time is of the essence,” Johnson said after the vote. “We know what's going on around the world. We know that the debt limit cliff is approaching pretty quickly here. We know that markets have been a little unstable. They want to know that Congress is on the job, and I'm here to tell you that we are.”
“We're going to do our job, and we're going to provide stability, and we're going to send this message to all of our allies and friends around the world and to our adversaries, that America is back and the America First agenda will be enacted,” he added.
It remains unclear how much Republicans will vote to raise the debt limit by. The budget resolution includes a $4 trillion debt ceiling hike for the House, and a $5 trillion increase for the Senate.
While the House ultimately adopted the Senate’s budget resolution, the successful vote did not come without tension in the GOP ranks.
Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-Wis.) said he briefly voted in opposition — bringing the total number of “no” votes to three, the maximum Johnson could afford to lose — before switching to “yes.” He said his vote was a “shot over the bow” at the House Freedom Caucus over his frustration with them dragging out negotiations — a sign of the friction within the House GOP conference that will likely only increase as the reconciliation process continued.
“I will personally sabotage every single thing the Freedom Caucus does, until they get their mind right,” Van Orden said.
Emily Brooks contributed.