Speaker Mike Johnson couldn’t win over House Freedom Caucus conservatives to support the Senate’s budget framework, punting a floor vote to Thursday to buy time.
“We’re gonna try to move this tomorrow,” Johnson told reporters Wednesday after meeting with the “no” votes. “This has been a very constructive process we’re working through. We want all members to be not just comfortable with but happy about the final product.”
It was an embarassing blow to Johnson and House leadership who had projected confidence ahead of the vote. President Donald Trump has been pressuring members as well to support the bill that’s key to unlocking his agenda.
Johnson had held the prior vote open for over an hour and led a group of about a dozen holdouts to a ceremonial office just off the House floor to meet with his leadership team. The lawmakers, which included House Freedom Caucus members, left the meeting not convinced to support the framework.
One option leadership is floating is conferencing the two resolutions — one passed by the Senate and one passed by the House — which would mean the House wouldn’t need to adopt a new framework for the budget bill. Johnson had previously said he opposed that idea because it would take too long.
Some of the holdouts want to see a binding amendment to guarantee there would be sufficient deficit cuts.
“So we’re going to talk about maybe going to conference with the Senate or adding an amendment, but we’re going to make that decision. We are going to continue to move forward. This is all positive. This is part of the process. So don’t make too much of it,” Johnson added.
Rep. Lloyd Smucker told reporters after the vote was delayed that he was looking for the kind of guarantee a binding amendment would offer.
“It’s what I’ve been asking for the entire time. We need some sort of bind. We need enforceable cuts similar to what we have in the House [version],” he said.
But one GOP member told NOTUS there will likely be attendance issues on Thursday, making a tough vote even tougher.
“Leadership knew that at the beginning of the week,” the member said.
Johnson told reporters that he has no intention of forcing the House to stay over the weekend to vote in light of Passover; however, they would come back next week if need be, pushing into their two-week recess.
“If we have to come back next week, we will do that,” Johnson said.
In a last-minute attempt at negotiations, a group of conservatives — including Reps. Andy Biggs, Andrew Clyde, Andy Harris, Chip Roy, Scott Perry and Tim Burchett — were spotted at Senate Majority Leader John Thune’s office discussing the budget proposal with him and Sens. Mike Crapo and John Barrasso.
The speaker spent the week repeatedly meeting with the resolution’s opponents, trying to twist their arms — even threatening weekend work. The president also issued a public plea at a National Republican Campaign Committee fundraiser Tuesday night for the blueprint’s detractors to “stop grandstanding.”
None of it worked.
Since the Senate passed its budget resolution this weekend, House Freedom Caucus members and deficit hawks have railed against the framework for Trump’s sweeping reconciliation bill, calling it “laughable,” “junk” and “unserious.”
The main sticking point for holdouts was the Senate’s floor for spending cuts. While the House approved a $1.5 trillion minimum for its chamber, the Senate only committed to slashing a few billion. The Senate also approved a $5 trillion debt ceiling hike, compared to the House’s $4 trillion increase, which also infuriated House conservatives.
The House is scheduled to go on a two-week recess on Thursday. Short of finding a new way to convince the detractors to swallow the Senate’s bill, Johnson has limited options.
And the speaker faces an uphill battle, as his grip on his conference appears to be loosening.
Last week, for instance, nine Republicans opposed a procedural vote that would have killed an effort to allow new parents to vote by proxy, marking the first time a rule has gone down on the floor this Congress. A handful of Republicans are also backing Rep. Don Bacon’s bill to restrict the White House’s tariff authority.
And now, with conservatives in open revolt over the budget and Trump’s influence seeming limited, Johnson has to find a way to either convince his holdouts to accept the Senate-adopted budget or convince the Senate to go another round.
Either way, the clock is ticking before House Republicans’ self-imposed Memorial Day deadline to pass reconciliation. Johnson wanted to have the same budgets adopted before lawmakers leave for a two-week recess. But with so much opposition, that timeline already appears to be slipping.
Of course, the real test is the ultimate reconciliation bill. The budget debate simply sets up the framework for that legislation; the bill itself is what becomes law.
With conservatives showing a willingness to stand strong on the budget, and with some GOP senators indicating they won’t support the House’s deep cuts to Medicaid, Republicans in both chambers are already at an impasse that imperils Trump’s entire legislative agenda, which he hoped to pass without Democratic votes in his “one big, beautiful bill.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries took the victory lap.
“House Republicans are fighting with Senate Republicans, House Republicans are fighting with each other, they’re not taking orders at the moment from Donald Trump because the whole thing is falling apart,” the Democrat said while leaving the Capitol.
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Riley Rogerson, Daniella Diaz and Reese Gorman are reporters at NOTUS.
Ben T.N. Mause and Katherine Swartz, NOTUS reporters and Allbritton Journalism Institute fellows, contributed to this report.