House Republicans forge ahead with budget vote as holdouts dig in

WASHINGTON — House Republican leaders are barreling forward with plans to vote on a new budget blueprint Wednesday to begin work on President Donald Trump’s sweeping legislative agenda even as a key bloc of hard-line conservatives remain opposed to the plan.

It’s far from clear whether Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., will be able to corral enough votes for the Senate-approved budget resolution in the narrowly divided House, even as President Donald Trump has dialed up the pressure on GOP lawmakers.

Trump met with a group of holdouts at the White House Tuesday afternoon and implored Republicans to support the measure later in the evening at a fundraising dinner. He shared a similar message in a pair of posts on his Truth Social site Wednesday morning.

“Republicans, it is more important now, than ever, that we pass THE ONE, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL,” Trump wrote. “The USA will Soar like never before!!!”

Still, a group of conservative lawmakers have dug in against the budget plan, expressing concern that the level of spending cuts it calls for is too low.

The House Rules Committee voted to advance the measure Wednesday morning. But some who voted for it there, such as Reps. Chip Roy of Texas and Ralph Norman of South Carolina, said they would still oppose it on the House floor. A handful of other conservatives also continued to criticize the plan.

Johnson, who can only afford three Republican defections in the House, remained confident Wednesday.

“I think it is going to pass today,” Johnson said.

Republicans are hoping to use their party-line bill to pass trillions of dollars in tax cuts and hundreds of billions in new spending on immigration enforcement and military expansion. They also want to lift the U.S. debt ceiling by as much as $5 trillion.

The main source of division between House and Senate Republicans is over sending cuts. The Senate measure requires a minimum of $4 billion in cuts, while a budget blueprint the House passed earlier this year called for $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion in cuts. While Senate GOP leaders insist their blueprint is just a minimum and not a target, House conservatives distrust them and argue the plan would explode the national debt.

But Johnson, who attended Trump’s meeting with some Republican holdouts at the White House on Tuesday, said he understands the fiscal concerns of conservatives and acknowledged they still have some work to do to get enough votes.

“The president’s willing to help. He told me that this morning. But I think we get this job done,” Johnson said. “I understand the concerns of holdouts. Their concerns are real. They really want to have true budget cuts and to change the debt trajectory that the country is on. So do I.”

Johnson is also using the vehicle to bring the budget resolution to the floor, known as a “rule,” to try and prohibit the House from voting to terminate the emergency declaration that Trump used to impose aggressive tariffs on goods from around the world. The tariff agenda was in flux Wednesday as Trump announced a 90-day pause on countries that weren’t retaliating while escalating U.S. tariffs on China to 125%.

Tucked inside the “rule” is language that would bar the House from voting through Sept. 30 on a joint resolution to revoke declaration on April 2, which Trump labeled “liberation day.” The unusual move comes as Democrats are seeking to cobble together a majority of lawmakers to circumvent Republican leaders and force a vote on undoing the tariffs.

That puts swing-district Republicans skeptical of Trump’s tariffs in a difficult position. It means any lawmaker who votes for the “rule” to bring the budget resolution to a vote would also be voting, in effect, to protect Trump’s tariffs until October.

Rep. Greg Meeks of New York, the top Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee, introduced a resolution Tuesday to terminate the April 2 emergency. So far Meeks has 36 co-sponsors, all Democrats. But some Republicans like Rep. Don Bacon, R-Neb., have expressed interest in giving authority over tariffs back to Congress.

The two issues are coming to a head just before Congress is seeking to break for a two-week recess, with Republican leaders eager not to send members home empty-handed on the budget.

Johnson defended his attempt to block votes to undo Trump’s tariffs, arguing they need to give him some time to accomplish his objectives on trade policy.

“I’ve made it very clear. I think the president has executive authority. It’s an appropriate level of authority to deal with the unfair trade practices. That’s part of the role of the president is to negotiate with other countries,” Johnson said Wednesday. “I think that is an America First policy that will be effective, and so we have to give him the space to do it.”