House GOP advances budget resolution as conservative opponents hold firm

House Republicans advanced their budget resolution to enact President Trump’s legislative agenda on Tuesday, teeing the measure up for a final vote even as GOP opponents of the measure appeared to hold firm.

The chamber voted 217-211 along party lines to adopt the rule — which governs debate on legislation — for the House GOP’s budget resolution. The conference is looking to use the blueprint to pass Trump’s domestic policy priorities, including border funding, energy policy and tax cuts.

The fate of the budget resolution, however, remains unclear. The chamber is scheduled to vote on the measure’s final adoption around 6 p.m. on Tuesday, but that timeline could slip as opposition from conservative budget hawks puts the legislation in jeopardy.

“There may be a vote tonight, may not be,” Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said at a press conference earlier on Tuesday. “Stay tuned.”

At least four Republican budget hawks — Reps. Thomas Massie (Ky.), Victoria Spartz (Ind.), Warren Davidson (Ohio) and Tim Burchett (Tenn.) — have said they will not support the budget resolution when it comes up for a final vote, enough opposition to tank the entire effort.

Though all four voted to advance the measure to a final vote, members of the majority party in the House typically vote for a rule while the minority party opposes it, regardless of how lawmakers plan to vote on the underlying bill.

Republicans can only afford to lose one GOP vote and still adopt the measure, assuming full attendance and unanimous Democratic opposition. Emerging from a House GOP conference meeting Tuesday morning, some of the deficit hawks appeared to be dug in on their resistance.

“I was a lean no before this meeting, now I’m a no,” Massie told reporters after leaving the gathering, raising concerns with the level of spending cuts in the measure.

“If the Republican plan passes under the rosiest assumptions, which aren’t even true, we’re gonna add $328 billion to the deficit this year, we’re gonna add $295 billion to the deficit the year after that, and $242 billion to the deficit after that, under the rosiest assumptions,” he added. “Why would I vote for that?”

Johnson and his leadership team have been trying to corral enough support for the budget resolution for weeks, working through conservative pushes to include more spending cuts, and moderate concerns with potential reductions in Medicaid.

While some of the conservatives are firm in their opposition, moderate skeptics appear to be softening on their resistance to the legislation. Rep. Juan Ciscomani (R-Ariz.), who huddled with leadership in the Speaker’s office late Monday night to discuss Medicaid, told reporters on Tuesday “I’m in a better place [than] where I was yesterday.”

The budget resolution lays out a $1.5 trillion floor for spending cuts across committees with a target of $2 trillion, puts a $4.5 trillion ceiling on the deficit impact of any GOP plan to extend Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, and includes $300 billion in additional spending for the border and defense and a $4 trillion debt limit increase.

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