Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) is walking into a storm this week as he looks to rally House Republicans around the Senate-passed framework to unlock President Trump’s legislative agenda.
A handful of conservatives have explicitly said they plan to vote against the Senate’s budget resolution, which sets up Trump's legislative agenda of tax cuts, border funding and energy policy. Scores of others in the conference — including the House’s top Budget writer — have also criticized the legislation.
That creates an uphill battle for Johnson, who wants the GOP’s razor-thin majority to adopt the budget resolution this week to keep pace with his ambitious timeline for enacting Trump’s agenda — and to appease the president, who has endorsed the framework. With Democrats expected to oppose the measure in unison, Johnson can only afford to lose three GOP votes, assuming full attendance.
The Speaker did notch in a win over the weekend in getting Rep. Anna Paulina Luna (R-Fla.) to stand down on her push to institute proxy voting for new parents. In lieu of a vote on proxy voting, the pair struck a deal to formalize “vote pairing” in the House, which would cancel out new mothers’ absences during key votes. The agreement is expected to re-open the floor.
Also this week, the Senate is scheduled to vote on more nominees to continue filling out Trump’s cabinet.
Johnson looks to muscle budget blueprint through House
Johnson is staring down the arduous task of uniting his conference around the Senate’s budget resolution.
Reps. Chip Roy (R-Texas) and Lloyd Smucker (R-Pa.) — both members of the House Budget Committee — informed GOP lawmakers during a call Sunday afternoon that they will oppose the budget resolution, a source told The Hill, joining Rep. Andy Ogles (R-Tenn.), who called the framework “junk.”
A large number of other House Republicans have hammered away at the legislation. Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), another Budget Committee member, said the resolution is “DEAD ON ARRIVAL” for “many” members in the conservative House Freedom Caucus and other hardliners.
Even Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-Texas), the chairman of the House Budget Committee, has concerns. The chief budget writer put out a statement on Saturday calling the Senate blueprint “unserious and disappointing.”
The concerns among Republican critics largely stem from two parts of the Senate’s budget resolution.
First, the Senate’s blueprint asks each chamber to find a different amount of spending cuts, with the Senate facing a far smaller number: Senate committees are directed to find at least $4 billion in cuts to federal spending, with the House mandated to find at least $1.5 trillion.
Hardline conservatives have been up-in-arms about the Senate’s lower instructions, assuming that the smaller number will reign supreme when top lawmakers begin crafting the final package.
“If the Senate delivers real deficit cuts in line with the House’s, I’ll support it. But with the Senate setting numbers as insulting, insincere, and low as $4 BILLION (that’s a cheeseburger, folks) compared to the House’s hard work at $2 TRILLION, I’m not holding my breath,” Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), a member of the Freedom Caucus, wrote on X.
Moderate Republicans are letting out a sigh of relief, hopeful that the final product will have slashes closer to the Senate’s lower floor. Rep. Don Bacon (R-Neb.), for example, told The Hill last week “The end bill will be more like the Senate’s numbers.”
Those dynamics are forcing Johnson into a difficult balancing act.
In a letter to House Republicans on Saturday, Johnson said the ...
