Johnson makes 'prayer request' ahead of critical vote on Trump agenda bill

Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) asked for prayers as he prepares to bring the House’s budget reconciliation resolution, the vehicle for President Trump’s ambitious legislative agenda, for a floor vote as soon as Tuesday amid Republican opposition that threatens to derail the bill.

“This is a prayer request. Just pray this through for us, because it is very high-stakes, and everybody knows that,” Johnson said while predicting he would get enough Republicans on board.

The Speaker made the comment at an Americans for Prosperity (AFP) event Monday in a conversation with Guy Benson, a Fox News contributor and member of the organization’s advisory council, while talking about Republicans opposed to the bill.

Republicans have a tiny majority in the House and cannot afford more than one defection on the legislation, assuming all Democrats are present and vote against it. Benson noted there is at least one GOP lawmaker opposed.

“There may be more than one” Republican member opposed, Johnson responded. “But we’ll get there. We’re going to get everybody there.”

Johnson is getting squeezed by Republicans on both ideological ends of the conference as he marches toward a floor vote on the budget resolution. Moderate Republicans and members of the Congressional Hispanic Conference are withholding support as they express concerns about potential changes to Medicaid, while fiscal hawks such as Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.) have expressed concerns about Congress coming up with enough cuts to make up for the cost of tax cuts and other programs in the bill.

The Speaker said later Monday afternoon that he had talked to Spartz and will see her in another meeting in the evening, and had put a voicemail in to Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), another fiscal hawk.

“There’s a couple of folks who just have lingering questions, but I think all those questions can be answered and we’ll be able to move forward,” Johnson told reporters in the Capitol.

The House GOP budget plan would be the first step in teeing up Trump’s ambitious legislative agenda in one piece of legislation that would include border funding, tax cuts and energy priorities — with tax provisions offset with likely cuts to Medicaid.

It lays out a $1.5 trillion floor for spending cuts across committees, with a target of $2 trillion. It puts a $4.5 trillion ceiling on the deficit impact of any GOP plan to extend Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, and it includes $300 billion in additional spending for the border and defense and a $4 trillion debt limit increase. Republicans are utilizing a special budget reconciliation process that allows Republicans to bypass the Senate’s 60-vote threshold and the need for any Democratic support.

Senate Republicans, meanwhile, last week passed a vehicle for an alternative slimmed-down budget resolution that focuses on border security funding but would leave thorny and expensive issues such as tax cuts for a second budget reconciliation bill later.

Trump last week made a surprise endorsement of the House’s approach of “one big, beautiful bill” — a phrase that Johnson on Monday joked to the AFP crowd he has tattooed on his chest.

Johnson said if the House advances its budget resolution this week, his aggressive schedule aims to get the bill to Trump’s desk by early May.

And asked if he has a plan B if House Republicans do not advance the budget resolution this week, Johnson said: “I’ve got a whole playbook, but I’m not going to tell you that.”

Johnson also said, “I don’t think anybody wants to be in front of this train. I think they want to be on it.”

AFP, the Koch-backed advocacy group that hosted the Monday event at its Capitol Hill office it calls its “Freedom Embassy,” in January launched a $20 million campaign in support of extending the Trump tax cuts that he signed into law in his first term. The organization pledged a 50-state media and lobbying effort and to conduct 1,000 meetings with congressional offices on Capitol Hill.

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