Johnson searches for consensus on budget resolution as opposition grows ahead of key vote
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and his leadership team are feverishly searching for consensus on the House GOP conference's plan to advance President Trump's legislative agenda, which has thus far eluded the group as opposition to the blueprint grows.
The scramble for support comes as the Speaker is eyeing a Tuesday vote to adopt the conference's budget resolution, which will lay the foundation for enacting a sprawling bill full of Trump's domestic policy priorities — including border funding, energy policy and tax cuts.
"We're having very productive conversations, as you all know, this is all part of the process, and I think we're on track," Johnson told reporters as he left the Capitol late Monday night. "We got the resolution through Rules and we're expecting to vote tomorrow evening."
That timeline, however, is facing serious headwinds as resistance to the budget resolution rises across the GOP conference — a concerning sign for Johnson as he looks to muscle the measure through his slim majority. Republicans can only afford to lose one GOP vote and still adopt the resolution, assuming full attendance and unanimous Democratic opposition.
As of Monday night, the number of GOP holdouts was far greater.
On one end of the ideological spectrum are deficit hawks frustrated with the level of spending cuts. Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.) announced over the weekend that she was "a NO on the current version" of the resolution, and Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) said he was also opposed but noted that his stance could flip if leadership reassures him that the conference will cut federal spending in the future.
Additionally, Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), who frequently bucks his party, wrote on X Monday afternoon, "If the Republican budget passes, the deficit gets worse, not better," signaling that he opposed the measure.
In a late-night post Monday, Rep. Warren Davidson (R-Ohio) declared "There is no path to pass the @HouseGOP budget plan until it includes the plan for ALL spending," indicating that he may vote against the resolution as Congress remains at odds over how to avert a government shutdown next month.
Meanwhile, on the other end of the conference are moderates concerned with potential cuts to Medicaid in the ultimate Trump agenda bill — a group that has been sounding the alarm for days. The resolution directs the Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over Medicaid, to find at least $880 billion in cuts, which many believe can only be reached with significant slashes to the social safety net program.
Johnson, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) and Energy and Commerce Committee Chair Brett Guthrie (R-Ky.) huddled with a cohort of centrists in the Capitol Monday night to discuss Medicaid — a conversation that appeared to move some moderates in the right direction but did not seal the deal for the entire group.
According to a source, Guthrie "laid out a menu of things that can be done without touching" major social safety net programs, such as ensuring that individuals who should not be on Medicaid are not beneficiaries, imposing work requirements and rolling back parts of the Inflation Reduction Act, which Democrats passed in 2022.
In a positive sign for Johnson, Rep. Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.) — who previously dubbed herself "leaning no" — said she was a "lean yes" after emerging from the Speaker's office. Other centrists, however, noted the forward progress but said they were not yet in support of the measure.
"I'm still in the undecided category," Rep. David Valadao (R-Calif.) told The Hill after the meeting. "Leadership is making every effort they possibly can to get this across the line. They're answering a lot of our questions; they're addressing our concerns."
"Medicaid still for a lot of us is a huge issue and we're just trying to make sure that this does not affect our constituents, and we stick to the things that the president has been saying, the waste, fraud and abuse, making sure that people who don't qualify aren't part of the system," he added. "And I feel like the speaker and majority leader and the whip are doing their best to get there and I feel like they're making some headway."
Rep. Juan Ciscomani (R-Calif.), who represents a purple district, similarly said, "I think there's more conversations to be had," but reported "a little more clarity on some of the questions I had."
"So we're moving in the right direction," he added.
Johnson, though, still has work cut out for him to unite the centrists around the plan. Rep. Jeff Van Drew (R-N.J.), for example, told The Hill on Monday that he called Trump earlier in the day to express opposition to the budget resolution because of the potential Medicaid cuts, warning the president that he may vote against the measure.
"I called him to let him know that I think it hurts him, I think it hurts the Republican Caucus, I think it hurts working blue collar people. It's too much out of that line-item in [Energy and Commerce]," Van Drew said. "I let him know that I may vote at the last minute, I might vote for it, but there's also a good chance I won't."
And Rep. Tony Gonzales (R-Texas), who leads the Congressional Hispanic Conference, told reporters on Monday that he was a "solid undecided" on the legislation, citing the potential Medicaid cuts and a desire for the group to be included in high-stakes discussions moving forward. The stance followed a letter the group sent to Johnson last week that warned about slashes to the social safety net program.
"I think we need more information," Gonzales said. "I think a lot of our members need more information."
Johnson, for his part, has maintained that the Trump agenda bill will not gut Medicaid, especially after Trump said he did not want to significantly impact the social safety net program. Asked about the potential cuts on his way out of the Capitol Monday night, Johnson said "Medicaid is not mentioned anywhere in the resolution."
"And so all these discussions about policy, we had in the weeks ahead of us as we come up with the actual legislation," he added. "So everybody needs to understand that. There's a lot of misinformation out there about what this is."
The GOP's push to adopt a budget resolution comes as the Speaker is looking to stay on track with the ambitious timeline he laid out earlier this year, which has the conference moving the measure out of the lower chamber by the end of this month.
The 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.
Republicans on Capitol Hill are looking to use the budget reconciliation process to advance key parts of Trump's agenda, which, if successful, would allow the party to circumvent Democratic opposition in the Senate.
The two conferences, however, must first adopt a budget resolution to unlock the process. The House Rules Committee advanced the measure on a party-line vote Monday night.
Johnson acknowledged that GOP holdouts put him in a difficult situation earlier on Monday, when he made a "prayer request" at an event with Americans for Prosperity: "Just pray this through for us, because it is very high-stakes, and everybody knows that."
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."
Emily Brooks contributed.
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