Rep. Hern defends delay on House budget proposal

Rep. Kevin Hern (R-Okla.), chair of the House Republican Policy Committee, on Sunday defended Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) for the delay in unveiling a budget resolution.

In an interview on NewsNation’s “The Hill Sunday” with Chris Stirewalt, Hern said Johnson’s task is especially difficult, noting the GOP can lose virtually no votes in the House, but he said he is optimistic that the conference will be able to move forward with a resolution this week.

“When you have the smallest margin in the last 150 years in Congress, we can't lose a single vote. You think about that for a second, when you have, you know, the people that represent all corners of the country, Speaker Johnson has been working very hard through the weekend to get us where we can notice a budget markup this week so we can move forward with one big, beautiful bill, as President Trump would like,” Hern told Stirewalt.

Johnson, members of his leadership team and an ideological cross section of lawmakers huddled for hours on Thursday with President Trump and Vice President Vance to discuss a framework for advancing the president's legislative wish list. His priorities include border funding, immigration policy and an extension of the 2017 tax cuts.

The marathon meeting came days after Johnson was forced to scrap plans to mark up an initial budget resolution amid a conservative revolt over the level of spending cuts. The impasse in the House led top Senate Republicans to announce they would move forward with their effort to enact Trump's agenda, threatening to steamroll the House.

Johnson reported "very positive developments" after the White House meeting Thursday and sought to push back on the Senate GOP plans, insisting House Republicans were nearing the finish line — even though several thorny issues remained.

Hern echoed that sentiment in the Sunday interview.

“We know how difficult it's going to be. We understand what the Senate is trying to do, in doing two bills so they move quickly. I believe we're going to get the budget resolution done so we can start working on the policy,” Hern added.

The Hill is owned by Nexstar Media Group, which also owns NewsNation.

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