Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks to reporters as he leaves a news conference following a House Republican caucus meeting at the U.S. Capitol on April 8, 2025. As President Trump's tariff threats cause uncertainty in global markets, Johnson continues to work towards a vote tomorrow on the Republican's budget plan. Andrew Harnik/Getty Images
House Republicans object to GOP budget for not cutting enough spending
The blueprint directs the Senate to cut a minimum of $4 billion, while the House instructions task several committees with cutting at least $1.5 trillion in spending.
House Speaker Mike Johnson said Tuesday he’s still planning to hold a floor vote this week to adopt the budget resolution that senators signed off on last weekend, despite opposition from enough Republican lawmakers to block final approval.
Johnson, R-La., said that he and others, including President Donald Trump, are working to address concerns the blueprint directs the Senate to cut a minimum of $4 billion, while the House instructions task several committees with cutting at least $1.5 trillion in spending. Some House Republicans say they don’t want to move ahead because the Senate number is too low.
Both chambers of Congress must adopt the same version of the budget resolution before they can use the complex reconciliation process to extend the 2017 tax cuts, bolster spending on border security and defense by hundreds of billions of dollars, and reduce government spending.
Johnson said during a press conference that a House vote to adopt the budget resolution, which the Senate approved early Saturday morning, just starts off the process. He also said writing the actual reconciliation bill would be “a collaborative process between the House and Senate.”
“You're going to see the Republican Party in both chambers working together as one team. I know that's a rare occasion, and people don't really know what that looks like, but we're actually going to do it this time,” Johnson said. “The House is not going to participate in an us-versus-them charade. We won't do it.”
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., told reporters following a closed-door GOP conference meeting on Tuesday morning that the chamber could stay in session this weekend, if leaders cannot get the votes they need lined up during the next few days.
“We've got to get it done,” Scalise said. “Failure is not an option.”
The House is set to leave for a two-week break on Thursday.
'A joke from the Senate'
House Republicans can only lose three votes and still adopt the budget resolution, given their extremely thin 220-seat majority. As of Tuesday, many more than three GOP lawmakers have expressed reservations or said outright they won’t vote to approve the budget resolution.
Texas Rep. Chip Roy said the $4 billion floor in spending cuts in the Senate’s reconciliation instructions “is clearly not sufficient.”
“It's, frankly, a joke from the Senate. And it's more of the same swamp stuff that we've been dealing with for years, and so nothing's changed,” Roy said. “So, you know, we have to draw a line in the sand now on a budget, and the Senate's budget is not there.”
Roy said he “wouldn't advise” House leaders to bring the budget resolution to the floor for a vote this week and that he “didn't come here to make deficits go up.”
The House’s reconciliation instructions allow the Ways and Means Committee to increase deficits by up to $4.5 trillion to extend the 2017 tax cuts that were set to expire at the end of this year.
The House’s budget blueprint also gives the Armed Services Committee a cap of $100 billion in new spending, Homeland Security a $90 billion ceiling for new funding for programs it oversees, and the Judiciary Committee a maximum of $110 billion in new spending.
The House tasks several other committees with cutting at least $1.5 trillion over the same time period, including $880 billion in cuts by the panel that oversees major health care programs like Medicare and Medicaid.
Trump weighs in
Tennessee Rep. Tim Burchett said he was undecided, but leaning against voting to approve the budget resolution since it proposed too much spending and not enough cuts.
Burchett said he wasn’t invited to a White House meeting taking place later in the day, but that Trump has his phone number and can call him if he wants to.
South Carolina Rep. Ralph Norman said he wanted to amend the budget resolution to require the Senate to cut the same amount as the House. He also said he wanted Trump to weigh in.
Trump posted on social media Monday evening that the Senate-passed budget had his “Complete and Total Endorsement and Support.”
“There is no better time than now to get this Deal DONE! The House, the Senate, and our Great Administration, are going to work tirelessly on creating “THE ONE, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL,” an appropriate name if Congress so likes,” Trump wrote. “Everyone is going to be happy with the result. Passage will make, even the subject of World Trade, far easier and better for the U.S.A. THE HOUSE MUST PASS THIS BUDGET RESOLUTION, AND QUICKLY — MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!”
Senate side
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said later Tuesday he hopes the House will adopt the budget resolution, so both chambers can begin drafting the actual reconciliation package. He also reiterated that GOP lawmakers in his chamber are just as interested in cutting spending as their House colleagues.
"As we get into the reconciliation process, we're going to be very committed to doing as much as we possibly can on deficit reduction," Thune said.
Some of the confusion and disagreement, he said, is due to Republicans "speaking slightly different languages because the House and Senate operate in such different ways."