Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) won a big victory Tuesday night when he turned the House GOP budget resolution into a dramatic vote, turning the Hardline conservative holdout trio in the final moments to win.
But that was just the beginning.
With the “One Big, Beautiful Bill” budget resolution adopted by the House, Johnson is now gazing at the next step in a series of high stakes that can cut off Republican efforts to enact President Trump's legislative agenda.
“We took one necessary step, but there are a lot of miles to go,” says Chip Roy, R-Texas. I wrote it on social platform x.
First, House Republicans need to settle with the Senate GOP meeting, which approved last week's budget resolution that utilized the two-track strategy. Many senators have also repeatedly called for major changes in House Pass resolution that could complicate the GOP's efforts to reach the violation.
Johnson will then be tasked with moving the resolution of that consensus through the House of Representatives.
“As little as possible,” Johnson said he asks how much the house will change. “There's a very small needle here to thread, and there's a point of balance between people who compete in priorities. [if] We are deviating too much from it, we have a problem. ”
And finally, Johnson, Senate majority leader John Tune (Rs.D.) and their leadership team must fill out the specific policy details of the bill within the parameters set out in the budget resolution, with all their heaviest lifts.
Johnson has a clear look at the path ahead on his side, telling reporters Tuesday night that “many jobs have not yet been done.”
These efforts are already underway.
“There are some things we need to work with to expand the house package,” Thune told reporters Wednesday.
Thune and Senate Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo (R-Idaho) announced earlier this month that he would lead a Senate Republican group to support only packages that include a permanent extension of the 2017 tax cut.
But the House budget resolution calls for a $4.5 trillion cap on the deficit impact of the GOP plan to extend Trump's 2017 tax cuts, as many hard-line Republicans demand that the package be deficit neutral. But key lawmakers doubt that numbers are sufficient to cover costs unless budgetary gimmicks are used.
For example, Jason Smith (R-Mo.), chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, cites a report from the Congressional Budget Office that stated that an extension of a 10-year tax cut would cost more than $4.7 trillion.
Krapo said Wednesday that he was already working on “adjusting” the House directions.
“This is where work begins now,” he told reporters. “We're starting to work on what we need to do. Now, we're … cutting what they put in the instructions and knowing where they're, so at baseline, we're going to work on adjustments.”
Johnson and Tune met with Trump and several members of his economic team at the White House on Wednesday to discuss the path to advancement for reconciliation, and speakers then reported “many progress.” He also said that making tax cuts permanent is the House's “goal”;
“We're ongoing. Johnson later states, “There's a close unity between the House and Senate and what we need to achieve over the next few weeks and the Senate.
Another concern that Senators have over the House budget resolution is Medicaid's potential cuts, as well as moderates in the House. The chamber's measures below direct the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which has jurisdiction over Medicaid, to find at least $880 billion in cuts.
“I'm not going to vote for Medicaid cuts,” Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) said, pointing to a high percentage of his constituents who benefit from Medicaid or the Children's Health Insurance Program (CHIP). “We need to change. We know there are a lot of people on our side who want a lot of change.”
Certainly Trump repeated Wednesday that he didn't want to “touch” Medicaid beyond eradicating fraud. Johnson reflects the same message.
However, Republicans at Hardline House warn that they should not make stomach shortages at expenditures below the level laid out in the budget resolution.
“I've been thinking about this,” said Rep. Scott Perry (R-Pa.), a member of the Freedom Caucus in Conservative Houses, when asked if he would accept the lower floors. “If we wanted to have a stupid idea, we would have had them write the bill in the first place. That's why we wrote the bill.”
Meanwhile, some Hardline House Republicans have already drawn sand boundaries about the policies they want to see in the final bill.
Roy, who played a key role in negotiating a conservative amendment to the House budget resolution, said his vote to adopt the measure was “conditioned for additional important actions.”
But the idea has already sparked pushbacks from lawmakers whose districts benefit from legislative provisions, including purple community members and Ruby Red territory. Last year, a group of Republicans wrote to Johnson that “urged him to prioritize business and market certainty when considering efforts to abolish or reform the Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).”
“I respect Chip a lot and I understand where he came from, but at the same time, despite our faces, please don't cut off our noses,” said Rep. Buddy Carter (R-Ga.), the letter signer who holds electric vehicle manufacturing in the district. “Let's take a look at these things very carefully and see if they're doing what we want to do with them.”
