Washington — House Speaker Mike Johnson postponed a vote on a Republican budget plan because there was insufficient GOP support to pass it on Wednesday.
Several House Republicans have resisted growing pressure from President Trump to support a plan for extending his tax cuts, which are set to expire this year.
The resolution’s passage was in jeopardy prior to the scheduled vote, making it a risk for Johnson, who huddled with conservatives off the House floor for more than an hour while he attempted to persuade the holdouts. It’s Johnson’s latest setback, raising further concerns about the future of Mr. Trump’s agenda.
Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, stated that the vote could be rescheduled for Thursday morning.
At a fundraiser for House Republicans on Tuesday night, Mr. Trump advised GOP holdouts to “close your eyes and get there.” Earlier in the day, he met with some of them at the White House and urged them to support the budget resolution passed by the Senate on Saturday.
More than a dozen members, however, have objected to the Senate resolution’s low level of spending cuts (approximately $4 billion) in comparison to the House version’s nearly $1.5 trillion cuts. The budget resolution outlines Mr. Trump’s border security, defense, energy, and tax priorities.
“They need to do this. They have to get there,” Mr. Trump said at the House GOP campaign arm’s fundraising dinner, adding that he had a great meeting with some of the holdouts, but “just in case there are a couple of Republicans out there—you just have to get there. Close your eyes and get there. It’s an incredible bill. “Stop boasting.”
The president criticized Democrats’ policies, but praised their ability to “always vote in unison,” saying, “You don’t see anybody holding up.”
“One little thing the Republican Party has to do is get together and damn vote,” Mr. Trump stated, adding that individual lawmakers may not receive “every little ounce — it doesn’t work that way.”
Mr. Trump, who has recently played a key role in shepherding the House GOP on legislation, promised a “massive victory” in the 2026 midterm elections if Republicans pass the budget resolution and enact his agenda more broadly.
He argued that “they will not be able to even touch your seat,” and predicted that they would pick up “40, 50, or even 60” seats in the House, defying conventional political dynamics, with the party in control of the White House frequently losing control of the House in the midterm elections.
“If we don’t get it done because of stupidity or a couple of people that want to show how great they are, you just have to laugh at them or smile at them or cry right in their face,” the chief executive said.
On Wednesday morning, as the House Rules Committee prepared to vote on the budget resolution, the president used Truth Social to persuade the conference to follow suit.
“Republicans, it is more important now, than ever, that we pass THE ONE, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL,” according to him. “The USA will Soar like never before!!!”
Congressional leaders are attempting to pass the budget plan this week before leaving town for a two-week recess.
Adopting the budget resolution is the first step in the reconciliation process, which allows Congress to bypass the 60-vote threshold required to advance most legislation in the Senate and pass the bill with a simple majority.
It will allow Republicans to pass legislation that funds the president’s agenda without the support of Democrats.
After Republicans in the House and Senate forged ahead with their own budget blueprints earlier this year, the Senate adopted the compromise resolution on Saturday, leaving the House with only a few days to overcome opposition and get it passed before the recess.
While GOP leaders have recently agreed on a course of action, many House Republicans are dissatisfied with it.
The Senate set relatively low minimum spending cuts for several committees, at around $4 billion, but expect to find far more. Simultaneously, it allows the House to cut spending by at least $1.5 trillion.
Furthermore, the Senate-adopted plan is based on a budget scoring method known as “current policy,” which assumes that extending the expiring current policies will cost nothing. Under that baseline, the $3.8 trillion cost of extending the Trump tax cuts would be excluded.
The Trump tax cuts were originally enacted in 2017 with a “current law” baseline and were set to expire this year. This scoring method, which was also used in the House budget resolution, indicates that the $3.8 trillion cost of extending the tax cuts is considered new spending.
Fiscal hawks have criticized the Senate-backed plan, including Missouri Republican Rep. Eric Burlison, who told reporters Tuesday that “there’s no way” the House would pass it at this time.
Burlison said he could be persuaded by a guarantee that the Senate will make deeper spending cuts, calling the current levels in the resolution “anemic” and “a joke.”
When asked if he’d consider backing the measure if he had assurances from the president about spending cuts, Republican Rep. Eli Crane of Arizona said he’d need to “see some product from the Senate that actually shows that they’re serious about cutting.”
Crane called House GOP leadership’s pressure to support the resolution to avoid jeopardizing the president’s agenda “nonsense.”
“I think it’s just another tactic to try and pressure us into the status quo,” he said afterwards.
During the House Rules Committee hearing on the resolution Wednesday, House Budget Committee chairman Jodey Arrington, a Texas Republican, expressed “concerns” about the Senate’s resolution guiding the reconciliation process.
Rep. Chip Roy, a Texas Republican, stated at the meeting that “the math still doesn’t math.”
“The Senate budget is all tax cuts and no spending cuts,” Roy said, adding that he doesn’t believe the Senate’s promise to cut spending.
Roy urged Senate and House GOP leaders, as well as the White House, to “come show me the math.”
“I will not vote for this bill,” Roy stated. “Because it is not responsible.”
