Johnson Pursues Trump-Backed Budget Vote Despite Backlash From Fiscal Hawks

House Speaker Mike Johnson is moving forward with a vote on a budget blueprint laying the groundwork to enact President Donald Trump’s legislative agenda despite backlash from fiscal hawks in his conference.

Though House GOP leadership endorsed the Trump-backed budget resolution shortly after it passed in the Senate early Saturday morning, Republican Rep. Jodey Arrington of Texas, the House Budget Committee chairman, called the plan as amended by the upper chamber “unserious and disappointing” for failing to commit to steep spending cuts. Mounting conservative backlash to the Senate-amended budget resolution could jeopardize its passage before Congress leaves Washington for the Easter recess.

The House could vote on the budget blueprint as early as Wednesday, according to multiplereports. Johnson appears confident the conference will come around to supporting the resolution given Trump’s endorsement of the budget plan and his calls for Congress to work quickly to enact his agenda.

“Every Republican, House and Senate, must UNIFY,” Trump wrote in a Truth Social post April 2. “We need to pass it IMMEDIATELY!”

Congressional Republicans are seeking to execute the president’s legislative priorities through a process known as budget reconciliation, which allows Senate Republicans to bypass the filibuster and advance legislation by a simple majority vote. GOP House and Senate leadership have yet to strike a deal on the amount of spending reduction to include and which programs to cut in a forthcoming tax and spending bill.

The Senate-amended budget resolution instructed Senate committees to cut several billion in spending while leaving in place House committee instructions to enact a $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion spending floor. House deficit hawks are concerned that the Senate will refuse to commit to steep spending cuts in the final budget reconciliation bill Congress is currently negotiating.

“If the Senate delivers real deficit cuts in line with the House’s, I’ll support it,” Republican Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania wrote on X Sunday. “But with the Senate setting numbers as insulting, insincere, and low as $4 BILLION (that’s a cheeseburger, folks) compared to the House’s hard work at $2 TRILLION, I’m not holding my breath. I won’t support changes to the House budget resolution unless it aligns with the spending and deficit reduction plans in the President’s America First agenda.”

“To say I’m disappointed with the Senate’s deeply unserious budget resolution would be an understatement,” Republican Rep. David Schweikert of Arizona said in a statement Saturday. “With just $4 billion in cuts— equal to less than a single day’s worth of borrowing {about 20 hours} — the Senate budget resolution is more business as usual at a time when that’s exactly what we’re trying to avoid.”

With a slim 220-213 GOP majority, Johnson can afford to lose just three Republican votes on the floor assuming all members are present and voting. In addition to Schweikert, Republican Rep. Chip Roy of Texas and Republican Rep. Lloyd Smucker of Pennsylvania, the House Budget Committee vice chairman, are among other deficit-concerned lawmakers that have suggested they will oppose the resolution on the floor. Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, who was the lone GOP lawmaker to oppose the initial House budget blueprint, is also expected to vote against the Senate-amended resolution.

“The Senate’s passage of the amended House resolution is a critical step forward,” Smucker wrote on X Saturday. “However, with $5.8T in costs & only $4B required savings in their instructions, I can’t vote for it.”

House GOP leadership has endorsed the budget plan that allows for a permanent extension of the expiring provisions of the 2017 tax cuts and $5 trillion increase in the statutory debt limit. House leaders have argued that House should quickly pass the Senate-amended budget framework and find consensus on spending cuts later in the budget reconciliation process.

“The budget resolution is not the law itself, but only the necessary kickoff for reconciliation to begin,” House Republican leadership wrote. “Although the Senate chose to take a different approach on its instructions, the amended resolution in NO WAY prevents us from achieving our goals in the final reconciliation bill.”

Deficit-focused House conservatives appear unconvinced and have urged the Senate to commit to substantial spending reform before the House proceeds in advancing a budget resolution.

“If the Senate can deliver real deficit reduction in line with or greater than the House goals, I can support the Senate budget resolution,” Republican Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland, the House Freedom Caucus chairman, said in a statement Saturday. “The Senate is free to put pen to paper to draft its reconciliation bill, but I can’t support House passage of the Senate changes to our budget resolution until I see the actual spending and deficit reduction plans to enact President Trump’s America First agenda.”

Failure to pass the budget resolution in the House this week will delay passage of what Trump has called “one, big beautiful bill” — a package which includes border security funding, new defense spending and an array of the president’s tax priorities. Senate GOP leadership is urging House Republicans to pass the Trump-endorsed budget blueprint quickly.

“I have an urgency to get it done as soon as we can so we can get these policies in place,” Senate Majority Whip John Barrasso told CBS News’ Margaret Brennan Sunday. “I think the more certainty we can provide to the folks around the country that they will see that we are on the right path to a strong, healthy, growing economy … The sooner we can get this passed, the sooner we can reverse the damage that the Democrats have done over the last four years.”

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