Following a small rebellion last week by far-right members of the House Budget Committee — who were calling for steeper spending cuts — Republicans on the panel managed to move their reconciliation package out of the committee late Sunday night. Yet the most perilous moments for Johnson’s fraught push to pass Trump’s everything-and-the-kitchen-sink bill may well lie ahead.
A weekend of negotiations reportedly led the four Republicans, who tanked the One Big Beautiful Bill Act in its current form on Friday, to change their votes from “no” to “present.” Those four votes were enough to move along the reconciliation package that includes much of Trump’s fiscal agenda and dramatic cuts to social safety net programs.
But the fate of the bill is far from certain, and House GOP leadership has been touting a self-imposed deadline that will force it to rush through policy negotiations that will impact millions to pass the package by Memorial Day.
As has been the case over the past few years, the small majority Republicans hold in the House gives each member of the caucus, even some of the fringe, far-right members, immense power to hold bills hostage.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and leadership will have to find a way to appease nearly every member to ensure the reconciliation package passes a House floor vote that is expected to come later this week.
The task at hand is far from simple.
Over the weekend, leadership reportedly made promises to the members who were calling for steeper cuts to be included in the package, in part to offset the cost of making permanent President Trump’s 2017 tax cuts that benefited the wealthy. Other members have become increasingly vocal about steeper federal spending cuts after the Congressional Budget Office found that the legislation would add to the national deficit over time.
Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC), one of the holdouts that tanked the Budget Committee vote on Friday, told reporters that Republican leaders put their commitments to those asking for more spending reductions in writing. Those promises include moving up the date for when Medicaid work requirements kick in, taking away Medicaid benefits from undocumented immigrants and ending green energy tax benefits implemented during the Biden administration, Norman said.
Despite the concessions from leadership, the members who have been calling for steeper cuts are still not satisfied.
“The bill does not yet meet the moment,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) said in a social media post after the committee vote. “We can and must do better before we pass the final product.”
The House Freedom Caucus also put out a statement Sunday night, echoing Roy’s sentiment.
“While progress has been made on advancing the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ out of the Budget Committee, it does not yet meet the moment,” the Freedom Caucus statement read. “We are determined and committed to working through the remaining obstacles within this bill, and we stand with our colleagues Reps. Roy, Brecheen, Clyde and Norman in the Budget Committee who voted present to signal the need for further negotiations.”
Meanwhile, coming out of a meeting with the holdouts before the Budget Committee vote, the House Speaker told reporters that they agreed to “minor modifications,” according to Politico.
But the implications of those changes might not be so minor for the vulnerable Republicans who have been resisting major overhauls to social safety net programs.
This group could well object to the more drastic changes to Medicaid as well as other provisions that would not play well with their constituents. And some are also still dissatisfied with the previous state and local tax, also known as SALT, offer leadership made.
The Main Street Caucus, which is largely made up of moderate Republicans, is also reportedly set to meet with Johnson Monday evening to discuss their concerns around Medicaid, SNAP food aid, federal employee pensions and other drastic spending cuts outlined in the bill, Politico reports.
As we have seen in a number of recent House floor votes, President Donald Trump and non-elected MAGA allies’ strong arming of individual members might end up being the one maneuver that gets the legislation passed in the House.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act will make its way through the House Rules committee next. The panel is scheduled to meet on Wednesday at 1 a.m. ET. If the Rules committee — which includes some holdouts from the Budget Committee, Roy and Norman — passes the bill, it will face the major test, a floor vote.
Then, it’s on to the Senate, where it would face additional challenges. Some senators, like Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI), have already vowed to oppose the bill in its current form. Other Republican senators are reportedly pushing for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act to be broken up into two or three different pieces of legislation that could be passed separately after changes have been made in the Senate.
FRIST!1!
I don’t have a cat.
First of all, I didn’t realize it was actually named “the Big Beautiful Bill”, I assumed that’s just what the dotard calls it, because, well, he’s an idiot. Did they let someone’s 5 yr old name the bill?
Oh, think I just answered my own question.
Chip Roy is my representative, despite never having voted for him, and I guess when he retires the surrounding neighbors will go ahead and elect Rep Robespierre, (R) TX. The fact that there is an entire caucus of people like him whose main objection to the bill is that it isn’t cruel enough to the poor is mortifying.
SOP to date:
From what I’ve seen so far, Johnson doesn’t really enter into it.
Yeah, the Five Year Old In Chief.
NO CAT ?? who let you in here ??!!