House GOP pushes Trump's budget package forward after setback

Washington — President Trump's domestic policy bill cleared another hurdle in the House late Sunday after conservatives rebelled Friday over concerns the legislation does not contain steep enough spending cuts.

The opposition stalled the bill while negotiations with Republican leadership carried through the weekend to try to get conservatives on board, culminating with the House Budget Committee scheduling a second vote late Sunday to move it one step closer to a floor vote before the lower chamber's self-imposed Memorial Day deadline.

Four conservative holdouts — Reps. Chip Roy of Texas, Ralph Norman of South Carolina, Josh Brecheen of Oklahoma, Andrew Clyde of Georgia — this time voted present instead of against the legislation, allowing it to advance in a vote where 17 members were in favor and 16 were opposed.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, a Louisiana Republican, said Sunday night that "talks have gone great" and there will be some "minor modifications" made to the legislation. He called Sunday's outcome "a big win."

Johnson has remained committed to putting the legislation, which would extend tax cuts from Mr. Trump's first term while temporarily ending taxes on tips and overtime, on the floor before Memorial Day, despite some factions in his party being unhappy with the bill as it was originally written. The tax measures, as well as increased spending on the military and border security, would be offset partly by cuts to Medicaid, food stamps and clean energy subsidies.

The legislation's next stop is the Rules Committee, which can make updates to the package. The Budget Committee was responsible for stitching together the various parts of the reconciliation package into a single bill, and could not make modifications. Johnson said he expected the Rules Committee to take it up Tuesday or Wednesday to tee it up for a floor vote, which could happen Thursday.

However, the legislation, which Mr. Trump refers to as the "big, beautiful bill" is not yet in the clear.

Conservatives have taken issue with the bill's failure to install work requirements for childless Medicaid recipients without disabilities before 2029. They also want to end clean energy subsidies that were implemented under the Inflation Reduction Act, which was signed into law by former President Joe Biden.

A provision on the state and local tax deduction, known as SALT, is facing pushback from a group of Republicans from blue states, who have threatened to derail its passage if their demands aren't met. It's also likely to run into other obstacles in the Senate.

"We've always acknowledged that towards the end, there will be more details to iron out," Johnson said. "We have several more to take care of, but I'm looking forward to very thoughtful discussions, very productive discussions over the next few days. And I'm absolutely convinced we're going to get this in final form and pass it in accordance with our original deadline."

On Friday, five Republicans on the Budget Committee voted against advancing the bill, including the four who voted present on Sunday and Rep. Lloyd Smucker of Pennsylvania. Smucker said his "no" vote was a procedural move to be able bring up the legislation again once their issues were resolved.

Roy told reporters after Sunday's vote that "there's a lot more work to do this week." Norman echoed the sentiment, adding that progress was made on Medicaid work requirements and subsidies under the Inflation Reduction Act.

When asked whether it could get through the Rules Committee this week, Roy responded, "We'll see."

Both Roy and Norman are members of that committee as well.

Jaala Brown contributed to this report.