Speaker Mike Johnson said the House GOP budget resolution will advance out of the Budget Committee today with no Republican defections, despite protests from key hard-liners.
“I expect it to pass — unanimously,” Johnson told reporters as he entered the Capitol on Thursday.
After weeks of delays, the Budget panel is meeting later this morning to debate and vote on a budget blueprint necessary for unlocking the massive Trump agenda bill they’re trying to pass this year along party lines.
Fiscal hawks like Reps. Chip Roy of Texas, Ralph Norman of South Carolina and others on the panel are still demanding higher spending cuts, guarantees on work requirements for safety net programs and other additions they plan to raise during the Budget meeting today, which could stretch into the evening.
Those Republicans plan to offer another amendment today that they’ve negotiated with GOP leaders. It would seek to strengthen a provision in the budget resolution that would reduce the available funding for tax cuts if Republicans don’t hit $2 trillion in spending cuts. GOP leaders expect it to be adopted, Majority Leader Steve Scalise told reporters Thursday.
“This is the necessary first start to get it going,” Johnson said this morning.
