President Donald Trump is speaking with some House Republican holdouts ahead of an imperiled vote on the GOP’s budget Tuesday evening.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said Trump had been “tremendously” helpful ahead of the critical vote. Speaker Mike Johnson likewise told reporters several House Republicans had called the president as they weighed their votes.
Several House Republicans are holding out for a commitment to deeper spending cuts, while others fear that the eventual legislation will cut Medicaid too deeply. Johnson can lose only one vote if all Republicans are present.
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) said Trump asked him to support Johnson’s plan in an early-afternoon phone call. The key GOP holdout was seen speaking to the president as he and Johnson walked to the House floor for a key procedural vote.
In a brief interview Burchett said that Johnson called Trump while he and the speaker were meeting in Johnson’s office. Johnson then handed Burchett the phone. “It went well,” Burchett said of his call with the president. “I’m concerned about spending, and he is too. And we had a nice conversation.”
“I told him that I would talk about it, think about it, pray about it. And that’s what I’m doing,” Burchett said, adding that he planned to “make my decision … right before I walk up” for the Tuesday evening vote.
When asked at a news conference whether Trump is actively whipping votes for the House budget, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said the president is keeping an eye on both the House budget and the Senate budget. Senate Republicans’ plan would implement energy and border policies but leave an extension of expiring tax cuts for a second party-line bill.
“I am not aware of any calls that he has made,” said Leavitt. “He’s made it very clear to the Hill what his priorities for a budget are. He’s said it to the speaker of the House. He’s said it to [Senate Majority] Leader [John] Thune. The Senate and the House know what President Trump wants.”
Trump said in a Truth Social post last week that he would like all of his legislative priorities advanced in “one big beautiful bill.”
Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), a member of the far-right House Freedom Caucus, also reported that Trump was speaking to some members Tuesday afternoon ahead of a possible evening vote.
Nicholas Wu contributed to this report.
