WASHINGTON—House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) pulled a vote late on April 9 on the Senate’s compromise budget resolution that would have allowed Congress to move forward with President Donald Trump’s agenda.
The decision to pull the vote—after a previous vote was held open for an hour and 15 minutes—was made as several Republicans remained opposed to various aspects of the package.
Johnson confirmed in comments to The Epoch Times that there would be no other votes Wednesday night and that a vote on the budget resolution will be held on Thursday.
It’s a major setback for both Johnson and the president, who threw his backing behind the package on April 8.
“Close your eyes and get there. It’s a phenomenal bill. Stop grandstanding,” Trump said on April 8 at a fundraiser dinner for the House GOP’s campaign and finance arm, the National Republican Congressional Committee.
That endorsement appears not to have soothed GOP skeptics of the package, despite Trump’s assurances to conservatives that they would get the steep spending cuts they’re seeking.
The withdrawal of the resolution suggests that leadership expected the legislation to fail if brought for a vote.
Now, they’ll have to go back to the negotiating table to try to win enough support for the package, in spite of Trump’s efforts during meetings with holdouts to bring the House Republican conference in alignment behind the package.
Earlier the same day, the resolution was advanced by the House Rules Committee in a 9–3 vote that won the backing of even skeptics including Reps. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) and Chip Roy (R-Texas), both of whom sit on the panel.
Just a day earlier, Rep. Rich McCormick (R-Ga.) told reporters that there were as many as 40 critics who hadn’t made a final decision on how to vote.
The measure, unveiled by Senate Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) on April 2, largely reflects both the House’s and Senate’s previously passed versions. It provides Congress with a floor and ceiling for spending and cutting targets without having to come to a consensus.
Numerous issues within the package—including the extent of deficit cuts and Medicaid cuts, and raising the debt ceiling by as much as $5 trillion—have divided the caucus.
A budget resolution is required to unlock the reconciliation process, which allows legislation related to taxation, spending, and the national debt to pass the Senate with a simple majority and avoid the 60-vote filibuster threshold applied to most bills.
To formally begin the process, an identical budget blueprint resolution must pass both chambers of Congress. It is not subject to the president’s signature or veto, though the final reconciliation bill will be.
Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), the House Rules Committee chairwoman, said that the American people “want a secure border, lower taxes, American energy dominance, and a smaller, less costly, and more accountable federal government.”
“We ought to address these imperatives without delay, and that means proceeding to the reconciliation process and continuing our work that began just a few short months ago,” she said.
Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), the committee’s ranking member, said the budget resolution was immoral. He said that a reconciliation bill would add to the national debt, include tax breaks for billionaires, and adversely affect hungry kids, seniors, and working parents.
The compromise budget resolution instructs the House and Senate to allocate $100 billion and $150 billion, respectively, toward defense over a decade. It would also make the 2017 tax cuts permanent. It also includes measures related to border security and American energy.
The resolution would have the House raise the debt ceiling by $4 trillion, while it would have the Senate do so by $5 trillion. This is an issue for members of the House Freedom Caucus such as Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.). The national borrowing limit is scheduled to be reached within the next few months.
Norman told The Epoch Times in a text message that the resolution is “dead on arrival” in the House.
Another issue is an instruction to the House Energy and Commerce Committee to cut at least $880 billion from the deficit over a decade, leading to fears that Medicaid will be cut.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) said that only waste, fraud, and abuse will be cut from the entitlement program.
Johnson can only afford to lose three GOP votes if all Democrats are in attendance and vote against the resolution.
Trump has repeatedly called on House Republicans to pass the measure.
“If we don’t get it done because of stupidity or a couple of people who want to show how great they are, you just have to laugh at them or smile at them or cry right in their face,” he said.
