House Speaker Mike Johnson said Wednesday night the House will not vote as planned on the Senate-approved GOP budget blueprint that would fund President Donald Trump’s agenda because a small “subset” of members are not totally satisfied with it.
Johnson met Wednesday evening with more than a dozen members for more than an hour and told reporters afterward “Stay tuned.”
It was unclear Wednesday night if a vote would occur on Thursday.
Ahead of the planned vote, Johnson, with the help of President Donald Trump, tried to persuade nearly a dozen GOP holdouts to advance the legislation.
Johnson can afford to have only three defections from his caucus with all members voting and present, and several GOP hardliners from the House Freedom Caucus said they had concerns about how the plan would reduce the deficit ahead of Wednesday evening.
However, Johnson said Wednesday afternoon that he believed Republicans would come together and vote in favor of the resolution.
“I think it’s going to pass today,” Johnson said.
“The president’s willing to help, and he’s told me that this morning. But I think we get this job done,” he said, noting that he was sympathetic to the holdouts’ concerns in the Senate-approved measure.
“We have one very important mission, and that is to deliver the one big, beautiful bill that is going to get this economy going again and solve these other problems,” he concluded.
Passing the legislation through the House in the face of drama on the floor would deliver Trump a major win.
Trump posted Wednesday morning on his social media platform Truth Social that “it is more important now, than ever, that we pass THE ONE, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL. The USA will Soar like never before!!!”
The House narrowly passed a “rule,” a procedure to advance legislation, on Wednesday afternoon, which included the budget blueprint, by a vote of 216-215.
Three Republicans voted against the rule, including Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., Victoria Spartz, R-Ind., and Mike Turner, R-Ohio.
Johnson engaged in a heated conversation on the floor with House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, R-Md., one of the holdouts, and House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., was huddling with hard-line conservatives at one point as well.
Despite opposition, GOP leaders moved ahead with a full floor vote on the budget blueprint Wednesday evening, which required a simple majority.
The rule vote also included language to block future House votes on rescinding Trump’s tariffs
Trump met with Johnson and several GOP hard-liners who had said they have concerns about the bill Tuesday afternoon in the Oval Office, though Reps. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., and Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., two on the short list to vote no on the bill, said they were not invited.
Trump posted afterward that it was “a very good meeting.”
“I let them know that, I AM FOR MAJOR SPENDING CUTS! WE ARE GOING TO DO REDUCTIONS, hopefully in excess of $1 Trillion Dollars, all of which will go into ‘The One, Big, Beautiful Bill,'” he posted Tuesday night. “I, along with House Members and Senators, will be pushing very hard to get these large scale Spending Cuts done, but we must get the Bill approved NOW.”
Johnson, too, said he believed the meeting went well and that the president convinced the Republican holdouts to support the bill.
“A great meeting. The President was very helpful and engaged,” he said. “We have a lot of members’ whose questions were answered. We are making great progress right now.”
However, Reps. Chip Roy, R-Texas, said Tuesday that he still had concerns with the budget blueprint and would likely vote against the bill, telling reporters that the resolution has “enough” GOP objections to tank it.
“I’m not here for aspirations,” he posted on X. “The Senate’s bill does not add up – it’s all tax cuts with no spending cuts which = deficits.”
Trump made a final pitch to House Republicans while speaking at the National Republican Congressional Committee’s black-tie dinner Tuesday night.
“Just in case there are a couple of Republicans out there, you just got to get there,” Trump said. “Close your eyes and get there. It’s a phenomenal bill. Stop grandstanding. Just stop grandstanding.”
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