When lawmakers arrived at Capitol Hill last Monday, the GOP leader’s plan to synchronize with the Senate to wipe out legislation to promote President Donald Trump’s agenda all seemed an essential job.
The House of Representatives’ Finance Hawks were furious with Senate Republicans after passing an amended version of the former budget framework.
Until late Thursday morning, house speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) was celebrating the victory in front of reporters after a narrow 216-214 vote.
“I told you not to doubt us,” Johnson, who won, told the media. “I’m really grateful to have had a big win on the floor right now. It was big and very important.”
House Freedom Caucus Chair urges Johnson to change courses for the Senate version of Trump’s budget bill
House Speaker Mike Johnson will shake hands with President Donald Trump on stage at the House Republican Conference held at the Hyatt Regency in Capitol Hill on November 13, 2024 in Washington. (Andrew Harnik/Getty Images)
The fierce battle victory also worked to persuade House Republican leaders and Senate GOP leaders to hold out, while Trump and his aides worked to persuade the same critics from the bystanders.
White House aides were unusual but not unexpected given the importance of future voting at the House Republican weekly meeting on Tuesday.
However, after playing a key role in supporting previous important legislation at this year’s finish line, GOP lawmakers submitted from that meeting doubting whether Trump’s impact would be useful this time.
“I don’t think that’s going on,” the House Republican told Fox News Digital when asked if Trump was enough to shake up critics.
Nevertheless, on Wednesday afternoon, hours before the expected vote, these holdout selection groups were summoned to the White House along with House GOP leaders.
Meet Trump Pick’s lawmakers speaking at the Full House GOP conference to Johnson
Fox News Digital told House conservatives that Trump had agreed to them about the need to command the room for about 20-30 minutes and significantly cut government spending.
Trump also told Holdout that Senate leaders felt the same way, but he was working on his tough margins, like home, Fox News Digital reported.
Meanwhile, the president is particularly interested in the closing deadline for the debt restrictions, Fox News Digital reported.
This is one of the issues Republicans are considering addressing through the budget settlement process. By lowering the Senate’s passing threshold from 60 to 51 votes, parties controlling the House, Senate and the White House can enact broad policy changes through one or two broad laws.
Senate Majority Leader John Toun will speak at a press conference following the Senate Republican Policy Luncheon held at the U.S. Capitol in Washington on Tuesday, March 11, 2025 (Argo/Bloomberg via Getty Images)
In this case, Republicans are looking for some additional funds for border security and defense, and will raise the debt cap.
GOP lawmakers are also considering extending Trump’s 2017 tax cuts and employment law. The regulations expire at the end of this year. They will also need new funds for Trump’s efforts to eliminate taxes on tipping and overtime wages.
But first, Republicans wanted the House and Senate to pass the same framework that set the stage for filling these frameworks with actual legislative policies.
The House version calls for at least $1.5 trillion in spending cuts, but the Senate mandated a $4 billion floor.
The White House meeting from Wednesday to afternoon rocked several holdouts, but not enough.
Senate majority leader John Tune, Rs.D. He also met with House GOP critics on Wednesday evening, prior to the planned vote.
“He wouldn’t have been more sincere and understandable to talk to us about what we needed to know, and honestly, he had some of the same concerns we had,” R-Tenn. Sen. Tim Burchett, of the group, told Fox News Digital.
“You know, he had to pass it to the finish line and make certain commitments. But he made a promise to work with us.”
But ultimately, the night saw an unrelated vote being held for over an hour, leading to chaos and frustration on the floor of the house, which quickly abolished plans to rush the night.
“It seemed he wasn’t in a better place than he was in the beginning,” one family Republican said of the night.
Rep. Tim Burchett speaks to a reporter at the Capitol. (Alex Won)
Trump was not called to deal with the group while they were gathering at the holdout, two sources in the room told Fox News Digital.
However, the president had several holdouts and individual conversations on Wednesday and Thursday, one said.
The Wednesday night’s failure gave way to the late night of negotiations, which included both holdouts and house GOP leaders.
The two House GOP leadership aides are Johnson R-La. and R-Mich of Steve Scullies, the majority leader of the House GOP conference. He told Fox News Digital until he knew what to do until late Wednesday.
When they showed up shortly before midnight, they settled on their plans – the aired promises by Johnson and Tune put both leaders on the record, committing to deep spending cuts.
Senate GOP pushes Trump’s budget framework after marathon voting series
“I think there will be a vote this morning to finally adopt a budget resolution so that President Trump can move forward with a very important agenda,” Johnson said.
Thune said, “We’re alongside the House of Representatives in terms of what the budget resolution outlined from a savings perspective. The speaker spoke about $1.5 trillion, and there are a lot of US senators who believe that at the very least.”
The Senator’s GOP aide insisted on Fox News Digital that “Mike Johnson would not have been able to get this resolution through the home, without Thune’s intervention.”
But the speakers also spent their long hours holding out their own.
House Majority Leader Steve Scullies will speak on the second day of the Republican National Convention (RNC) at the Fiserv Forum held in Milwaukee on July 16, 2024 (Reuters/Mike Seger)
Rep. Ralph Norman, who ultimately voted to advance the framework, told Fox News Digital that critics had sent me a note by Johnson early on Thursday, assuring he was committed to cutting deep spending.
“The Senate amendment to H.Con.Res.14 preserves untouched language from resolutions passed in the original home, including settlement instructions to the committee and section 4001.
This referred to the House Pass framework measure that suggests that if the final spending cuts were not equal to $2 trillion, funds for tax cuts would be reduced.
“The language reflects an important principle: the provisions that increase the deficit of the final settlement bill will have accompanying expenditure cuts.”
The vote was then called around 10:30am on Thursday, so the final flock between the holdout and the leader sealed the Republican victory.
“At some point, it got hot, and the speaker’s leadership team [House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn.] We’ve made sure we’ve made clarification about some issues that are very important to some members,” Burchett said.
“Then Steve really batted the cleanup and he came in the finals with the finals, everyone almost agreed.
House GOP Conference Chair Lisa McClain will leave the meeting at Capitol Hill Club on February 28, 2023 (Tom Williams)
Burchett said he believed Johnson had spoken to Trump separately at some point in the pack.
The senior house GOP aide said McClane was also present at the meeting.
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Republicans won just after 11am on Thursday, with the GOP side of the home chamber of commerce erupting in applause.
House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris (R-Md.), led the opponents and told reporters after the vote:
“We take the moody report from two weeks ago pretty seriously. You can’t make any outstanding tax cuts. You made progress by getting guarantees from both the Senate and House leaders that it won’t happen,” Harris said.
Elizabeth Elkind is the main reporter of Fox News Digital’s reporting in the House of Representatives. Previous digital bylines seen on Daily Mail and CBS News.
Follow me on Twitter at @liz_elkind and send tips to Elizabeth.elkind@fox.com
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