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WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans narrowly approved their budget framework Thursday, a political turnaround after Speaker Mike Johnson worked into the night to satisfy GOP holdouts who had refused to advance trillions of dollars in tax breaks without deeper spending cuts.
Johnson stood with Senate Majority Leader John Thune early in the morning at the Capitol and said President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” which seeks as much as $1.5 trillion in cuts to federal programs and services, was on track. The speaker had abruptly halted voting Wednesday night.
“I believe we have the votes,” said Johnson, R-La. “We’ll take the next big step.”
Thune, R-S.D., also tried to assure House conservatives that many GOP senators are aligned with their pursuit of spending reductions.
“We certainly are going to do everything we can,” Thune said.
The 216-214 vote pushed the budget plan forward, one more milestone for Johnson, and the next step in a lengthy process to unlock the centerpiece to the president’s domestic agenda of tax cuts, mass deportations and a smaller federal government. A failed vote, particularly as the economy was convulsing over Trump’s trade wars, would have been a major setback for the party in power in Washington. Two conservative Republicans voted against it, as did all Democrats.
Trump, at a black-tie fundraising dinner this week, had admonished Republicans to “stop grandstanding” on the budget.
By Thursday morning, Trump had shifted his tone, posting on social media that it’s “coming along really well.”
“Biggest Tax Cuts in USA History!!! Getting close,” Trump said.
The House action still leaves weeks, if not months, ahead, on a final product, with more votes in Congress. Johnson could lose only a few detractors from his slim Republican majority. Democrats, in the minority, lack the votes to stop the package, but they have warned against it.
But by Wednesday afternoon, the outcome was in flux. At least a dozen conservative Republicans, if not more, were firmly against the plan. Several of them, including members of the ultraconservative Freedom Caucus, made the unusual move of walking across the Capitol to meet privately with Senate GOP leaders to insist on deeper cuts.
As night fell, Johnson pulled a group of Republicans into a private meeting room as House proceedings came to a standstill. They stayed into the night hashing out alternatives, and were back at it in the morning.
Johnson said he spoke with Trump for about five minutes while the GOP meeting was taking place. The speaker said they were trying to figure out the minimal number of cuts and savings “that will satisfy everyone.”
“The president is very anxious for us to get this done,” Johnson said.
But House GOP conservatives, including several of those who met with Trump this week, were concerned that the Senate GOP’s blueprint, approved last weekend, did not cut spending to the level they believe necessary to help prevent soaring deficits.
“The Math Does Not Add Up,” Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, had posted earlier on social media.
Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., the Freedom Caucus chair, led others to met with the senators.
“All we can do is make sure that they understand where we’re coming from and how close we want to work with them to get to the final product,” Thune said afterward.
But he panned the idea of the House sending back an amended version, which would require another potential all-night voting session like the one senators endured last weekend. “We can’t do that,” Thune said.
In the end, Republican Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Rep. Victoria Spartz of Indiana voted “no.”
The House and Senate are at the beginning phase of a process that will take weeks, if not months, as they turn their budget resolutions into legislative text — a final product with more votes ahead later this spring or summer.
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York said the budget plan is reckless and callous, proposing cuts to give tax breaks to the wealthy.
“We’re here to make it clear,” Jeffries said. “Hands off everyday Americans struggling to make ends meet.”
Central to the budget framework is the Republican effort to preserve the tax breaks approved in 2017, during Trump’s first term, while potentially adding the new ones he promised during his 2024 campaign. That includes no taxes on tipped wages, Social Security income and others, ballooning the price tag to some $7 trillion over the decade.
The package also allows for budget increases with some $175 billion to pay for Trump’s deportation operation and as much for the Defense Department to bolster military spending.
It would be partly paid for with deep cuts to domestic programs, including health care, as part of the $2 trillion in reductions outlined in the House version. Several Republican senators have signaled they are not willing to go that far.
To clip costs, the Senate is using an unusual accounting method that does not count the costs of preserving the 2017 tax cuts, some $4.5 trillion, as new spending, another factor that is enraging the House conservatives.
Two Republican senators voted “no” last weekend. Maine Sen. Susan Collins objected to Medicaid cuts in the House’s framework, while Kentucky Sen. Rand Paul argued the whole package relied on “fishy” math that would add to the debt.
The plan would also raise the nation’s debt limit to allow more borrowing to pay the bills. Trump had wanted lawmakers to take the politically difficult issue off the table. With debt now at $36 trillion, the Treasury Department has said it will run out of funds by August.
But the House and Senate need to resolve their differences on the debt limit, as well. The House GOP increases the debt limit by $4 trillion, but the Senate lifted it to $5 trillion so Congress would not have to revisit the issue again until after the midterm elections in November 2026.
With Trump’s trade wars hovering over the debate, House Republicans tucked a provision into a procedural vote that would prevent House action — as the Senate has taken — to disapprove of Trump’s tariffs.
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Associated Press writers Mary Clare Jalonick, Stephen Groves, Leah Askarinam and Matt Brown contributed to this report.
Lisa Mascaro And Kevin Freking, The Associated Press
