Speaker Johnson moves on Senate's Trump budget bill as House GOP rebels threaten to defect
Congress will have a bill on Trump's desk by Memorial Day, Speaker Johnson said
By Elizabeth Elkind Fox News
Published April 5, 2025 1:50pm EDT
House Republican leaders are rallying GOP lawmakers around a plan to enact a broad swath of President Donald Trump's agenda, after the legislation was passed by the Senate in the early hours of Saturday morning.
"More than a year ago, the House began discussing the components of a reconciliation package that will reduce the deficit, secure our border, keep taxes low for families and job creators, reestablish American energy dominance, restore peace through strength, and make government more efficient and accountable to the American people. We are now one step closer to achieving those goals," Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and his top lieutenants wrote to House Republicans.
"Today, the Senate passed its version of the budget resolution. Next week, the House will consider the Senate amendment."
Congressional Republicans are pushing a conservative policy overhaul via the budget reconciliation process. Traditionally used when one party holds all three branches of government, reconciliation lowers the Senate's threshold for passage on certain fiscal measures from 60 votes to 51.
As a result, it's been used to pass sweeping policy changes in one or two massive pieces of legislation.
Senate Republicans passed a framework for a reconciliation bill just after 2 a.m. ET on Saturday, after hours of debate and votes on amendments to the measure.
It's similar to the version House Republicans passed in late February; but mechanisms the Senate used to avoid factoring in the cost of extending Trump's 2017-era tax cuts as well as a lower baseline for required federal spending cuts has some House conservatives warning they could oppose the bill.
The Senate's version calls for at least $4 billion in spending cuts, while the House's version mandates a floor of $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion.
Both bills also include Trump priorities on border security, energy, and new tax policies like eliminating penalties on tipped and overtime wages.
"If the Senate’s 'Jekyll and Hyde' budget is put on the House floor, I will vote no," Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, wrote on X.
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