In the end, House Republicans just had to do it live.
After holding a vote open for 71 minutes before pulling their budget from the floor Tuesday night, Republicans ultimately called members back to the House and narrowly adopted their budget in dramatic fashion.
Moments after the seemingly final vote, GOP leaders — with the apparent help of President Donald Trump — flipped three GOP holdouts who intended to vote no only minutes before. Ultimately, the House agreed to the budget resolution 217-215, with only one Republican in opposition.
The spending blueprint — the House’s “one big, beautiful bill,” as Trump is fond of saying — lays the groundwork for Republicans to ultimately pass $4.5 trillion in tax cuts while cutting entitlement spending by $2 trillion in a reconciliation bill. And the eventual bill, as dictated by the budget, is also likely to enact Trump’s energy and border policies while also raising the debt limit by $4 trillion.
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While Republicans are far from a final vote on their reconciliation bill, getting the budget adopted on the House floor is a major win for Speaker Mike Johnson, particularly after he was suddenly able to turn a humiliating defeat into a memorable victory.
Not even 24 hours ago, it was almost inconceivable that House Republicans would be able to get this legislation through the House — and it looked even more doubtful after Republicans pulled the bill from the floor Tuesday night and sent lawmakers home.
But that directive only lasted a few minutes.
As Republicans and Democrats left Capitol Hill Tuesday, with votes apparently finished for the night, GOP leaders suddenly reversed course, calling members back for a vote.
In the end, only Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie voted against the budget. Reps. Victoria Spartz, Tim Burchett and Warren Davidson — all Republicans who described themselves as firmly opposed to the budget without additional assurances — flipped their votes at the last minute, those assurances about spending cuts finally in hand.
Spartz, who earlier in the day was adamant she “never changes” her mind, flipped after an intense whip effort from GOP leadership. And Davidson — who said he didn’t speak to Trump all day — said Republican leadership promised him they would pursue “actual cuts to discretionary spending.”
Burchett, always a difficult Republican to pin down, was intent on voting against the budget even though he had a “commitment” from Trump on spending cuts from earlier in the day. He said he wanted those commitments on paper. But once his colleagues flipped, Burchett seemed to change his mind about the need for those promises to be written out.
“I just wanted some commitments on spending, and, well, if it’s on paper, it doesn’t really matter up here anyways,” Burchett said. “He gave me his word on some things, and I talked to the speaker about it, and I’m just trying to work it out in my head.”
In the end, after an intense conversation with House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, Burchett flipped his vote from a no to a yes.
Meanwhile, the sudden GOP victory is even more devastating for House Democrats, after leaders frantically worked Tuesday to bring missing members back to make it as difficult as possible on Republicans hoping to adopt their budget.
Rep. Brittany Pettersen, who was back in Colorado after giving birth to her son, arrived for the vote holding her baby. Rep. Kevin Mullin, who is recovering from recent knee surgery, also came back to Washington to vote no. And Rep. Frederica Wilson, who also missed votes earlier in the day, made a dramatic return.
The only Democratic absence was Rep. Raúl Grijalva, who has been out due to his cancer diagnosis. His office did not respond to a request for comment.
While the conservative holdouts offered some high drama, the only reason Republicans were close is because Johnson had already convinced moderate Republicans over the last two days to drop their opposition and get onboard with a budget that looks likely to cut hundreds of billions from Medicaid.
Adopting the budget in the House has always been a tough prospect, but it only got tougher when conservatives suggested they wouldn’t get behind the resolution unless spending cuts went deeper.
“Congress has to get rid of more fraud and abuse in the system,” Spartz said on Tuesday, adding that she believes it’s Congress’ job to get “spending under control.”
At the same time, a group of moderate Republicans said they wanted assurances that Medicaid wouldn’t be touched as part of the cuts. Constituents have already bombarded some Republican offices with questions about Medicaid cuts, according to two people familiar with the calls, and a number of Republicans are nervous about the proposed reductions.
Johnson has specifically heard from lawmakers who have large Medicaid recipients in their home districts, with many GOP lawmakers calling on leaders to scale back the $880 billion cuts that are set to come from programs under the purview of the House Energy and Commerce Committee — the panel overseeing Medicare and Medicaid.
“Everybody is committed to preserving Medicare benefits for those who desperately need it and deserve it and qualify for it,” Johnson said at a press conference Tuesday before the vote. “What we’re talking about is rooting out the fraud, waste and abuse.”
The House version of the budget resolution would include $2 trillion in entitlement spending cuts and allow for $4.5 trillion in tax cuts. The legislation also would raise the debt limit by $4 trillion and provide $300 billion in border and defense spending.
However, if Republicans fail to cut $2 trillion, they would lose some of the $4.5 trillion for tax cuts.
Still, more vulnerable Republicans have had reservations. Throughout Monday and Tuesday, holdouts who oppose the Medicaid cuts were seeking assurances from GOP leaders.
After a meeting Monday night, most of the Republicans concerned about the Medicaid cuts got onboard, their concerns suddenly mollified.
One member who was involved in those conversations said leaders told them that, while the House budget may contain unpopular cuts, that would change once the bill comes back from the Senate.
“Leadership convinced us the target numbers that are in our reconciliation bill will not be what is actually agreed upon with the Senate,” the member involved in the conversations told NOTUS. “The Senate is gonna put it in a much more reasonable spot.”
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Daniella Diaz and Reese Gorman are reporters at NOTUS.
Riley Rogerson, who is a reporter at NOTUS, contributed to this report.
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