Trump’s ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ One Step Closer As House Passes Budget
- George Rasley, CHQ Editor
- 1 day ago
- 3 min read
United House Republicans approved their budget framework Thursday, a political turnaround after Speaker Mike Johnson worked into the night to conclude a deal with
House conservatives who had refused to advance trillions of dollars in tax breaks without deeper spending cuts.
Passage of the bill clears the way to begin the “reconciliation” process with the Senate to achieve passage of President Trump’s agenda free from the threat of a Democrat filibuster.
Speaker Johnson, whom we termed a disappointment in his battles with President Biden and the then-Democrat Senate Majority, once again proved himself to be a master at uniting the fractious House Republican Conference behind the Trump agenda.
Johnson stood with Senate Majority Leader John Thune early in the morning at the Capitol to shore up President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill,” and they committed to seeking at least $1.5 trillion in cuts to federal programs and services. The speaker had abruptly halted voting Wednesday night.
“I told you not to doubt us,” Johnson, R-La., said afterward, reported the Associated Press.
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. Only two Republicans, Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Rep. Victoria Spartz of Indiana, voted against it, as did all Democrats. A failed vote would have been a major setback for the MAGA agenda and Republican prospects in the 2026 midterm elections.
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 meet with the senators.
In the end, Harris, Roy and almost all the holdouts came on board. They said they were assured by Johnson, Thune and Trump that there would be steep cuts ahead.
“We got as much as we could,” said Rep. Tim Burchett, R-TN, “We realized it was bigger than us.”
Before the vote, the Senate’s Republican Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., tried to assure House conservatives that many GOP senators were aligned with their pursuit of spending reductions.
According to the AP’s analysis 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 more than $500 billion in budget increases, including some $175 billion to pay for Trump’s deportation operation and as much for the Defense Department to bolster military spending.
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.
Some of our good conservative friends were quick to point out the imperfections in the bill, however, from our perspective the budget resolution that passed the House is the bridge to President Donald Trump’s “one, big beautiful” reconciliation bill.
As Rep. Dan Meuser pointed out in a post to X, “It doesn’t matter what the bridge is made of—because it’s simply a framework. What matters is getting to the other side, where we deliver tax relief, extend President Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, unleash pro-growth energy policies, restore homeland security, and implement a plan to lower inflation and interest rates.”
That’s how we set the stage for a new Golden Age in America.
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