House Adopts Senate Budget Resolution As Conservatives Cave

WASHINGTON ― House Republicans adopted a budget resolution on Thursday after conservatives received symbolic assurances from party leaders that they would support deeper spending cuts.

About a dozen far-right House members balked at the Senate-approved resolution on Wednesday evening, forcing House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) to put off a planned vote.

Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) appeared side by side Thursday morning to announce they’d reached an informal agreement to appease the holdouts.

“Our first big, beautiful reconciliation package here involves a number of commitments, and one of those is that we are committed to finding at least $1.5 trillion in savings for the American people while also preserving our essential programs,” Johnson said.

The House previously adopted a budget calling for $1.5 trillion in spending cuts, only for the Senate to ignore it and send over a budget with only $4 billion in cuts.

Notably, Thune did not embrace the $1.5 trillion figure.

“Our ambition in the Senate is we are aligned in the House in terms of savings,” he said. “We’re certainly gonna do everything we can to be as aggressive as possible.”

The measure would use a budget gimmick to wave away the $4 trillion cost of extending the tax cuts President Donald Trump signed into law during his first term, with little promise of spending cuts to offset additional tax breaks Trump pitched during his campaign for president last year. Hardline House Republicans have howled about the gimmickry.

The budget isn’t designed to become law but rather instructs congressional committees to draft legislation meeting specific cost targets. Both the House and Senate would later need to vote on that legislation; Democrats would not be able to filibuster the bill thanks to the special two-step budget process Republicans are using.