House Republicans approved a budget framework for President Donald Trump’s sweeping domestic policy agenda Tuesday — a major victory for Speaker Mike Johnson who worked with Trump and fellow leaders in a chaotic last-ditch effort to win over naysayers within the GOP ranks.
The vote went almost entirely along party lines, 217-215, with every Democrat voting against the measure and only GOP Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky joining them. Adopting the budget measure is a key step toward passing the “big, beautiful bill” that Trump and Johnson have called for — one that includes border security, tax and energy provisions that the president campaigned on.
The Senate passed a competing plan last week, and the Republicans in the two chambers must now reconcile the significant differences between the two fiscal blueprints.
“We’re going to celebrate tonight,” Johnson told reporters after the vote, adding that House Republicans will “roll up their sleeves” as they prepared to reconcile their plans with the Senate.
Tuesday night’s vote came after a wild scene on the House floor that played out over the course of hours. Around 6:30 p.m. members were called to the floor to begin voting on an unrelated measure, with the budget plan to follow. But that unrelated vote was held open for more than an hour as the GOP whip team worked to win over the holdouts.
Democrats screamed “regular order” as the planned 15-minute vote stretched on and on. Shortly after 7:30 p.m., the vote was closed and members were informed the budget vote was canceled. Minutes later, leaders sent out another alert saying the vote was back on.
The holdouts included Reps. Tim Burchett of Tennessee, Warren Davidson of Ohio, and Victoria Spartz of Indiana, as well as Massie. All four voiced public opposition to the budget plan Tuesday and could be seen on the House floor during the evening vote series speaking to various Republican leaders.
The fiscal hawks all raised objections about inadequate spending cuts in the measure; Davidson also aired concerns about how Republican leaders plan to handle the impending March 14 government funding deadline.
To read more: https://www.politico.com/news/2025/02/25/house-budget-republican-agenda-00206125