Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-La.) plan to hold a key vote for the GOP’s sweeping agenda bill this week is in jeopardy as hardline conservatives voice opposition to the level of spending cuts in the legislation, multiple sources told The Hill.
Johnson told reporters last week — during the conference’s retreat in Florida — that the House Budget Committee would markup a budget resolution for the party’s bill full of President Trump’s priorities this week, kicking off the budget reconciliation process, which will allow Republicans to work around Democratic opposition.
The level of spending cuts laid out in the budget resolution, however, has sparked intense ire among hardline conservatives on the panel, putting this week’s vote in question. One member of the committee predicted that if the vote takes place this week, it will be unsuccessful.
“It will not happen this week — or it will fail,” the Budget Committee member told The Hill Sunday night.
Also this week, the Senate is set to hold more votes on President Trump’s cabinet nominees, while questions loom about the viability of some of his more controversial picks. On the House side, lawmakers will consider bills pertaining to fentanyl classification and fracking.
Drama over budget resolution
Johnson’s plan for the House Budget Committee to mark up the budget resolution for the GOP’s sweeping bill full of Trump’s agenda items is on thin ice, several sources told The Hill, as conservatives voice opposition to the level of spending cuts laid out in the legislation.
“Reconciliation is hitting [a] big wall with the ‘big beautiful bill’ because it is not getting [the] job done on cuts necessary to ensure deficits go down,” the Budget Committee member told The Hill.
During the House GOP retreat in Doral, Fla., last week, Johnson told reporters that the Budget Committee would mark up the budget resolution this week, as he looks to pass it through the House by the end of this month. Passing a budget resolution unlocks the budget reconciliation process, which will allow Republicans to work around Senate Democrats to pass Trump’s agenda.
Johnson warned lawmakers that the level of spending cuts in the budget resolution would be a “floor” and “not the ceiling,” giving committees more flexibility as they work to craft their portions of the reconciliation bill with the strict rules surrounding budget reconciliation. Committee chairs and lawmakers discussed ranges at the retreat.
That strategy, however, appears to be sparking concern among hardline Republicans, who are pushing for deeper spending cuts in the package. A second source told The Hill that because of those dynamics — conservatives requesting larger cuts and discussing pay-fors — it will be tough to get the budget resolution through committee this week.
A number of members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus serve on the Budget Committee, including Reps. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), Ben Cline (R-Va.), Chip Roy (R-Texas) and Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.).
“We are CONCERNED ABOUT THE MARKUP,” Norman told The Hill in a text message Sunday night, adding “think we will have it solved.”
A third source said the committee is still working through the details of the tax and savings targets, noting that no final decision has been made about a markup this week.
The potential delay in Johnson’s ambitious timeline is a concerning sign for top Republicans, as the GOP looks to enact Trump’s sweeping agenda on Capitol Hill with their razor-thin majorities.
Republicans are looking to extend the 2017 tax cuts, advance border and energy policy and pass several of Trump’s campaign promises, including no tax on tips — priorities that are driving up the price tag of the package. At the same time, however, several hardline conservatives want the legislation to be deficit-neutral, or reducing, setting up a math problem for GOP leadership as they look to please all factions of the Republican Party.
The predicament comes as Johnson is grappling with a razor-thin majority: When Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) leaves the House to join the Trump administration, which is expected to happen soon, Republicans will have a zero-vote edge in the chamber.
Senate to churn through more Trump nominations
The Senate is on track to continue confirming Trump’s cabinet nominees this week, as questions loom about other, more controversial picks for the administration.
On Monday, the chamber will hold a final vote on Christopher Wright’s nomination to be Energy secretary, and it will hold a procedural vote on Pam Bondi’s nomination to be attorney general. Also on Monday, the Senate Agriculture, Nutrition and Forestry Committee will vote to advance Brooke Rollins’s nomination to be Agriculture secretary.
On Tuesday, the Senate Finance Committee is expected to hold a vote on advancing Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s nomination to be secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, after the Democrat-turned-Independent was grilled during a pair of hearings last week.
It remains unclear if Kennedy will muster enough support to be confirmed by the Senate after he was asked about his vaccine skepticism, stance on abortion and more.
In addition to Kennedy, several questions are swirling around Tulsi Gabbard’s nomination to be director of national intelligence, after some senators left her confirmation hearing last week unsatisfied with her answers to questions about the U.S.’s warrantless spying powers, Edward Snowden and her communication with foreign adversaries.
While no Republicans have outright said they will not support Gabbard’s confirmation, several expressed skepticism about her nomination after her hearing. Sen. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.), for example, said last week “I’m worried that her nomination may be in jeopardy,” adding “and I’m just worried about what that will mean.”
Rounding out the group of controversial nominees who recently received a hearing is Kash Patel, Trump’s pick to be director of the FBI. It remains unclear when the Senate Judiciary Committee will vote on advancing his nomination. Patel was grilled by members of the panel last week about previous comments he made regarding retribution and how he would lead the bureau.
The confirmation of all three nominees remains unclear: With Democrats likely to oppose the trio, the picks can only afford to lose a small number of Republican votes.
Vice President Vance spoke to the photo-finish nature of their confirmations, recognizing the possibility of having to cast the tie-breaking vote for all three, as he did for the confirmation of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.
“Do I expect to? No, but I think there’s a chance, right? And you have to be ready for it, and that’s, of course, part of the job of vice president,” Vance said on Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures” when asked if he expects to be the deciding vote on the confirmations. “Obviously, if Tulsi, Bobby or Kash need my vote as the tiebreaker, they will have it.”
“Obviously, we’re going to provide those votes if we need them,” he later added. “We’re going to do everything that we can to make sure that my tie-breaking vote isn’t necessary.”
Also this week, Jamieson Greer, Trump’s pick to be U.S. trade representative, will appear before the Senate Finance Committee for his confirmation hearing. Additionally, the Senate may hold procedural votes on Russell Vought’s nomination to be director of the Office of Management and Budget, and Eric Turner’s nomination to be secretary of Housing and Urban Development.
House to vote on fentanyl, energy bills
Across the Capitol, House lawmakers this week are set to weigh in on bills cracking down on fentanyl and protecting fracking, two matters that have been priorities for the Republican Party.
The lower chamber will consider the HALT Fentanyl Act, sponsored by Rep Morgan Griffith (R-Va.), which seeks to make the temporary classification of fentanyl-related substances in Schedule I of the Controlled Substances Act permanent. That classification is for substances that have a high potential for abuse.
The legislation passed the House in a bipartisan 289-133 vote in 2023, but it did not advance in the Senate.
Additionally, the House this week is set to vote on the Protecting American Energy Production Act, sponsored by Rep. August Pfluger (R-Texas), which would curb a moratorium on fracking. The lower chamber approved the measure in a bipartisan 229-188 vote last year.
“American energy production through fracking leads to lower energy prices for families and workers, boosts economic growth, and improves quality of life for Americans. We must protect American energy production from Democrats’ radical anti-American energy agenda,” House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-La.) wrote in a floor lookout on Sunday.
Emily Brooks contributed.
