House Republicans pushed through a Trump-backed budget framework on a 216-214 vote Thursday, providing a boost to the president’s legislative agenda.
Democrats voted against it unanimously, while Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Victoria Spartz, R-Ind., were the only Republicans in opposition.
The resolution’s passage came amid some protests from hard-line fiscal conservatives within the GOP, who argued that the plan does not provide sufficient cuts to the deficit.
The budget resolution is a major first step that Congress must pass in order to get to budget reconciliation—the process of setting targets for spending in various areas.
Republicans have been eager to finish the process by Memorial Day, as the budget process will allow them to extend President Donald Trump’s first-term 2017 tax cuts, as well as provide funding for border security and other major campaign promises.
Both houses of Congress must eventually agree on one identical bill in order to move forward.
President Donald Trump on April 2 backed the Senate’s budget framework, which was passed in the Senate an all-night voting session which concluded early Saturday morning.
He then urged the House to pass the exact same plan, and to “close [their] eyes and get there,” despite their reservations about the Senate’s plan.
But many in the House criticized the Senate’s plan for not including as many enforceable cuts as the House’s previous framework did.
Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., who chairs the conservative House Freedom Caucus, said he would probably “vote against it,” as he thought its framework would lead to excess spending and, as a result, higher taxes. His remarks were echoed by several other Freedom Caucus members.
House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, also criticized the plan as “unserious and disappointing.”
It creates “a mere $4 billion in enforceable cuts, less than one day’s worth of borrowing by the federal government,” Arrington wrote in his response to the plan.
House leadership attempted to assuage those fears, arguing that since the budget plan is not binding, and insisting House Republicans should wait until later to argue for more cuts.
Skeptics of the plan held out until the very end, forcing Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., to delay a Wednesday evening vote on the matter until Thursday morning, when it ultimately passed.
Now, Congress can focus on negotiating the final budget reconciliation bill, a process in which debate between GOP factions will continue.
