The House of Representatives on Tuesday narrowly passed a multi-trillion-dollar budget resolution, clearing a crucial step as Republicans work to implement President Trump’s agenda.
The House passed the resolution by a final vote of 217-215, with all Republicans with the exception of Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) voting “yes.” Voting broke down along party lines, with all House Democrats joining Massie in voting against.
Monday’s vote came after weeks of uncertainty after several House Republicans voted against a continuing resolution that would have raised the debt ceiling through 2026 at the end of the last legislative cycle. President Trump called on Republican lawmakers to pass one “big, beautiful bill” in order to allow the administration to implement its agenda before the 2026 midterm elections.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) held multiple meetings with potential holdouts in his office on Monday, while President Trump held personal conversations with several Republicans who voted against the continuing resolution last cycle. “We got it done,” Johnson said after the vote. “This is the first important step in opening up the reconciliation process. We have a lot of hard work ahead of us. We are going to deliver the America First agenda.”
Three conservative members who were widely viewed as potential holdouts — Reps. Tim Burchett (R-TN), Warren Davidson (R-OH) and Victoria Spartz (R-IN) — ultimately flipped and voted in favor of the legislation.
“There’s no quid pro quo but the president assured me that he would work toward cuts and he’s never lied to me,” Burchett, a strong supporter of President Trump’s proposed spending cuts, said after the vote. “He’s always been honest about it.”
Earlier in the day, Speaker Johnson appeared to be on the verge of sending lawmakers home for the night as the bill appeared unlikely to pass. He then abruptly called members back to the floor for a vote just moments later.
After the vote, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) described how the president played a crucial role in flipping some of the last minute holdouts. “Trump helped us with a number of members. Look, Trump has been an incredible ally in this whole process. Talking to anybody that we asked that really needed to clarify things,” Scalise told reporters. “I’m not going to talk about who Trump talked to and what they talked about. I wasn’t privy to those conversations.”
Following the successful passage of the resolution, relevant committees will now work to meet and build their own proposals, which will eventually be returned into the framework of the bill and packaged into a compromise deal with the Republican-controlled Senate. While the Senate approved its own budget framework last week, President Trump has endorsed the House resolution, increasing pressure that the final product will mirror today’s bill.
The budget measure will provide roughly $4.5 trillion in tax cuts with a goal of $2 trillion in spending cuts. It will also allocate roughly $100 billion in additional funding on immigration enforcement and defense spending. It also requires the House Energy and Commerce Committee to find $880 billion in cuts to federal programs.
Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) initiative has recommended hundreds-of-billions of dollars in cuts, which will need to be approved by lawmakers in order to take effect.
“It’s just a first step in the process,” House Ways & Means Committee Chair Jason Smith (R-MO) told NBC News. “We did something that people didn’t think we could do. We passed a budget resolution.“
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