Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., stops outside the House chamber to speak to reporters about the ongoining reconciliation budget negotiations in the U.S. Capitol on Thursday, May 15, 2025.
Bill Clark | Cq-roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
WASHINGTON — The GOP-led House Budget Committee voted to reject a sweeping package for President Donald Trump’s agenda on Friday, dealing an embarrassing setback for Republican leaders.
The vote in the Budget Committee was 16-21, with five conservative hard-liners joining all Democrats in voting against the multitrillion-dollar legislation. After the vote tally was read, Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, the committee chair, adjourned the hearing and told members they would not be meeting again this weekend.
Negotiations with the GOP holdouts will continue in the coming days and Republicans on the panel will try to regroup as soon as Monday.
Republican leaders concede the massive bill isn’t ready for prime time, and that critical changes will need to be made in the coming days to tax and Medicaid provisions to win over recalcitrant members.
In an office near the hearing, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., huddled privately with some of the Freedom Caucus members who serve on the budget panel — Reps. Chip Roy of Texas, Ralph Norman of South Carolina, Andrew Clyde of Georgia, and Josh Brecheen of Oklahoma. Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, R-Md., who is not on the panel, also joined them.
In the hearing, Roy fired a warning shot at Republican leaders, saying he opposes the bill as written because it will increase the deficit.
“I have to now admonish my colleagues on this side of the aisle. This bill falls profoundly short. It does not do what we say it does with respect to deficits,” Roy said. “That’s the truth. Deficits will go up in the first half of the 10-year budget window and we all know it’s true. And we shouldn’t do that. We shouldn’t say that we’re doing something we’re not doing.”
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, arrives for the House Budget Committee markup of the reconciliation bill in the Cannon House Office Building on Friday, May 16, 2025.
Bill Clark | Cq-roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
“This bill has back-loaded savings and has front-loaded spending,” Roy added. “I am a no on this bill unless serious reforms are made today, tomorrow, Sunday,” he said. “Something needs to change or you’re not gonna get my support.”
He was joined by Norman, who also said the bill needed changes before it could earn his vote.
Across the aisle, Rep. Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., previewed the Republican divisions at the outset of the hearing, vowing that all Democrats oppose it.
“You will hear over the course of this hearing a vigorous debate. And frankly there is a strong divide between Republicans and some other Republicans. There is also a divide between both sets of Republicans and this side of the dais,” said Boyle, the top Democrat on the Budget panel. “I can speak at least as to why it is every Democratic member will be voting no on the bill for billionaires.”
