WASHINGTON — With a push from President Donald Trump, House Republicans sent a GOP budget blueprint to passage Tuesday, a step toward delivering his “big, beautiful bill” with $4.5 trillion in tax breaks and $2 trillion in spending cuts despite a wall of opposition from Democrats and discomfort among Republicans.

House Speaker Mike Johnson had almost no votes to spare in his bare-bones GOP majority and was fighting on all fronts — against Democrats, uneasy rank-and-file Republicans and skeptical GOP senators — to advance the party’s signature legislative package. Trump was making calls to wayward GOP lawmakers and had invited Republicans to the White House.

The vote was 217-215, with all Democrats opposed, and the outcome was in jeopardy until the gavel.

What You Need To Know

  • House Republicans have muscled their budget blueprint to passage, with a push from President Donald Trump
  • The vote late Tuesday evening is a crucial step toward delivering what he's called his “big, beautiful bill,” with $4.5 trillion in tax breaks and $2 trillion in spending cuts
  • It kickstarts a weeks-long process to draft the details and merge with the Senate
  • The vote was 217-215 with all Democrats opposed. But even some Republicans are uneasy. As Elon Musk is tearing through the federal government, Republicans are being hammered at town halls back home
  • It's a familiar GOP problem that slashing federal spending is easier said than done, as constituents rely on Medicaid and other programs and services

“On a vote like this, you’re always going to have people you’re talking to all the way through the close of the vote,” Majority Leader Steve Scalise said before the roll call. “It’s that tight.”

Passage of the package is crucial to kickstarting the process. Trump wants the Republicans who control Congress to approve a massive bill that would extend tax breaks, which he secured during his first term but are expiring later this year, while also cutting spending across federal programs and services.

Next steps are long and cumbersome before anything can become law — weeks of committee hearings to draft the details and send the House version to the Senate, where Republicans passed their own scaled-back version. And more big votes are ahead, including an unrelated deal to prevent a government shutdown when federal funding expires March 14. Those talks are also underway.

It's all unfolding amid emerging backlash to what's happening elsewhere as billionaire Trump adviser Elon Musk is tearing through federal agencies with his Department of Government Efficiency firing thousands of workers nationwide, and angry voters are starting to confront lawmakers at town hall meetings back home.

Democrats during an afternoon debate decried the package as a “betrayal” to Americans, a “blueprint for American decline” and simply a “Republican rip-off.”

“Our very way of life as a country is under assault,” House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries said on the steps of the Capitol.

Flanked by Americans who said they would be hurt by cuts to Medicaid and other social programs, the Democrats booed the GOP budget blueprint. But as the minority party, they don't have the votes to stop it.

Hours before a vote could take place, Johnson, joined by his fellow House Republican leadership members at a news conference, sought to forcefully push back on the idea that cuts to Medicaid — one of the biggest concerns expressed by those in the conference who are skeptical and one of the Democrats’ top lines of attack on the bill — was a part of the proposal. 

“There's only one problem, the word 'Medicaid' is not even in this bill,” Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said. “This bill doesn't even mention the word 'Medicaid' a single time.” 

The pair stressed that the resolution passed on Tuesday is just a framework — a procedural step required in the reconciliation process that the GOP is looking to use to pass Trump’s priorities — with no specifics yet outlined. Johnson referred to it as “the kickoff of what will be a four-quarter game.” 

At the same time, asked directly by a reporter whether the speaker could say unequivocally that there would not be any cuts to Medicaid as the final legislation is crafted, Johnson deferred, saying they will be “shoring up the program.” 

“Everybody is committed to preserving [Medicaid] benefits for those who desperately need it and deserve it and qualify for it,” he said. “What we're talking about is rooting out the fraud, waste and abuse.”

Republican leadership in the House pledged to move forward with a vote on its one-bill plan to pass Trump’s biggest priorities on the border, energy and taxes in a single bill this week after the Senate GOP cleared the first hurdle in its two-bill approach Friday. 

Despite Trump’s backing of the House strategy, which he refers to as “one big beautiful bill,” some House Republicans have expressed skepticism over the possibility the framework could lead to cuts in certain social safety net programs, such as Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as food stamps. The resolution outlines the areas in which lawmakers must find savings but does not specify in particular will be cut. 

Johnson’s margin for error is razor thin as he is managing an ultra-small majority and a handlful of GOP lawmakers, including Reps. Victoria Spartz of Indiana, Tim Burchett of Tennessee, Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Warren Davidson of Ohio, said they planned to vote no on the resolution. All but Massie eventually voted yes.

Others in the party, such as New York Rep. Nicole Malliotakis and California Rep. David Valadao, have said the possible cuts give them hesitancy given the potential impacts on their districts. 

Scalise on Tuesday told reporters that he and the speaker met with lawmakers Monday night for more than an hour and turned every one into a yes vote. He did not specify which members. 

“We still have more conversations to have today, just like we do on any day of any big vote,” he said. “So we're not going to stop working because millions of people are counting on us to deliver for them. “ 

The Senate last week cleared the first hurdle in moving forward with its two-bill approach to passing Trump’s agenda through Congress, which would provide more than $300 billion in funding for the border and the Pentagon and address Trump's energy priorities now while saving addressing the president’s tax-cut goals later. 

The move put the Senate out in front of the House in a process typically kicked off in the lower chamber and came despite Trump favoring the House’s approach to put border, energy and tax priorities together in one piece of legislation. 

Senate Republicans leaders cast the move as a back-up plan if Johnson is unable to move his plan across the finish line.

The Republican-controlled Congress is looking to pass Trump’s domestic agenda through a somewhat complicated process called budget reconciliation, which would allow legislation to move through the Senate without any Democratic support.