Trump budget bill standoff fuels tension in House GOP as leaders press forward

The House and Senate are headed for a collision course on federal budget talks as each chamber hopes to advance its own respective proposals by the end of Thursday.

Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., told reporters Tuesday that the House Budget Committee would take up a resolution for a massive bill to advance President Donald Trump’s agenda later this week. The panel then scheduled its meeting on the matter for 10 a.m. ET on Thursday. 

Senate Republicans, meanwhile, resolved to push forward with their own legislation after the House GOP missed its self-imposed deadline to kick-start the process last week. 

And while the two chambers agree broadly on what they want to pass via reconciliation, they differ significantly on how to get those goals over the finish line. 

‘What’s the alternative, the Senate version?’ Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., said when asked if House Republicans could come to an agreement. ‘When has the Senate ever given us anything conservative?’

House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, caught some members of the Republican conference by surprise at their closed-door meeting on Tuesday morning when he announced to the room that his panel would be advancing a reconciliation resolution, two lawmakers told Fox News Digital.

House and Senate Republicans are aiming to use their congressional majorities to pass a massive conservative policy overhaul via the budget reconciliation process.

By reducing the Senate’s threshold for passage from two-thirds to a simple majority, where the House already operates, Republicans will be able to enact Trump’s plans while entirely skirting Democratic opposition, provided the items included relate to budgetary and other fiscal matters.

GOP lawmakers want to include a wide swath of Trump’s priorities, from more funding for border security to eliminating taxes on tipped and overtime wages.

House Republicans’ plans to advance the bill through committee last week were scuttled after fiscal hawks balked at initial proposals for baseline reductions in government spending – frustrating rank-and-file lawmakers.

‘This is a mechanism that needs to happen that some people are getting hung up on,’ one exasperated House GOP lawmaker said. ‘Some people are acting as if this – you know, I appreciate they’re taking this seriously, but this is just getting the clock started.’

More recent proposals traded by the House GOP would put that minimum total anywhere between roughly $1 trillion and $2.5 trillion.

Meanwhile, the Senate’s proposal is projected to be deficit-neutral, according to a press release. Senate Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., hopes to advance it by the end of Thursday.

Johnson told reporters Tuesday that bill would be dead on arrival in the House.

‘I’m afraid it’s a nonstarter over here. And, you know, I’ve expressed that to him. And there is no animus or daylight between us. We all are trying to get to the same achievable objectives. And there’s just, you know, different ideas on how to get there,’ the speaker said.

Tensions are growing, however, with Johnson’s critics beginning to blame his leadership for the lack of a definitive roadmap.

‘We’re totally getting jammed by the Senate. Leaders lead, and they don’t wait to get jammed,’ Rep. Max Miller, R-Ohio, told Fox News Digital. ‘If I had somebody who was arguing with me about a top-line number, and if I was speaker, they wouldn’t be in that position anymore.’

‘And I would figure out a way to be resourceful working with the conference and working lines of communication, as opposed to hiding everything and then being three weeks late on the top-line number.’

Johnson told reporters that details of a plan could be public as soon as Tuesday night.

The Senate’s plan differs from the House’s goal in that it would separate Trump’s priorities into two separate bills – including funding for border security and national defense in one bill, while leaving Trump’s desired tax cut extensions for a second portion.

House GOP leaders are concerned that leaving tax cuts for a second bill could leave Republicans with precious little time to reckon with them before the existing provisions expire at the end of this year.