WASHINGTON — Multiple House Republican lawmakers vowed on Saturday to reject the sweeping budget plan that Senate Republicans passed overnight.
Reps. Andy Harris, R-Md., and Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, the chairs of the House Freedom Caucus and the House Budget Committee, slammed the Senate bill in separate statements Saturday.
Harris said he was “unconvinced” by the topline budget cuts Senate Republicans signed off on overnight, saying, “I can’t support House passage of the Senate changes to our budget resolution until I see the actual spending and deficit reduction plans to enact President [Donald] Trump’s America First agenda.”
Arrington called the Senate bill “unserious and disappointing,” saying that, “President Trump has been working at warp speed to root out billions in wasteful and fraudulent spending.”
He added, “The House followed suit by sending the Senate a fiscally responsible budget resolution that included the entirety of President Trump’s America First agenda—pro-growth tax cuts, border and defense funding, deregulation, American energy production, and enforceable spending cuts that would reduce our nation’s debt-to-GDP putting our budget on a path to balance.”
Both lawmakers cited the fact that the Senate bill would enforce $4 billion in budget cuts, while the previously passed House bill would instruct relevant committees to slash $1.5 trillion to $2 trillion from the deficit. Those who oppose the House version of the bill say budget cuts of that magnitude would not be possible without gutting entitlements like Medicaid.
House GOP leadership on Saturday encouraged members in a new “Dear Colleague” letter to adopt the Senate’s budget resolution next week.
Republican leaders listed a number of reasons why the caucus should back the recently passed blueprint, casting the budget resolution as the starting point of larger negotiations and emphasizing Trump’s support for the plan.
They also referenced ongoing market turmoil stemming from Trump’s new tariffs as an argument for why the party needs to quickly coalesce around a tax and spending cut package.
“With the debt limit X-date approaching, border security resources diminishing, markets unsettled, and the largest tax increase on working families looming, time is of the essence. As President Trump said, “Every Republican, House and Senate, must UNIFY,” the letter read.
Senate Republicans voted to approve their budget plan in the early hours of Saturday morning with the aim of eventually funding Trump’s agenda along party lines in one massive bill, a process that could take months.
The 51-48 vote included support from every Republican except Sen. Rand Paul of Kentucky and Sen. Susan Collins of Maine. But the tally masks the tensions that emerged in the run-up to the vote, which revealed new fissures within the party about a range of issues — from Medicaid to tax cuts to blowing up the debt — and pointed to how difficult it will be to get a measure through both chambers.
Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., said he has “a big concern” about Medicaid cuts in the legislation, and said he only agreed to back the budget after Trump made an “unequivocal” promise to him that the bill won’t cut Medicaid benefits.