Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., conducts a news conference in the Capitol Visitor Center on the potential budget resolution vote and other issues, after a meeting of the House Republican Conference on Tuesday, Feb. 25, 2025.
Tom Williams | CQ-Roll Call, Inc. | Getty Images
The Republican-controlled U.S. House of Representatives late on Tuesday advanced President Donald Trump’s tax-cut and border agenda, delivering a major boost to his 2025 agenda.
The vote on passage was 217-215, with one Republican voting in opposition and no Democrats supporting the controversial measure. One Democrat did not vote.
It followed an unusual series of maneuvers by Speaker Mike Johnson in which he canceled a vote on the bill — apparently because it lacked the votes for passage — and members of the House were advised there would be no further votes for the night. He then promptly reversed course, only to bring the budget up for passage.
The turn of events came after Johnson and No. 2 House Republican Steve Scalise spent hours persuading holdouts to back the move, a preliminary step to extending Trump’s 2017 tax cuts later this year.
Both leaders said Trump himself had also been contacting reluctant members about the need to advance the $4.5 trillion tax-cut plan, which would also fund the deportation of migrants living in the U.S. illegally, tighten border security, energy deregulation and military spending.
Doubts about House Republican unity prompted Senate Republicans to enact their own budget resolution as a Plan B ploy last week: a $340 billion measure that covers Trump’s border, defense and energy priorities but leaves the thornier issue of tax policy for later in the year.
The House budget seeks $2 trillion in spending cuts over ten years to pay for Trump’s agenda. The tax cuts Trump is seeking would extend breaks passed during his first term in office, his main legislative accomplishment, that are due to expire at the end of this year.
Several hardline conservatives sought deeper spending cuts and stronger control over separate government funding legislation to avert a potential shutdown after current funding expires on March 14.
