House Conservatives Reject Senate Budget, Stalling Trump’s Agenda/ Newslooks/ WASHINGTON/ J. Mansour/ Morning Edition/ House conservatives have publicly rejected the Senate’s newly passed budget resolution, creating a significant roadblock for advancing President Trump’s legislative agenda. Key Freedom Caucus members are demanding deeper spending cuts before agreeing to move forward. The intra-party split raises questions about whether Congress can unify behind Trump’s ambitious America First policy goals.
Trump Agenda Gridlock: Quick Looks
- Freedom Caucus Pushback: Chair Andy Harris says Senate plan lacks sufficient deficit reduction.
- Key GOP Dissenters: Reps. Chip Roy and Jodey Arrington call the budget unserious and bloated.
- Reconciliation Hurdle: Without unified passage, budget reconciliation—and thus Trump’s agenda—stalls.
- $5.8 Trillion in Costs: Senate plan includes massive spending, with only $4 billion in enforceable cuts.
- Speaker’s Dilemma: Mike Johnson still plans to bring the Senate version to the House floor next week.
- Trump Stays on Brand: As economic turmoil unfolds, Trump spends his third day golfing in Florida, defending his tariffs as a “historic” economic revolution.
House Conservatives Reject Senate Budget, Stalling Trump’s Agenda
Deep Look
House conservatives are throwing cold water on the Senate’s newly passed budget resolution, escalating tensions within the Republican Party and casting serious doubt on President Donald Trump’s ability to move his legislative priorities forward.
Just hours after Senate Republicans approved their budget blueprint, prominent members of the House Freedom Caucus took to social media to express their disapproval.
Andy Harris, the group’s chair, posted on X (formerly Twitter) that he might support the plan only if it results in “real deficit reduction in line with or greater than the House goals,” adding, “I am unconvinced that will happen.”
Harris’s remarks signal a major hurdle for House Speaker Mike Johnson, who is preparing to bring the Senate proposal to the House floor next week. For Trump’s “America First” legislative push to advance using special budget reconciliation procedures—which allow the Senate to pass legislation with a simple majority—the House and Senate must first agree on the same budget resolution. That now looks increasingly unlikely.
Rep. Chip Roy of Texas didn’t mince words in his own social media post, calling the Senate budget “Jekyll and Hyde” and promising to vote against it if it reaches the House floor.
Meanwhile, House Budget Committee Chair Jodey Arrington slammed the Senate resolution as “unserious and disappointing,” citing its $5.8 trillion in projected new costs and just $4 billion in enforceable cuts—”less than one day’s worth of borrowing by the federal government,” he noted.
The internal GOP friction comes at a politically sensitive moment for Trump, who has been trying to regain momentum following economic turmoil unleashed by his sweeping new tariff policy. Critics argue that the economic fallout, including volatile markets and recession concerns, threatens to overshadow his legislative agenda.
Despite the mounting uncertainty, Trump himself appears unfazed. On Saturday, the president arrived at his Trump National Golf Club in Jupiter, Florida—his third consecutive day visiting a personal resort amid a storm of economic upheaval. Just the day before, he was spotted at his Mar-a-Lago club and attended a MAGA Inc. candlelight fundraiser.
In a social media post early Saturday, Trump rallied his base, insisting his trade policies were part of a broader economic overhaul. “THIS IS AN ECONOMIC REVOLUTION, AND WE WILL WIN. HANG TOUGH,” he wrote.
But that revolution may be stalled if Congress can’t come together.
The lack of unity within the Republican-controlled House not only weakens Speaker Johnson’s negotiating hand but also threatens to derail Trump’s ambitions to implement sweeping policy changes. Among those changes: extending the 2017 tax cuts, dramatically reducing the size of the federal workforce, increasing military funding, and enacting large-scale immigration reforms.
Complicating matters further is the ongoing political pressure on moderate Republicans in swing districts, many of whom are wary of signing onto a budget deal that includes unpopular cuts to safety net programs without more robust economic offsets.
For now, House leadership insists that negotiations are ongoing and the situation is fluid. But unless conservatives come to the table soon, Trump’s high-stakes agenda may have hit its first major legislative wall.
You must Register or Login to post a comment.