OAN Staff James Meyers
10:00 AM – Thursday, April 10, 2025
In a close victory, House GOP members barely passed a budget resolution which will allow them to begin unlocking President Donald Trump’s agenda package.
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In a 216-214 vote on Thursday, the measure passed. The vote was made tighter as two Republicans, Representatives Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.), voted against it.
However, Conservatives still face an uphill battle to get the 47th president’s marquee agenda to become a reality due to major differences on spending.
“We want to make sure we’re delivering on our shared goals in the budget resolution process,” House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) told reporters Thursday morning ahead of the vote. “Our two chambers are directly aligned also on a very important principle: And that is the principle of fiscal responsibility.”
“We’re going to protect the essential programs for everybody that’s eligible to receive those.”
Both the House and Senate needed to adopt the budget resolution to unlock the reconciliation process, which will allow Republicans to be able to pass a potential Democrat filibuster that would need 60 votes to overcome.
Currently, Republicans hold 53 Senate seats and reconciliation will be critical to get Trump’s promised agenda of tax cuts, defense and border security spending, and stepped up energy exploration through Congress.
This comes after Senate Republicans had adopted the compromise budget resolution last week that included two sets of instructions.
The first, modeled after a version that cleared the House in February that called for at least $1.5 trillion in cuts and a second with a relatively $4 billion worth of cuts.
Prior to the vote, Trump and GOP leadership had pleaded with House Republicans to green light the budget resolution so that they could get started on drafting the bill and hash out other differences later on.
After repeated skepticism, GOP leaders were able to turn hardliners minds, assuring them that they would get the deeper spending cuts they want, despite fears that the outcome would cut Medicaid.
“Congratulations to the House on the passage of a Bill that sets the stage for one of the Greatest and Most Important Signings in the History of our Country. Among many other things, it will be the Largest Tax and Regulation Cuts ever even contemplated. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!,” Trump said after the vote was passed Thursday morning.
Meanwhile, there are still several differences in the sets of instructions.
The Senate version had put in place for making the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act permanent and creating enough space to fully realize Trump’s campaign pledge of no tax on tips, Social Security, or overtime pay — as well as increasing the state and local tax deduction (SALT) — at a total estimated cost of $5.3 trillion.
However, the House’s version only calls for a deficit increase of $4.5 trillion for tax cuts, meaning that Trump’s full agenda may not come to fruition.
Additionally, the Senate instructions also provide $350 billion in new funding for border security, as the House instructions only call for $200 billion.
The upper chamber’s version also increased defense spending by $150 billion while the House only increased it by only $100 billion.
As Congress is set to break later Thursday for a two-week Passover and Easter recess, GOP leaders are hopeful to get a final bill to Trump’s desk by Memorial Day.
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