House Speaker Mike Johnson said Wednesday night the House would not vote as planned on the Senate-approved GOP budget blueprint that would fund President Donald Trump’s agenda because a small “subset” of members are not totally satisfied with it.
Johnson signaled the House will try again on Thursday before the chamber is slated to go on its two-week April recess.
“That’s certainly my intention, because I think it’s really important for us to do that before we leave, that we have a resolution to this or a plan to get to that resolution before everybody leaves for the district work period,” he said. “And you know, Passover is Saturday. I don’t have any intention to have us here working this weekend, but if we have to come back next week, then we’ll do that.”
Johnson spoke to Trump outside the room where he met with about a dozen holdouts for an hour before scrapping the vote instead of putting the president on speakerphone.
MORE: Senate Republicans pass budget blueprint after all-night session
“It’s very positive, very encouraging,” Johnson said. “I gave him an update of where we are. He’s obviously very closely monitoring all of this. There’s a lot at stake here.”
One of the holdouts said the group isn’t defying Trump’s wishes.
“Nobody’s defying the president, we’re trying to support the president’s legacy,” Rep. Rich McCormick, R-Ga., said.
The rest of the conference wasn’t happy with the holdouts.
“There’s a group of people in my conference who have lost their way, and they have forgotten that the mission is America. It’s not their social media followers,” Rep. Derrick Van Orden, R-Wisc., said. “Let them go home and sleep on this and understand that they are destroying President Trump’s agenda on purpose.”
Rep. Eric Burleson, R-Utah, another holdout, said, “We want to accomplish the goals that Trump has laid out. We just didn’t … we just don’t trust the Senate.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune was leaving the Senate floor as news was breaking that the House was pushing pause on advancing the resolution.
Thune has been clear that the Senate-passed blueprint needs to move in order to meet Trump’s call to act on his agenda. But Thune demurred when asked if he was concerned by the delay in the House.
“I can’t predict what they’re going to do over there, but all we can do is make sure that they understand where we’re coming from and how close we want to work with them to get to the final product,” Thune said.
The House can’t change the language of the Senate-passed resolution or they would have to send it back to the Senate, which would then have to do another late-night vote-a-rama as they did to pass it last week.
Johnson said there are a several ideas on the table for how to sway the holdouts.
“Well, right now, there’s a couple of different ideas on how we might change the numbers, or how we might amend what the Senate sent over, maybe go to conference. A few different ideas on the table,” he said. “I’m not going to forecast where this all comes out, but I just want to tell you, there’s a very good, healthy spirit of cooperation and discussion everyone is trying to get to the right point that will satisfy every member of this conference.”
“The consensus tonight is, what is the amount of minimal number of cuts and savings that we can find in the budget that will satisfy everyone to move forward with this nation shaping piece of legislation,” he added.
Johnson said conversations with the holdouts were “productive” and “everybody had the same idea and mission… to deliver the one, big beautiful bill.”
Johnson could afford to have only three defections from his caucus with all members voting and present, but several GOP hardliners from the House Freedom Caucus said they had concerns about how the plan would reduce the deficit ahead of Wednesday evening.
However, Johnson said Wednesday afternoon that he believed Republicans would come together and vote in favor of the resolution.
Passing the legislation through the House in the face of drama on the floor would deliver Trump a major win.
Trump posted Wednesday morning on his social media platform Truth Social that “it is more important now, than ever, that we pass THE ONE, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL. The USA will Soar like never before!!!”
The House narrowly passed a “rule,” a procedure to advance legislation, on Wednesday afternoon, which included the budget blueprint, by a vote of 216-215.
Three Republicans voted against the rule, including Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., Victoria Spartz, R-Ind., and Mike Turner, R-Ohio.
Johnson engaged in a heated conversation on the floor with House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, R-Md., one of the holdouts, and House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., was huddling with hard-line conservatives at one point as well.
The rule vote also included language to block future House votes on rescinding Trump’s tariffs
MORE: Johnson again relying on Trump to bring GOP holdouts in line on budget plan
Trump met with Johnson and several GOP hardliners who had said they had concerns about the bill Tuesday afternoon in the Oval Office, though Reps. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., and Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., two on the short list to vote no on the bill, said they were not invited.
Trump posted afterward that it was “a very good meeting.”
“I let them know that, I AM FOR MAJOR SPENDING CUTS! WE ARE GOING TO DO REDUCTIONS, hopefully in excess of $1 Trillion Dollars, all of which will go into ‘The One, Big, Beautiful Bill,'” he posted Tuesday night. “I, along with House Members and Senators, will be pushing very hard to get these large scale Spending Cuts done, but we must get the Bill approved NOW.”
Johnson, too, said he believed the meeting went well and that the president convinced the Republican holdouts to support the bill.
“A great meeting. The President was very helpful and engaged,” he said. “We have a lot of members’ whose questions were answered. We are making great progress right now.”
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However, Reps. Chip Roy, R-Texas, said Tuesday that he still had concerns with the budget blueprint and would likely vote against the bill, telling reporters that the resolution has “enough” GOP objections to tank it.
“I’m not here for aspirations,” he posted on X. “The Senate’s bill does not add up – it’s all tax cuts with no spending cuts which = deficits.”
Trump made a final pitch to House Republicans while speaking at the National Republican Congressional Committee’s black-tie dinner Tuesday night.
“Just in case there are a couple of Republicans out there, you just got to get there,” Trump said. “Close your eyes and get there. It’s a phenomenal bill. Stop grandstanding. Just stop grandstanding.”
-ABC News’ Allison Pecorin, Jay O’Brien and Arthur Jones II contributed to this report.
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