Republicans muscle the ‘big, beautiful bill’ out of the Budget Committee

Republicans muscle the ‘big, beautiful bill’ out of the Budget Committee

Washington Examiner

Rachel Schilke | May 18, 2025

House Republicans secured enough support to push the “one big, beautiful” reconciliation bill out of the Budget Committee late Sunday night.

The late-night victory for Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and President Donald Trump came after GOP fiscal hawks relented due to concessions from leadership related to Medicaid and clean energy policy repeals.

The Budget Committee voted the One Big Beautiful Bill Act out of committee, 17 to 16, with four Republicans voting present.

This was the committee’s second attempt to pass the bill after it failed on Friday, with five Republicans voting against the legislation, which cuts $1.5 trillion to offset the cost of preserving the president’s 2017 tax breaks. Four of the five were displeased with the legislation’s timeline for Medicaid work requirements and the ambiguity over raising the state and local taxes cap.

Republicans spoke with leadership throughout the weekend before coming back to Capitol Hill for the rare 10 p.m. committee vote. Johnson told reporters ahead of the vote that talks have “gone great” and “minor modifications” were made to the legislation.

Punchbowl News reported that leadership tentatively agreed to pushing up the Medicaid work requirements’ effective date from 2029 to Dec. 31, 2026, after a strong push from fiscal conservatives who argued the GOP was frontloading spending and backloading savings.

Johnson said he wouldn’t provide details on the changes made with fiscal hawks when asked about the 2026 date.

“I think it’s the desire of every Republican, always has been, to make work requirements real and actionable as soon as possible. We learned in the process that some of the states needed a longer lag time to add in the implementation of the new policy. So we’re going to … make it happen sooner, as soon as possible. And I think that’s a good change in the policy.”

Heading into the vote Friday, the bill was perceived as dead on arrival in the Budget Committee, given that at least three of the five original detractors — Reps. Chip Roy (R-TX), Ralph Norman (R-SC), and Andrew Clyde (R-GA) — said earlier in the week they had problems with the legislation and were strongly opposed to voting for it in committee.

But Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington (R-TX) told reporters that Friday’s vote served as a “catalyst” to push discussions forward.

Rep. Michael Cloud (R-TX), a Freedom Caucus member involved in discussions with leadership on Sunday, told the Washington Examiner many of the hangups with fiscal hawks had centered on the delays in work requirements and the delay of repealing certain areas of the Inflation Reduction Act.

Roy, Clyde, Norman, and Rep. Josh Brecheen (R-OK) voted “present” on Sunday night. Johnson had previewed to reporters that he expected the present votes, noting that there were more details to iron out.

Norman said, “In an effort to move this bill forward, and I’m excited about the changes we’ve made, I vote present.” Some Democrats called out, “What changes?”

Ranking member Brendan Boyle (D-PA) had asked Arrington at the start of the vote to provide details on the changes made, but the chairman deflected and said all the alterations would be discussed in a forthcoming Rules Committee hearing.

In a statement, Roy said the bill still does not “meet the moment.”

“I joined with three of my colleagues to vote ‘present’ out of respect for the Republican Conference and the president to move the bill forward,” Roy said. “It gives us the opportunity to work together this week to get the job done in light of the fact our bond rating was dropped yet again due to historic fiscal mismanagement by both parties.”

When he left the hearing, Roy declined to offer details to reporters, pointing them to his statement that “speaks for itself.”

The Freedom Caucus board said in a statement that the bill will be closer to the budget framework passed in April but “fails to actually honor our promise to significantly correct the spending trajectory of the federal government.”

“We’ve seen this play before, where things get kicked down the road, and so we’re not wanting to stand for it,” Cloud said.

“We’ve been working for several months, constantly doing our best to be diplomatic and give leeway for maneuverability at every single point,” he added. “But we’re to the point now to where there’s no more steps for that. Now’s the time to deliver, and so we’ve got to make sure that leadership is committed to doing that.”

Arrington told reporters after Sunday’s vote that he’s confident the outstanding problems will be resolved.

“There are different groups that have different interests,” Arrington said. “Some of them are complementary, some of them are competing, and those things have to be resolved.”

The legislation now heads to the House Rules Committee, likely on Tuesday or Wednesday, where the final adjustments will be made. Johnson wants a full House vote on Thursday to meet his deadline of passage before the Memorial Day holiday.