Conservatives Block ‘Big, Beautiful Bill,’ Members Told ‘Weekend Is Yours’

WASHINGTON — Five conservative members of the House Budget Committee voted against their own party’s so-called “big, beautiful bill,” saying more needs to be slashed from the proposed federal budget before they’ll support it.

The five Republicans joining Democrats in voting against the bill were Reps. Chip Roy, of Texas; Ralph Norman, of South Carolina; Josh Brecheen, of Oklahoma; Andrew Clyde, of Georgia; and Lloyd Smucker, of Pennsylvania.

In doing so, they’ve at least temporarily put a massive bill on ice that would have extended President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cuts and advanced the rest of his current domestic agenda.

Immediately after the 16 to 21 vote on a motion to advance the bill, Budget Committee Chair Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, told the members they were free to go home for the weekend.

“The no’s have it,” he said. “I want to thank everybody for their time and patience. Godspeed and safe travels.”

Technically, Smucker’s “no” vote was not a rejection of the bill, but a procedural gambit.

He initially voted “yes” before changing to a “no” at the last moment; by doing so he’ll be able to request that the legislation be brought back up for consideration when and if the chamber’s Republican leadership strikes a deal with the dissident conservatives.

That won’t be easy.

In effect, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., will have to find deeper budget cuts while still assuring the centrists, already queasy over proposed cuts to things like Medicaid and subsidies for clean and renewable energy, don’t start a rebellion of their own.

While the failure to advance the bill out of the budget committee is a setback, it doesn’t necessarily mean that Johnson’s effort to push the legislation through the House by Memorial Day is dead.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said Friday that he’s actively working to allay the concerns of the no-voting faction and still believes the package will be passed in a floor vote next week.

Depending on how those and related discussions go, the Budget committee could reconvene on Monday and vote to advance the bill.

Another alternative would be that the Rules Committee meets, makes whatever changes are negotiated, and advances the bill itself.

If that happened, however, the measure would no longer be subject to a filibuster-proof reconciliation privilege in the Senate.

Roy said Friday that one of his big concerns is that the $3.8 trillion cost of the Trump tax cuts and new spending would be felt long before the budget savings begin to kick in.

As a result, he said he would remain a “no” vote “unless serious reforms are made.”

Norman said he would also remain a hard “no” unless new work requirements for the receipt of Medicaid set to start in 2029, come on much sooner.

After the vote, the House Freedom Caucus, to which all of the dissidents belong, issued a statement saying that members are continuing to work toward an agreement that could be ready by next week.

“We are not going anywhere and we will continue to work through the weekend,” the statement said.

In a post Friday morning on Truth Social, Trump said from the Middle East that he believes “Republicans MUST UNITE behind, “THE ONE, BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL!” Not only does it cut Taxes for ALL Americans, but it will kick millions of Illegal Aliens off of Medicaid to PROTECT it for those who are the ones in real need. 

“The Country will suffer greatly without this Legislation, with their Taxes going up 65%. It will be blamed on the Democrats, but that doesn’t help our Voters. We don’t need “GRANDSTANDERS” in the Republican Party. STOP TALKING, AND GET IT DONE! It is time to fix the MESS that Biden and the Democrats gave us,” Trump said.

Dan can be reached at [email protected] and @DanMcCue