Trump sways some holdouts but House GOP opposition still big enough to block budget

President Trump convinced a few House Republicans to back Senate changes to the budget blueprint for enacting his agenda, but he hasn’t dissolved enough of the opposition.

The president met with some of the holdouts on Tuesday because House GOP leaders are far short of the votes they need to adopt the revised budget this week, as scheduled.

Republicans cannot afford to lose more than three votes on the budget. The opposition was still greater than that after Mr. Trump joined the whipping operation.

The budget opponents argue the Senate lowered the bar for spending cuts with the $4 billion floor set in instructions to its committees, compared to a $1.5 trillion spending cut floor provided to House committees.

Mr. Trump said on social media after the meeting that he supports major spending cuts, “hopefully in excess of $1 trillion,” that will be included in the final reconciliation bill. 

“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 [budget] approved NOW,” he said. 

Still, many were unconvinced.

“The math still doesn’t math,” said Rep. Chip Roy, Texas Republican.

Pressure from Mr. Trump has helped Republicans coalesce around other tough votes this year, like a government funding stopgap. But this time, several holdouts say they won’t budge without changes to the budget numbers or seeing the spending cuts the Senate will support.

“Literally, come lay them out and let’s talk about it,” Mr. Roy said. “And then we can vote the budget through. But why am I voting on a budget based on promises that I don’t believe are going to materialize out of the Senate?”

At least a few Republicans who had been on the fence before the meeting said Mr. Trump convinced them to back the plan to keep the process moving.

“We have House issues and we have Senate issues to deal with, but at the end of the day, I think we’re all working for the same goals,” said Rep. Ron Estes, Kansas Republican. 

Rep. David Schweikert, Arizona Republican, said the meeting produced “inch by inch” progress, but he remained opposed.

Before the meeting, he said any commitments from Mr. Trump about spending cuts that will be achieved later in the process would be best memorialized in the budget document or other creative parliamentary maneuvers that guarantee it gets done.

“We know the Senate has a certain amount of mashing of teeth and bed wetting and everything else,” Mr. Schweikert said.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, Louisiana Republican, credited Mr. Trump for changing some minds. 

“The president was very helpful and engaged,” he said. “We had a lot of members whose questions were answered. And I think we’re making great progress right now.”

Although several of the budget opponents were not invited to the White House meeting, Mr. Johnson said those who were generally represent the views of the others.

“We have a deficit of trust sometimes between the two chambers,” the speaker said. But he urged Republicans to take “in good faith” the resolve Mr. Trump and Senate Majority Leader John Thune have to work collaboratively to deliver on the final product.

Mr. Thune said the chambers are “speaking slightly different languages.”

The Senate floor is low because of the chamber’s rules that leave zero room to fall short of committee instructions, he said, while encouraging the House to proceed with its own instructions, which the Senate did not alter. 

“As we get into the reconciliation process, we’re going to be committed to doing as much as we can on deficit reduction,” Mr. Thune said.

Rep. Ralph Norman, South Carolina Republican, said a GOP senator, whom he declined to name, told him the Senate will not have the votes to pass even $1 trillion in spending cuts.

“The trustworthiness of the Senate is suspect,” he said. 

House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris declined to attend the meeting with the president, saying Mr. Trump wouldn’t change his mind.

“No matter what the president tells anyone, the votes just aren’t there,” the Maryland Republican said. 

Indeed, other Freedom Caucus members who did not attend the meeting held firm in their opposition.

“Unfortunately, President Trump doesn’t control the Senate,” said Rep. Eli Crane, Arizona Republican.

GOP leaders arguing that voting against the Senate’s product was going against the president’s agenda is “nonsense,” he said. “I think it’s just another tactic to try and pressure us into the status quo in DC.” 

Rep. Andy Ogles, Tennessee Republican, is also a firm “no,” but said he is not going against the president.

“I’m opposing the Senate’s plan,” he said. “We’ve got to go back to our districts and explain this. In this era of DOGE, we’re going to settle on cutting $4 billion over 10 years? Come on. That’s nonsense.”