House passes Republican budget framework paving way for Trump’s agenda

The House Republican speaker, Mike Johnson, muscled through a multitrillion-dollar budget framework that paves the way for Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill”, just hours after a rightwing rebellion threatened to sink it.

The resolution passed in a 216-214 vote, with just two Republicans – fiscal hawks Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Victoria Spartz of Indiana – joining all Democrats in opposition.

At a press conference on Thursday morning, Johnson said he planned to bring the resolution to the floor, after canceling a vote on Wednesday night.

“I’m happy to tell you that this morning, I believe we had the votes to finally adopt the budget resolution so we can move forward on President Trump’s very important agenda for the American people,” Johnson told reporters on Capitol Hill. In a show of unity, he was joined by the Senate majority leader, John Thune, who urged House Republicans to support the effort that he said “enables us to achieve all the things on President Trump’s agenda”.

Senate Republicans narrowly approved the resolution on Saturday over the strong objections of Democrats and two notable Republican dissents. The measure calls for a minimum of $4bn in spending cuts, which is far less than a previous version passed by the House that mandated $1.5tn in cuts.

On Thursday, in an effort to persuade rightwing holdouts, Johnson and Thune both said they were committed to slashing $1.5tn in federal spending.

“I can tell you that many of us are going to aim much higher and find those savings because we believe they are there,” Johnson said, referring to their deficit-reduction targets. “We want to make government more efficient, effective and leaner for the American people.”

The speaker insisted that it was possible to achieve the savings without major cuts to “essential programs” such as Medicaid. But budget experts and Democrats say the scale of the GOP’s cost-cutting goals makes it nearly impossible to pull off without significant reductions to critical programs and services.

Approval by both chambers unlocks a path to deliver Trump’s sweeping tax cut and immigration agenda.

Speaking ahead of the vote, Hakeem Jeffries warned of the “catastrophic consequences” of the Republican blueprint to slash federal spending, as Trump’s trade war rattles the global economy and his administration continued its dramatic downsize of the federal workforce.

“President Trump and House Republicans told us that you were going to deliver the ‘Golden Age of America’. But over the last several months, we haven’t witnessed the golden age of America,” the House Democratic leader said. “We witnessed a rotten age. You are crashing the economy in real time, driving us toward a Republican recession that’s going to hurt children, hurt families, hurt seniors, hurt everyday Americans, hurt veterans and hurt people across the land.”

The Democratic leader repeated his challenge to Johnson to debate the GOP budget plan on the floor of the House chamber.

For his part, Trump expressed optimism that the effort was back on track.

“Great News! ‘The Big, Beautiful Bill’ is coming along really well,” Trump wrote on his social media platform. “Republicans are working together nicely. Biggest Tax Cuts in USA History!!! Getting close.”