Late on Tuesday, the Republican-led U.S. House of Representatives advanced a budget resolution aligning with former President Donald Trump’s tax-cut and border security agenda, marking a significant step toward his 2025 policy goals.
The measure passed narrowly with a 217-215 vote, with Representative Thomas Massie, a vocal fiscal conservative, as the only Republican to oppose it, while all Democrats voted against it. One Democratic member was absent. This resolution serves as an initial move toward extending tax cuts originally enacted in 2017. The vote now sends the budget to the Senate, where Republicans are expected to take it up.
“We have a lot of hard work ahead, but we are committed to delivering the America First agenda,” House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters after the vote. “We’ll celebrate tonight, then get right back to work in the morning.”
Johnson and House Majority Leader Steve Scalise spent hours persuading holdouts to support the resolution. The measure’s passage followed an unusual series of maneuvers—Johnson initially canceled the vote due to a lack of support but quickly reversed course.
Both leaders acknowledged that Trump himself had personally urged hesitant lawmakers to back the $4.5 trillion plan, which includes funding for tax cuts, stricter border security measures, deportations, energy deregulation, and increased military spending. Some conservative hardliners pushed for deeper spending cuts and greater control over separate government funding legislation to prevent a potential shutdown when the current budget expires on March 14.
Three Republican lawmakers who had initially been expected to vote against the measure—Tim Burchett, Victoria Spartz, and Warren Davidson—ultimately supported it. Concerns over divisions within the House GOP had led Senate Republicans to pass an alternative budget resolution last week as a contingency plan. Their $340 billion proposal prioritizes border security, defense, and energy but postpones decisions on tax policy.
For the budget resolution to take effect, both chambers must agree on the same version. This step is crucial, as it enables Republicans to use a legislative mechanism later this year to bypass Democratic opposition and the Senate filibuster in order to advance Trump’s policy agenda.
The House budget proposes $2 trillion in spending cuts over the next decade to offset the cost of these initiatives. Trump’s proposed tax cuts would extend reductions enacted during his first term, a key legislative achievement set to expire at the end of the year.
Passing the budget resolution is just one of several critical deadlines lawmakers must navigate in the coming months. In addition to funding government operations before the March 14 deadline, Congress will also need to address the federal debt ceiling later this year to avoid a potential default on the $36 trillion national debt.
