WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump jumped in Tuesday to help House Speaker Mike Johnson try to muscle a GOP budget blueprint to passage, a step toward delivering his “big, beautiful bill” with $4.5 trillion in tax breaks and $2 trillion in spending cuts over stiff opposition from Democrats — and even some Republicans.
With almost no votes to spare in Johnson’s bare-bones GOP majority, the speaker is fighting on all fronts — against Democrats, uneasy rank-and-file Republicans and skeptical GOP senators — as he works to keep the package on track. Votes set for Tuesday evening are in jeopardy, and Trump was making calls to wayward GOP lawmakers and had invited others to the White House.
“There may be a vote tonight, there may not be,” Johnson said after a early meeting at the Capitol.
Johnson is trying to convince reluctant Republican lawmakers to launch the process, assuring them there’s still time in the weeks ahead to sort out the details of the proposals. Trump also invited some GOP lawmakers to the White House.
“We’re working right now to get everybody on board,” Johnson said. “Everybody wants to be on this train, and not in front of it.”
The package, if approved, would be a crucial part of the budget process as Trump pushes the Republicans who control Congress to approve a massive bill that would extend tax breaks, which he secured during his first term but are expiring later this year, while also cutting spending across federal programs and services.
Democrats during an afternoon debate are decrying the package.
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