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House Republicans approved a $95 billion budget framework on Wednesday despite pushback from a group of GOP lawmakers who threatened to vote against Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-LA) plan. The 216-214 vote advances a package that would provide additional funding for the military, agricultural assistance, and election security.
“Republicans support our troops, our farmers, and election security. We’re the only team in Washington that does,” Johnson told reporters after the vote. “Many of you doubted our success.” The House speaker may have gotten a win, but the budget reconciliation process still has a long way to go.
A Bumpy Road Ahead for Johnson’s Budget
Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, said the upper chamber may “hold” the House’s budget framework so Senate Republicans can use it down the line to avoid another government shutdown this fall.
“It’s a possibility that if necessary we could pull that budget resolution passed by the House and use it to fund government. I hope that’s not necessary,” Thune said. “We’ve had conversations, productive conversations on both sides of the aisle, on a funding resolution that would carry us past the November election.”
The budget framework is already facing resistance from some GOP Senators after three members of the House Republican Conference – Reps. Thomas Massie (R-KY), Warren Davidson (R-OH), Kevin Kiley (I-CA) – voted against the plan.
“It’s a slush fund for the unauthorized Iran war with a payoff to farmers who are suffering from fuel and fertilizer price hikes due to the war, as well as from Trump’s trade policies,” Massie told Politico.
Massie, Davidson, and Kiley were joined by every House Democrat, as left-wing lawmakers continue to make affordability a central midterm issue.
“Republicans are putting forward a nearly $100 billion budget bill. But get this: not a single dollar, not one, will go toward lowering the costs that people face,” House Democratic Caucus Chair Pete Aguilar (D-CA) said in a statement. “Instead, Republicans plan to spend tens of billions of dollars on Trump’s failed war in Iran.”
Elections, Farms, and Hawks
Under the current framework, at least $73 billion would be allocated for defense and intelligence purposes as the Iran war nears its sixth month. Another $12 billion would fund agricultural aid, and at least $10 billion would go to election security through state grants designed to encourage stricter voter identification laws. The election funding comes as the SAVE America Act appears doomed to fail, despite widespread support for the legislation.
Senate Republicans are already facing pressure to increase funding for both agriculture aid and defense in the final package as President Donald Trump focuses on election integrity: “I am watching the vote very closely, and hope Republicans can UNIFY to secure Elections against all forms of Foreign Country Interference, and Illegal Alien voting.”
As competing pressures mount, Johnson’s narrow victory in advancing the budget resolution was likely the easiest win he’ll get in the process. Now it heads to the Senate, where it will likely be put on “hold” as Congress looks ahead to another weeks-long recess.
