April 9 (UPI) — House Speaker Mike Johnson on Wednesday night delayed a vote on a budget plan because he couldn’t round up enough support from his fellow Republicans.
Johnson, of Louisiana, said the vote could take place on Thursday morning, CBS News reported. House members are planning to take a two-week recess starting next week.
The party breakdown is 220 Republicans and 213 Democrats with two vacancies because of the deaths of two Democrats.
CNN reported about a dozen Republicans don’t support the bill.
Johnson found some fiscal conservative House Republicans don’t want to extend tax cuts, which are set to expire this year after passage in 2017 when Donald Trump was first president.
Johnson said he has spoken to Trump about the impasse.
“He understands it,” Johnson said. “He supports the process. He wants us to do this right and do it well, and sometimes it takes a little bit more time to do that.”
Trump has endorsed the plan.
“Close your eyes and get there,” Trump said at a GOP fundraiser in Washington, D.C., on Tuesday night. “It’s a phenomenal bill. Stop grandstanding.”
The Senate adopted a budget resolution early Saturday.
Some House Republicans don’t like the low spending cuts in the Senate resolution, about $4 billion compared with the nearly $1.5 trillion in cuts in the House version.
All of the Democrats are expected to vote against the bill.
“One little thing the Republican Party has to do is get together and damn vote,” Trump said.
On Wednesday morning, the House Rules Committee prepared to consider the budget resolution.
Trump has spoken to Republicans at meetings in the White House.
Rep. Chip Roy, a Texas Republican, said “come show me the math.”
He added: “I will not vote for this bill. Because it is not responsible.”
If the House passes the bill, the reconciliation process begins and Republicans will have the ability to circumvent a potential Democratic filibuster that requires 60 votes instead of a majority.
The Senate breakdown is 53 Republicans and 47 Democrats with Vice President JD Vane able to break a deadlock.
“Republicans, it is more important now, than ever, that we pass THE ONE, BIG, BEAUTIFUL BILL,” Trump posted on Truth Social. “The USA will Soar like never before!!!”
Rep. Lloyd Smucker, of Pennsylvania, wants binding language for higher spending cuts. His idea is to tie the size of the tax cuts to deficit reduction measures.
Several Republicans also held out in passing a spending bill to fund the government through Sept. 30.
Ultimately, the House passed the bill 217-213 and it passed the Senate 54-46 on March 14, averting a shutdown hours before the deadline. An earlier vote to end the filibuster needed to be approved by at least 60 senators and it passed 62-38 as minority leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., was among the nine Democrats and one independent to approve the motion.
