As President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” moves toward a final vote in the House, conservative budget hawks are livid that it largely fails to offer spending cuts to their satisfaction, marking the latest in a long line of punts for the House GOP that has repeatedly vowed to address the national debt.
Republicans have long campaigned on addressing the debt, with the Tea Party movement notching historic election wins under President Barack Obama. In 2010, Republicans won control of the House and reduced the Democratic majority in the Senate. Yet, even when Trump first took office, Congress did not pass a balanced budget.
Under President Joe Biden, House conservatives aggressively pushed then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy to agree to budget concessions when challenging his leadership. His attempts failed to satisfy debt hawks and McCarthy lost his post in October 2023. His replacement, Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., reportedly frustrated fiscal conservatives, perhaps even more so than his predecessor.
The mega-bill
Johnson repeatedly passed continuing resolutions to maintain spending at Biden-era levels, despite promising to separately pass all 12 appropriations bills to fund the government through the traditional process. His tenure has seen firebrands, such as Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga.; Thomas Massie, R-Ky.; and Chip Roy, R-Texas, all publicly lament the unwillingness of Congress to address spending and other campaign promises. The three voted “present” in a late Sunday night session, allowing the bill to go forward, with Roy revealing there was progress on moving up the start date for new Medicaid work requirements and speeding up the phaseout of green energy incentives.
The current House plan of passing a mega-bill to address all of Trump’s key priorities is still drawing fire from the same livid budget hawks. Several of them delayed the bill’s advancement through key committees, although a floor vote is now in the offing. “The US credit rating being downgraded is evidence of how our fiscal house is out of order,” Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., said Monday.
The Trump administration has pinned most of its legislative hopes on passing a single piece of legislation through the House and Senate and using the budget reconciliation process to include many of his tax and border security promises. Trump has repeatedly hinted at passing a balanced budget during his second term, though the mega-bill appears nowhere close to accomplishing that goal.
Hellbound and Down 