Despite last-minute wrangling with holdouts, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) narrowly passed the budget resolution bill Tuesday evening, unlocking the ability to direct House committees to draft legislation at certain spending levels. In passing this bill, Johnson secured a large victory that many Republican senators did not think was likely as they independently moved forward with the “Plan B” last week. 

The Senate’s version of the budget resolution authorizes some $340 billion for border security and defense. The measure, which allows Republicans to bypass the filibuster, was adopted 52-48, largely along party lines. Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) was the lone GOP “no” vote.

Conversely, the House budget resolution authorizes between $1.5 trillion and $2 trillion in spending cuts, as well as a $4 trillion debt ceiling increase. Unlike the Senate, the House version calls for $4.5 trillion in tax cuts to renew portions of the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act that expire at the end of this year.

The expiring provisions from Trump’s 2017 law benefit middle- and low-income taxpayers in the form of lower marginal rates and a larger child tax credit, but some disproportionately help the wealthy, including a higher cap on the estate and gift tax.

Throwing a wrench in the reconciliation plans is Trump himself.

Just shy of an hour before the budget bill hit the House floor on Tuesday, he told reporters he is “looking at them both” and deciding which version he likes better.

“I know the Senate’s doing very well, and the House is doing very well, but each one of them has things that I like, so we’ll see if we can come together,” the president said.

Trump pulled a similar move just last week, offering a full-throated endorsement of the House budget just days before the Senate took up part one of its two-part plan. Vice President JD Vance gave GOP senators the green light to move forward with their Plan B despite Trump’s endorsement of the House’s bill. 

The president was reportedly speaking with hard-liner holdouts like Reps. Victoria Spartz (R-IN) and Tim Burchett (R-TN) while they were on the House floor, as the resolution appeared in danger of failing. GOP leadership pulled the resolution from consideration for approximately 20 minutes, giving them and Trump more time to connect with the conservatives and push them toward a “yes” vote.

Another hurdle House GOP leaders had to clear during their budget resolution fight was assuring centrist Republicans that there would not be major cuts to Medicaid or other beneficiary programs on which their constituents rely. Several swing district and state lawmakers were concerned that the $880 billion in Energy and Commerce Committee cuts would likely run right through Medicaid.

GOP leadership pointed out the word “Medicaid” is not listed once in the text of the House-passed bill.

Senate Republicans prefer a two-bill approach with Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) seeking to punt on Medicaid until a second budget bill later this year focused on tax cuts.

If the House budget had failed, Thune had encouraged Republicans to go to “Plan B.” With it passing, Thune acknowledged the GOP would have a long road ahead to find compromise.

“As I’ve said before, it’s a process, a long process, and a very complicated one with a lot of moving parts. And there are going to have to be adjustments made,” Thune said.

“If the House is successful, there are adjustments that are going to have to be made before it eventually is something that we can both — the House and Senate can act on, that the president will sign into law,” the leader added. “So, it’s an iterative process, with lots of steps along the way, none of which are going to be easy.”

Johnson took a victory lap after his dramatic win late Tuesday night, calling it the “first important step” to unlocking reconciliation, indicating that the one-bill approach will be the winner in the tug-of-war with the Senate.

“We have a lot of hard work ahead of us,” the speaker told reporters. “We’re going to deliver the ‘America First’ agenda. We’re going to deliver all of it, not just part of it, and this is the first step in that process.”

“We’re going to celebrate tonight, and we’ll roll up our sleeves and get right back at it in the morning,” Johnson added.

House Budget Committee Jodey Arrington (R-TX) said after the contentious vote that he was “grateful for the support” and that adopting the resolution sent a strong message.

“I think we’ve proven to the Senate and to everybody with President Trump’s support and with a good product, and working together, we can achieve anything,” Arrington said.

Arrington, who was in Congress during the first Trump administration and participated in passing the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, noted that they did so with a wider margin than Johnson’s one-seat majority.

“I think you take things for granted in that situation,” Arrington said. “You can’t take anything for granted. … Everybody had to make some sacrifice or some pain involved, whether you wanted to cut more, you wanted to have more money to write tax policy, or you’re having to lean into spending reforms that will make you … more uncomfortable in your district.”

MIKE JOHNSON MUSCLES TRUMP’S BUDGET BILL THROUGH THE HOUSE IN ROLLER-COASTER VOTE

He said the next steps for leadership and himself will be to speak to Senate Budget Committee Chairman Lindsey Graham (R-SC), one of the chief proponents of the two-bill approach, and engage in a more “meaningful way.” He has not spoken to Graham as of Tuesday.

“I think they were waiting to see if we could pass it, obviously, and I think that’s OK, but now that we’ve proven it, we’ve — I think that’s one piece of it,” Arrington added. “The other is getting the committees to start working on putting the pen to paper, and putting policies to the targets, and seeing what the will of the committees are able to come up with.”

David Sivak contributed to this report.