Congress
Hard-liner rebellion forces House GOP leaders to scramble for deeper cuts
House Republican leaders want committees to land deeper spending cuts in their party-line bill to enact President Donald Trump’s domestic agenda, as they scramble to address a rebellion from key Budget Committee members who think Speaker Mike Johnson’s initial plan falls short.
Key hard-liners and others on the Budget panel are pushing to outline at least $1 trillion in spending cuts in the blueprint that the committee is supposed to debate this week, according to three people familiar with the private discussions who were granted anonymity to describe them.
Last week, those panel members told senior Republicans they would not vote for a draft budget blueprint similar to what Johnson and committee chairs outlined during a closed-door meeting at the House GOP retreat in Florida, the three people said.
That initial blueprint included more than $300 billion in spending cuts but added $325 billion in new spending for defense, border security and deportation operations. Johnson argued Republicans could add more cuts later but needed to quickly advance the budget resolution to keep the sweeping domestic policy package on track.
Republicans on both sides of the Capitol need to agree on a budget resolution before they can move forward on their desired energy, border and tax bill through the party-line reconciliation process.
But the idea of voting on even an initial plan that didn’t guarantee deep spending cuts infuriated the hard-liners. Budget Committee Republicans held a private call on Thursday where it was clear they had not yet clinched a plan to move ahead amid the right-wing demands.
So GOP leaders late last week went back to the committees, the three people said, telling them to find places to cut spending beyond what the chairs presented as minimum targets at the GOP retreat.
For example, the Energy and Commerce Committee would need to increase its planned $200 billion minimum in cuts, which almost assuredly will trigger tough conversations around Medicaid. The Agriculture Committee, which had outlined a minimum target of $50 billion in cuts during the final retreat meeting, would now need to cut $150 billion. That would mean deeper impacts on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program that helps feed more than 40 million low-income Americans.
Republicans are also planning to include projected GDP growth and, likely, revenue from President Donald Trump’s tariffs in their plans as they try to pay for the massive bill without adding to the growing national debt — even though many House Republicans doubt whether tariff revenue is a viable offset.
Freedom Caucus members Chip Roy of Texas, Ralph Norman of South Carolina and several other fiscal hawks hold enough votes on the Budget Committee to block any plan from advancing. Johnson and other top leaders, meanwhile, have to balance their right flank’s demands for major cuts with the concerns of GOP members in competitive districts who are wary of deep cuts to safety-net programs.
Senate Judiciary Chair Chuck Grassley rescheduled a planned vote on Todd Blanche’s nomination as attorney general late Friday in a preemptive move as negotiations between the Trump administration and GOP holdouts continue.
The vote, now set for Tuesday after a scheduled Thursday vote was postponed, isn’t an indication that a deal allowing for Blanche’s confirmation is near, so much as it is a nod to Judiciary Committee rules that require three days of notice for a panel meeting.
There is no sign that President Donald Trump is about to acquiesce to the unflinching demands of Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas), who wants a controversial settlement agreement between Trump and the IRS substantially pared back.
Cornyn, who lost his primary to a Trump-endorsed candidate, wants the Justice Department to nullify a $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund” and limit the scope of a tax audit immunity component of the pact.
Trump told reporters earlier Friday the fund is “dead” but added “I wish it weren’t.”
“I’d like to see them compensated,” he added, referring to people he considers victims of government abuse, including participants in the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack.
To advance Tuesday, Blanche needs to pick up Cornyn and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.), another senator on the panel with similar concerns. He can’t lose any GOP votes if he wants to be reported favorably out of the Judiciary Committee.
“Chairman Grassley wants Todd Blanche’s nomination to be successful,” said a Judiciary Committee spokesperson, who declined to be named. “Noticing the markup gives more time for the White House to secure the votes for the President’s nominee. Grassley would like to see Blanche confirmed before the August recess as he has an excellent record restoring law and order and keeping Americans safe.”
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise is zeroing in on one of House Republicans’ biggest contests — a purple district in Nebraska — when he starts his recess campaign sprint.
Scalise will travel to Nebraska’s 2nd Congressional District in the Omaha area for an event with Republican Brinker Harding in the coming days, according to a person with direct knowledge of the matter granted anonymity to share plans not yet made public. Republicans are digging in to defend the seat, which Kamala Harris won in the 2024 presidential race and is among Democrats’ best pick up opportunities this fall as they seek to flip the House.
Harding is running against Democratic consultant Denise Powell to replace retiring GOP Rep. Don Bacon. Bacon, a moderate-leaning Republican, flipped the Omaha district red in 2016.
After Nebraska, Scalise is planning to travel across the country throughout August, including to defend GOP incumbents Mariannette Miller-Meeks’ and Zach Nunn’s key battleground seats in Iowa’s 1st and 3rd Congressional Districts and Derrick Van Orden in Wisconsin’s 3rd Congressional District.
He’ll boost candidates working to flip blue districts like Laurie Buckhout in North Carolina’s 1st Congressional District, Derek Merrin in Ohio’s 9th Congressional District and Mike LiPetri in New York’s 3rd Congressional District.
Scalise also plans to travel to Michigan, Colorado, South Carolina and Texas for campaign events over the August recess.
President Donald Trump goaded John Cornyn on social media Friday morning, accusing the Texas senator of withholding his vote on Todd Blanche’s attorney general nomination in retaliation for Trump’s central role in his political demise.
Cornyn, who lost his May primary to Texas’ scandal-ridden attorney general, the Trump-endorsed Ken Paxton, has threatened to block Blanche’s nomination in the Senate Judiciary Committee until the White House promises to permanently shelve its $1.8 billion “anti-weaponization fund” in writing — something Trump appears unwilling to do.
“John Cornyn never had a problem with the so called “Fund,” which will not benefit me, but rather the great American Patriots who were hunted down like dogs and whose lives were unfairly and illegally destroyed by the Crooked Joe Biden Administration, until after I decided to Endorse and Support his Republican Primary opponent in Texas, who easily won the Nomination for the United States Senate,” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
Several Republicans bristled at the fund, which could have been deployed to compensate Americans who faced charges after the Jan. 6 Capitol riot and which gives the president and his family audit immunity over taxes. At his July confirmation hearing, Blanche said that the fund, part of a settlement the president reached with the IRS, was defunct. But the administration has been “reluctant to change” the text of the settlement, Cornyn told reporters Thursday.
Trump signaled his continued support for the Jan 6 rioters on Friday.
“I will always feel that these victims of government abuse should be paid back for what they were forced to endure, their lives have been ruined!” he wrote. “Millions of people agree with me, as was proven in my landslide Presidential win, where this was a major subject of debate, and so did John Cornyn, until he lost his Election to an opponent that I Endorsed.”
On Thursday, the president suggested that he could punt a Senate vote on Blanche until after Cornyn — and Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) — leaves the chamber at the end of the year. Cornyn, however, suggested on social media that there are other Republican senators with concerns about the fund.
“After the midterms, who knows who’s going to be the next United States senator from North Carolina or Texas?” Cornyn told reporters.
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