US House passes budget blueprint geared to deliver Trump’s agenda

WASHINGTON - The US House of Representatives on Feb 25 passed a budget blueprint designed to deliver President Donald Trump’s hardline agenda on immigration, tax reform and deep government spending cuts.

It was the first real test of Mr Trump’s agenda in Congress, and after a nail-biting session, the Republicans’ resolution passed by 217 to 215, with a lone ruling party holdout joining all of the Chamber’s Democrats in voting against the resolution.

The resolution sets the blueprint for the 2025 federal government budget, with House committees now tasked with finding more than US$1.5 trillion (S$2 trillion) in spending reductions and $4.5 trillion in extended tax cuts over a decade.

Democrats say the cuts, as mandated in the resolution, will target social welfare programmes, including Medicaid, which many lower-income US families rely on.

Republicans, however, touted the resolution as being necessary to fund President Trump’s agenda.

“Today, House Republicans moved Congress closer to delivering on President Trump’s full America First agenda – not just parts of it,” said Speaker Mike Johnson.

It had not been plain sailing for Mr Johnson, a key Trump ally who spent days corralling members of his own party to back the Bill.

Some Republicans had suggested that the proposed cuts did not go deep enough, while others were focused on stopping the

ever-growing US national debt

or worried about Medicaid cuts.

In a dramatic turn of events, Republican leaders pulled the vote at the last minute on the night of Feb 25, as they held intense negotiations with holdouts from their own party. Then, minutes later, they called it once again.

‘Not one’ vote

Looming over Feb 25’s debate is the March 14 deadline for Congress to agree on a budget proposal outline or face a US government shutdown.

Democrats had set a defiant tone ahead of the vote, vowing not to provide their opponents with a single vote.

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said: “Let me be clear, House Democrats will not provide a single vote to this reckless Republican budget. Not one.”

One of the Democratic demands is an assurance that funding approved by Congress is actually spent – rather than being chopped by Mr Trump’s billionaire adviser Elon Musk, whose so-called Department of Government Efficiency is seeking to slash the entire US budget.

While Democrats held the line, it proved ultimately not to matter, with at least three Republican holdouts choosing to flip their votes to back the Bill.

The lone remaining Republican “no” vote was from Representative Thomas Massie, who consistently criticised the proposal as not cutting the budget deficit enough.

“Their own numbers, if the Republican plan passes, under the rosiest assumptions which aren’t even true, we’re going to add US$328 billion to the deficit this year,” he said ahead of the vote.

Big beautiful Bill

The debate on the resolution boiled down to where the more than US$1.5 trillion in spending cuts that will fund Mr Trump’s extended tax credits – which he put in place in his first term, and which expire at the end of the year – and programmes will come from.

With the resolution in its current form, Republicans appear set to make up to US$880 billion in cuts to Medicaid and other social safety net programmes, including food stamps, if they want to extend the tax cuts.

Such a move would weaken Republican lawmakers in politically vulnerable districts for the midterm elections, due in two years.

Mr Johnson has suggested factoring Mr Musk’s spending cuts and revenue earned from Mr Trump’s rash of trade tariffs into the budget to address the deficit.

Last week, the Senate passed a competing budget blueprint that does not include the tax cuts, but President Trump had pushed for “one big beautiful Bill” to come from the House.

On Feb 25, he appeared to soften on that stance, but would no doubt be pleased with the final outcome, with the House now tasked with building and passing a Budget Bill, before it goes to the Senate.

Speaker Johnson said he expected to have the budget on Mr Trump’s desk at the White House by early May. AFP