The rough plan would cut less spending than hard-liners want while also scaling back potential tax cuts.
After a series of setbacks and delays, Speaker Mike Johnson on Monday night shopped around a new budget blueprint, snatching the pen from Rep. Jodey Arrington amid mounting frustration with the House Budget Committee chair.
Johnson’s latest plan includes a new floor for spending cuts — between $1.25 trillion and $1.5 trillion — to offset part of the massive domestic policy package Republicans are now pursuing, according to four people granted anonymity to provide details on the private talks. That range of reductions is greater than what the speaker initially laid out to his conference last month but still lower than the $2.5 trillion some conservatives have been pushing for.
The Senate is prepared to move forward with a competing budget plan, one Johnson strongly opposes, later this week.
In another major adjustment, the speaker’s new draft plan could give the Ways and Means Committee even less fiscal space to craft an expansive package of tax cuts. Republicans had agreed to a $4.7 trillion instruction during their White House meeting on Thursday, but that number is now expected to dip lower — a move certain to concern GOP members who are already worried they won’t be able to fit all of President Donald Trump’s tax priorities into the bill.
