A key ultraconservative holdout said Wednesday that enough progress has been made in stalled House budget talks that a blueprint needed to unlock President Donald Trump domestic policy plans could be released by the end of the week.
Rep. Ralph Norman of South Carolina is one of several Freedom Caucus members who sit on the House Budget Committee and have so far rejected Speaker Mike Johnson’s initial budget plan last week — causing GOP leaders to scramble for hundreds of billions more in spending cuts.
“We’re working on full text,” Norman said in a brief interview Wednesday. “But I will tell you, it’s promising, what we’re doing.”
Republicans are still working through deeply complex policy questions — including weighing how much in costly tax cuts the hard-liners will support. GOP leaders are acknowledging they may need to dial back some of the tax provisions to get the resolution through the Budget Committee, with senior House Republicans privately skeptical a final budget resolution can come together by Friday. They’re hopeful, instead, for next week.
Johnson’s entire timeline for passage of the Trump agenda faced near-collapse earlier this week due to the right-wing backlash. But Norman signaled he’s so far inclined to support the reworked budget resolution if “Trump’s on board with it” and if it accomplishes “what Trump wants to do” on border security, deportation operations and other measures.
Amid the House infighting, Senate Budget Committee Chair Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) said he would move forward with his own, competing blueprint next week.
Johnson said Wednesday he was “hoping” to present a revised budget plan to his conference by the end of this week. He also urged Graham to “understand the reality of the house” as “a very different chamber with very different dynamics.”
“The House needs to lead this if we’re going to have success,” he said. “We feel very optimistic we’re getting there, and we’re going to find that equilibrium point and get this done.”
