PoliticusUSA is an ad-free source for news, opinion, and analysis that will never cater to any person or party. You can support our work by becoming a subscriber.
The vote on Tuesday evening in the House was the first procedural vote to advance the Republican budget bill that contained $2 trillion in spending cuts that would virtually gut Medicaid and food assistance, raise the debt limit, and provide $4.5 trillion in tax cuts that would mostly go to the wealthy and corporations.
It should have been smooth sailing for House Republicans, right?
If you believed that, you have never seen this group of House Republicans in action.
The signs of trouble began when Republicans on the far right started grumbling about the bill containing no spending cuts for government funding that expires on March 14.
The really big red flag came out when House Republicans left a 15-minute vote open for an hour plus as they were trying to scrounge up the votes for the reconciliation bill.
After looking like they had canceled the vote, Johnson called the House back into session to vote on the budget bill.
House Republicans grumbled and dragged their feet all day, but in the end, they got in line and passed the bill.
The House GOP is now on the record supporting gutting Medicaid, which has an over 75% approval rating with Republicans and Democrats.
Jake Sherman of Punchbowl News posted on X about how insane this night has been:
in my 15+ years covering congress, i’ve never seen the leadership cancel a vote, send lawmakers home and then abruptly switch course and put the vote up. all within the course of about 10 minutes.
None of this is a good sign for the House Republican ability to pass anything, and if they had this big of a fight over a procedural vote, imagine the level of hell that will break loose when they attempt to pass a final bill.
Democrats will be in a great position to run against every single House Republican who voted for this bill as voting to virtually end Medicaid in order to cut taxes for the rich.
House Republicans have sealed their own fate in 2026. Voters have already turned on Trump, and now, with a vote to virtually kill Medicaid, they can likely kiss their slim House majority goodbye.
There is still a very long way to go in this process. Nothing is final yet, but Republicans in the House took a step toward advancing Trump’s agenda.
The final vote was 217-215. Speaker Mike Johnson won, but Republicans took a big step toward losing the House.
What do you think of Republicans passing their budget bill? Share your thoughts in the comments below.
