House GOP leaders cleared an important hurdle Thursday morning after cutting a deal with Freedom Caucus holdouts on a budget resolution amendment that would lock in a mechanism to enact deeper spending cuts in exchange for bigger tax cuts.
The agreement paved the way for Budget Committee approval later in the day Thursday of the fiscal 2025 blueprint needed to unlock their “big, beautiful” reconciliation bill. House Republicans want to use the filibuster-proof process to enact large pieces of their legislative agenda, including extensions of the expiring 2017 tax cuts, domestic energy production incentives, immigration enforcement and defense spending.
During opening statements at the markup, Freedom Caucus Reps. Chip Roy, R-Texas, and Ralph Norman, R-S.C. — who’d been coy about their intentions a day earlier — signaled their backing. “I’m proud of what the chairman has put forward. I believe that it is responsible,” Roy said.
