(NewsNation) — U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson says Republicans will coalesce on a budget in coming weeks, even as some members demand greater spending reductions to offset the national debt and pay for the tax cuts President Trump wants.
“We’ll get it done. We will find the equilibrium point that makes it all work,” the Louisiana Republican said during Wednesday’s “On Balance.”
His party holds a tenuous 218-215 edge in the House over Democrats, so unity is essential in eventually moving a budget out of the chamber. Johnson said Trump, whose political agenda is at stake, has already helped loosen the impasse among Republicans.
Johnson said he took several members of the Budget Committee to the White House and the president effectively locked them in a room until they could agree on a blueprint.
House Republicans unveil blueprint to advance Trump’s agenda
“That was a pretty good encouragement to my friends and colleagues there,” the House speaker said. “Three and a half hours later, I went and knocked on the Oval Office door and said, ‘Mr. President, we have the deal.’”
But a handful of GOP hardliners aren’t satisfied. Earlier Wednesday, Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., one of the fiscal conservatives not satisfied with the shape of the evolving House budget, said Johnson is not staying true to his own views.
Burlison said the $1.7 trillion in budget cuts proposed so far, over several years, won’t make a dent in growing annual interest on the national debt.
“Mike Johnson says he’s a fiscal conservative. This is nowhere near good enough, and I hope that he agrees with me that we could do much better,” Burlison said.
The House Budget Committee was scheduled to take up the budget resolution Thursday, the first step in the budget reconciliation process.
