Republicans Push Forward with Massive Spending and Tax Bill Aligned with Trump’s Agenda

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Alex Bollinger
February 16, 2025
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9 minutes read

(Photo by Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images)

A major Republican-backed bill advancing several of Donald Trump’s key policy goals just cleared a big hurdle, moving closer to final approval. The legislation, which survived a crucial House Budget Committee vote on Thursday, could be passed by May if Republicans stay united. According to The New York Post, the bill passed the House Budget Committee on a strict party-line vote, 21 to 16. It now heads to the full chamber for a vote later this month. Despite last-minute negotiations that had some questioning whether it would pass, Republicans managed to strike a deal.

The 45-page resolution orders various House committees to identify at least $1.5 trillion in spending cuts while allocating $300 billion toward border security, national defense, and the judiciary. It also includes $4 trillion for raising the debt limit and an additional $4.5 trillion to extend Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act (TCJA) for another decade.

Republicans are leveraging the budget reconciliation process to push through Trump-era policies, from border security measures to eliminating taxes on tipped and overtime wages. This process lowers the required votes in the Senate from two-thirds to a simple majority, allowing the GOP to pass the bill without Democratic support—so long as the provisions relate to fiscal policy.

Chairman Rep. Jodey Arrington (R-TX) arrives for a House Budget Committee meeting in the Cannon House Office Building (Photo by Kent Nishimura/Getty Images)

However, conservative hardliners in the House Budget Committee pushed for deeper spending cuts to balance out Trump’s tax extensions. House Budget Chairman Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) confirmed that a last-minute amendment was added to win over these holdouts. The compromise ensures that if Republicans fail to cut at least $2 trillion in spending, the $4.5 trillion tax allocation would be reduced. Conversely, if spending cuts exceed $2 trillion, the amount allocated for tax cuts would increase.

Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), a fiscal hawk on the committee, told Fox News Digital, “The amendment that will come up is a good amendment. It’s common sense. It’s doing what we said we’d be doing.” The proposal had been delayed last week due to disagreements over how deep spending cuts should go. Meanwhile, Senate Republicans moved ahead with their own, more limited bill, which focused on border and defense funding but left Trump’s tax cuts for a separate package.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) quickly dismissed the Senate’s approach, calling it a “nonstarter.”

Despite clearing this critical step, the bill still has a long way to go. After the budget resolution passes, House and Senate committees will need to hammer out specific spending cuts and policy adjustments before finalizing the package. Then, both chambers must agree on a unified version before it can be sent to Trump’s desk.

With Republicans holding a razor-thin majority in both the House and Senate, they have little room for internal dissent if they want to push this legislation through. The next few weeks will determine whether the GOP can stay united and deliver a major win for Trump’s economic and border policies.