Trump’s Big Bill Gets a Hard “Nope” from GOP Hardliners

Diya Ravi

May 16, 2025

President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax and spending bill hit a major roadblock Friday when it failed to pass a key House Budget Committee vote, sending Republican leaders scrambling and delaying the legislation’s progress. The megabill — packed with trillions in tax cuts, military funding boosts, and sharp cuts to clean energy and federal health programs — was dealt a stunning blow by five GOP (Grand Old Party, aka Republican party) hardliners who defied party leadership and Trump himself.

Reps. Ralph Norman, Chip Roy, Josh Brecheen, Andrew Clyde, and Lloyd Smucker voted against advancing the bill, arguing that it didn’t go far enough — or fast enough — in delivering on conservative priorities. Chief among their complaints: work requirements for Medicaid recipients wouldn’t kick in until 2029, well after Trump would leave office, and major clean energy subsidies weren’t being eliminated swiftly enough.

The final vote (in the House Budget Committee)was 16 in favor, 21 against (voted on whether to advance Trumps massive tax and spending bill out of the committee so it could move to a full House floor vote)— a sharp embarrassment for Speaker Mike Johnson and Majority Leader Steve Scalise, who had spent days urging unity. GOP leaders even flew in Rep. Brandon Gill to cast a critical yes vote. Still, it wasn’t enough, since 5 republicans voted no, which tanked the votes. So, the “No” vote blocked the bill from progressing for now. 

Trump, returning from an overseas trip to the United Arab Emirates, voiced his frustration on Truth Social, slamming the dissenters as “GRANDSTANDERS” and urging Republicans to “STOP TALKING AND GET IT DONE.” He called on the party to unite behind the “ONE, BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL!”

Another one of the holdouts, Clyde, had another issue with the bill — its failure to remove gun suppressors, also known as silencers, from regulation under the National Firearms Act. It’s not clear if this policy change would make it into the final bill, however, GOP leaders must follow strict budgetary rules as they draft the package because they plan to pass it without using Democratic votes, forcing the party to comply with Senate rules that allow a bill to bypass a filibuster (a tactic used in Senate to delay or block a vote on a bill).                                        

But holding the Republican coalition together may be easier said than done. While the hardliners want deeper cuts and faster rollouts, more moderate Republicans worry that such changes would cost them support back home. Speaker Johnson finds himself in a familiar bind — squeezed between two wings of the party and trying to pass a bill with no Democratic support.

Negotiations are ongoing, with leadership hoping to try again as early as Monday. The House Freedom Caucus has pledged to continue talks over the weekend. Meanwhile, supporters of the bill, like Rep. Marlin Stutzman, see it as an imperfect but essential step toward economic reform.

The setback is another test of Johnson’s leadership and Trump’s influence — and a reminder that in Washington, even a “beautiful” bill can get pretty ugly.