House Speaker Reveals ‘The Plan’ After Trump’s ‘One Big, Beautiful Bill’ Blocked In Key Vote

On Sunday, Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) insisted the GOP-led House is “on track” to pass President Donald Trump’s “one big, beautiful bill” on time despite the legislation hitting a roadblock last week.

Johnson expressed confidence in his Memorial Day deadline for the overall domestic policy bill during an interview on “Fox News Sunday” after the House Budget Committee failed to advance its portion of the legislation in a 16-21 vote on Friday amid a revolt by some Republican deficit hawks.

“We’re on track, working around the clock to deliver this nation-shaping legislation for the American people as soon as possible,” Johnson told Fox News anchor Shannon Bream. “Look, all 11 of our committees have wrapped up their work and they spent less and saved more than even we projected initially. This really is a once-in-a-generation opportunity that we have here.”

The budget panel is set to reconvene on Sunday evening and “they’ll get that through the committee,” Johnson predicted. “And the plan is to move it to the Rules Committee by midweek and to the House floor by the end of the week, so we meet our initial, our original Memorial Day deadline,” he added.

Johnson was asked to respond to some of the GOP defectors on the Budget Committee, including Reps. Ralph Norman (R-SC) and Chip Roy (R-TX), who say they want deeper and more immediate spending cuts. The speaker noted that there have been “lots of conversations” with his “good friends” and more would take place on Sunday.

“What they were complaining about or mostly concerned about I think is, for example, work requirements in Medicaid. They wanted them to be implemented earlier rather than later. Well, so do we,” Johnson said.

“The concern is — what we’re trying to work with is the ability of the states to retool their systems and ensure the verification processes, to make sure that all the new laws and all the new safeguards that we’re placing can actually be enforced,” he continued. “And so, we’re working through all those details, and we’ll get it done. But I tell you what: this is the largest spending reduction in at least three decades, probably longer. It’s historic.”

Johnson also noted that the House has been in “close coordination” with the Senate, where some Republicans have voiced reservations about the bill in its current form, since last year. The legislation that is progressing through the reconciliation process is “one that was very carefully negotiated and delicately balanced, and we hope that they don’t make many modifications to it because that will ensure its passage quickly,” he added.

“Remember, Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said that we need to do this by July 4th,” Johnson said. “Remember, also included in this package is a solution to the debt limit that is coming upon us, the cliff. We’ve got to get this done and get it to the president’s desk by that big celebration on Independence Day. And … I am convinced that we can.”