Speaker Mike Johnson acknowledged Monday he lacks the votes to pass President Donald Trump’s “one big beautiful bill” of top legislative priorities and asked for spiritual help.
“This is a prayer request,” the top House leader said. “Just pray this through for us because it is very high stakes.”
Johnson, who controls an impossibly slim majority, said “there may be more than one” Republican who is currently against the budget plan. But he expressed optimism that he’ll get all House Republicans on board—“we’re going to get everybody there”—lest they risk being steamrolled in the process.
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“I don’t think anybody wants to be in front of this train, I think they want to be on it,” Johnson insisted during a forum hosted by the conservative grassroots organization Americans for Prosperity. “And people come in with genuine conviction, you know, about the debt and the deficit and about these issues.”
Johnson’s comments came one day ahead of the scheduled floor vote on the budget framework needed to enact Trump’s promised tax cuts, energy reform and border security enforcement, as a handful of Republicans expressed reservations. He was caught between warring GOP factions, making phone calls to holdouts as he tries to deliver on Trump’s campaign mandate amid an uproar over Elon Musk’s federal workforce rampage. The speaker cannot afford to lose more than a single GOP vote on the budget blueprint.
“But I’m often reminded, and I remind my colleagues all the time what Ronald Reagan reminded us: ’I’d rather get 80% of what I want than go over the cliff with a flag wave,’” Johnson said.
Moderates have asked for assurances that Medicare and Medicaid won’t be cut.
“I ran for Congress under a promise of always doing what is best for the people of Northeastern Pennsylvania. If a bill is put in front of me that guts the benefits my neighbors rely on, I will not vote for it,” Freshman Rep. Rob Bresnahan (R-PA) said in a recent statement.
“Pennsylvania’s Eighth District chose me to advocate for them in Congress. These benefits are promises that were made to the people of NEPA and where I come from, people keep their word,” he added.
Firebrand conservatives have expressed misgivings over the bill’s high price tag.
“Why I am a NO on the current version of the house budget instructions - I have a TRILLION DOLLAR QUESTION - where is the money - $1T? Interesting FACT: roughly 85% of spending is not ever even looked at by Congress - convenient if you would like to hide waste, fraud and abuse,” Rep. Victoria Spartz (R-IN), posted on X.
Still, senior Republicans voiced optimism they’ll manage to get the support needed—albeit maybe not on Tuesday.
“My gut sense is we’re going to be OK,” one lawmaker told the Daily Beast, but said it may not happen on Tuesday.
The Senate passed its own, slimmed-down budget that aims to take a two-bill approach, which Johnson has asserted is dead on arrival as the House looks to forge forward with its plan.
The speaker stressed he feels the easiest way to enact the major things Republicans ran on is via the reconciliation process—which allows them to bypass the filibuster and pass the legislation along party lines in the Senate.
“The way to do that is with one big, beautiful bill, OK? That’s the president’s phrase, and I adopted it. In fact, I have a tattoo on my chest here. I could show you it’s that important,” Johnson joked.
