Republican hard-liners defy Trump, Johnson as 'Big Beautiful Bill Act' fails to advance in committee

A vote on the mega-bill aimed at advancing President Donald Trump's agenda failed in the House Budget Committee Friday afternoon amid objections from hard-liners.

The committee vote failed with just 16 lawmakers in favor, and 21 voting against.

Several hard-liners signaled that they would derail the tax and budget measure over concerns that it adds to a bloated national debt. The holdouts -- which include Republican Reps. Ralph Norman, Chip Roy and Andrew Clyde -- threatened to prevent the package from advancing out of the House Budget Committee, which convened Friday morning.

The move is a setback for Speaker Mike Johnson and Trump, who earlier called on the holdouts to fall in line and unite behind the bill.

"We don't need 'GRANDSTANDERS' in the Republican Party. STOP TALKING, AND GET IT DONE!" Trump posted on his social media channel Friday morning.

Johnson had worked to get the more than 1,000-page "Big Beautiful Bill Act" back on track over the last few days, meeting with the hard-liners in an effort to "keep this thing moving forward."

The ordeal was yet another test of Johnson's speakership as he works to placate the hard-liners and unify the factions of his conference.

Johnson worked to strike a consensus on the SALT caps -- the amount of state and local taxes that can be written off on federal tax returns -- as moderates draw a red line opposing the proposed $30,000 cap on those deductions.

Johnson said Friday that he was keeping President Donald Trump up to date with the latest developments with the massive package and that the president is excited about the House's "forward progress."