President Trump said Tuesday he’s supportive of “major spending cuts” after a meeting with Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and House Republicans who have expressed skepticism about a budget resolution to proceed with his legislative agenda.
“I had a very good meeting today with the Speaker of the House and some of our more Conservative Members, all great people,” Trump posted on Truth Social.
“I let them know that, I AM FOR MAJOR SPENDING CUTS! WE ARE GOING TO DO REDUCTIONS, hopefully in excess of $1 Trillion Dollars, all of which will go into ‘The One, Big, Beautiful Bill,'” Trump added.
The president said he would “be pushing very hard” to get those cuts, but urged lawmakers to approve the budget resolution that is on the table in the meantime.
The comments appeared to be an olive branch to hard-line conservatives who have expressed reservations about the level of spending cuts in the budget measure passed by Senate Republicans last week.
The Senate version differs from the House version, setting up a clash between Republicans in the two chambers about how to move forward.
At least two Republicans — Reps. Greg Steube (Fla.) and Byron Donalds (Fla.) — voiced support for the legislation after the meeting, a good sign for Johnson as he looks to muscle the measure through his razor-thin majority. Steube was undecided earlier in the day.
But a large number of GOP critics — including those who met with the president and those who did not attend the meeting — remained unmoved as of Tuesday afternoon.