One thing is obvious about Speaker Mike Johnson’s success in getting the House holdouts to vote for the Senate budget framework: He couldn’t have done this without President Donald Trump.
After it was clear that he didn’t have the votes to pass the bill, Johnson spent the rest of the night trying to get the holdouts on the phone with the president, which, according to multiple lawmakers, made the difference.
This effort marks the fourth time this Congress that Johnson has relied on Trump to help whip his conference. Trump first called holdouts to help Johnson’s speakership in January. He called detractors to the House’s budget resolution in February and, again, to pass a funding measure in March.