'Math is just not mathing': Republicans face big challenges after Easter break

The House GOP passed the budget framework on Thursday that would pave the way for the implementation of President Donald Trump's budget plan, enabling him to continue his 2017 tax cuts. It faced opposition from all Democrats and two Republicans who were concerned that it does not cut spending sufficiently.

According to Reuters, the House vote of 216-214 is an initial, yet essential, measure that will allow Republicans to circumvent Democratic resistance and advance tax cut legislation — known as Trump’s “one big, beautiful bill” — along party lines later this year.

But NBC's Congressional reporter Julie Tsirkin said during an appearance on MSNBC Thursday that the lawmakers are going to face problems when they come back after the Passover-Easter holiday, because they will have to identify spending cuts.

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Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) was initially unable to sway GOP hardliners who had wanted more aggressive spending cuts. Trump reportedly offered Johnson his help but the speaker said he would figure it out with leadership.

When asked if the speaker should be confident that he has the votes, Tsirkin noted that there had been a "long list of holdouts," adding that Thursday's vote is just the first step in a long process.

"They still have to essentially target the areas that they're going to make these cuts in," she explained.

"Remember, in the House, you have a lot of conservatives who frankly don't care if they do cut into entitlement programs. Some of these holdouts don't mind if they eat into Medicaid. But for the senators who represent entire states, that is a completely different political and practical calculation here," she said, adding that identifying savings could be a challenge.

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She said the real problem was that the House members don't trust the Senate to come up with the cuts that they want to see in the deficit.

"I still have a hard time seeing how they get to $1.5 trillion," she said, adding, "It is why the Senate version only specifies $4 billion in cuts. The math is just not mathing here."

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