Up to 15 House Republicans now threatening to 'derail Trump’s biggest priorities'

House Republicans are struggling to get the Senate’s budget blueprint across the finish line, with Rep. Rich McCormick (R-Ga.) predicting as many as 15 “no’s” lingering by the afternoon.

To hasten things, Politico is reporting GOP generals are scrambling to find more government employees and programs to cut to sustain the extension of Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, a central component of the budget that could boost the nation’s debt to between 132 and 149 percent of GDP by 2035. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget anticipates the cost of extending the tax cuts could run between $11.2 trillion and $5.0 trillion, which has Republican fiscal hawks in the House worried about what to tell debt-leery conservative voters.

Whips are also working to sweeten the deal with border security spending, energy policy changes and more.

Politico reports House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris (R-Md.) is telling co-workers he won’t vote for the budget resolution without that Senate outline.

“It’s a group that’s collaborating on getting things in order,” said Freedom Caucus member Ralph Norman of South Carolina. “I think if it comes together, we’ll vote for it. If it doesn’t, we won’t.”

Freedom Caucus members were heading into a meeting right after the rule vote to discuss the emerging compromise, according to three people with direct knowledge of the matter. Norman also said a group of Republicans were meeting with Senate Majority Leader John Thune.

The vote was originally intended to be at 5:30 p.m., but additional deal-making blew through the deadline with members working behind the scenes. Politico reports generals are arguing that vote delays will further rattle a market already single-handedly rattled by Trump’s tariffs.

Senior lawmakers and aides say nobody can be sure of how approval will go until members the actual floor vote.

Read the complete Politico story here.

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