By David Morgan
WASHINGTON, July 21 (Reuters) - Republican leaders in the U.S. House of Representatives face a crucial political test on Tuesday as they try to advance legislation crucial to President Donald Trump's agenda, including major defense legislation and portions of his partisan voter ID bill, despite a narrow and divided majority that has stalled multiple bills in recent weeks.
Lawmakers are slated to hold an afternoon vote to open debate on several measures including a $1.15-trillion defense
policy bill, a continuing resolution to fund federal agencies through the November midterm elections, and a $95-billion budget resolution authorizing partisan legislation to provide new funding for defense, farm aid and Trump's SAVE America Act.
House Republican leaders hope to pass all of the legislation before the chamber departs for a five-week August break on Thursday. But it is not clear that House Speaker Mike Johnson's 218-212 seat majority can generate the votes to take the initial step. He can afford to lose no more than two Republican votes, with Democrats expected to mount uniform opposition.
Party leaders have seen floor legislation blocked by opposition from Republican hardliners three times since late June, including the defense policy bill known as the National Defense Authorization Act, or NDAA.
Johnson told reporters that he believes the House will vote to open debate on the bills. If so, the speaker has already cleared a path for the NDAA to pass with Republican votes by promising hardliners that he will merge it with Trump's SAVE America Act before sending it on to the Senate. Hardline leaders have also voiced support for the stopgap funding bill intended to avert a possible government shutdown when fiscal year 2027 begins on October 1.
But the budget resolution, which has been championed by Trump and is expected on the floor vote on Wednesday, has drawn criticism from multiple factions including fiscal hawks who want the funding it would authorize offset by spending cuts elsewhere and defense hawks who complain that its $73 billion outlay for defense and intelligence falls short of Trump's call for $350 billion over a decade.
Representative Andrew Garbarino, a member of Johnson's leadership committee, said the resolution faces criticism from members in each of the Republican caucuses known as the Five Families, which range from hardline to moderate.
"I will be voting for it. But I do know that there are members from all five families that are not happy," the New York Republican told Reuters.
Trump weighed in on the budget resolution debate on Monday, declaring in a social media post: "I am asking all House Republicans to VOTE YES this week on the Budget Resolution, which is an important first step towards getting a Budget Bill. House Republicans must UNIFY, and fight for THE SAVE AMERICA ACT!"
The House and the Senate would need to pass the budget resolution to unlock a parliamentary tool called budget reconciliation, which would ease the Republican path to enacting a separate bill containing $60 billion for defense, $13 billion for intelligence, $12 billion for farm aid and $10 billion for voter ID restrictions including proof of citizenship for people registering to vote over a decade.
The legislative track would enable Republicans to circumvent Democratic opposition in the Senate, where most legislation requires a 60-vote supermajority to pass, and instead pass the bill with a simple majority. Republicans have only a 53-47 seat Senate majority, and Democrats vehemently oppose the resolution.
But even if the House managed to pass the budget resolution this week, there would be no guarantee of the Senate following suit before that chamber departs on its own lengthy break on August 6.
"We've got to figure out how to get 50 votes for it. That will be easier said than done," said Senate Majority Leader John Thune.
(Reporting by David Morgan; additional reporting by Susan Heavey; Editing by Michael Learmonth and Alistair Bell)
