House budget must be saved by Jodey Arrington within 2 days
The Texas Republican has faced challenges in managing his panel and has been in conflict with other chairs. Now it's time to take action.
TroibNews 
This is the pivotal moment Jodey Arrington has long anticipated: The Texas Republican and staunch fiscal conservative now holds the gavel of the House Budget Committee, presenting him with a chance to implement the substantial cuts to federal spending he has always desired.
However, Arrington finds himself in danger of being outmaneuvered by fellow chairs, senior leaders, and the Senate, as discontent among House Republicans escalates into outright frustration over his difficulties in promoting President Donald Trump’s extensive policy agenda.
A plan that has received the backing of Arrington's close associate, Speaker Mike Johnson, has been stalled in the Budget Committee for several weeks. Arrington and Texas hard-liner Chip Roy have clashed with Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith and other senior Republicans over the fiscal framework for a comprehensive border, energy, and tax bill.
On Tuesday, Arrington scheduled a Thursday meeting of his committee to resolve these significant differences and move forward with a budget proposal. With less than 48 hours to find a workable solution, the pressure is mounting.
“We’ll soon find out if Jodey is in over his head,” remarked one GOP lawmaker, who requested anonymity to speak freely, shortly after the announcement of the Thursday markup.
Bridging the gap between the deficit-conscious politics of the hard right and the more moderate perspectives of swing-district Republicans wary of potential political fallout is a daunting challenge. Top House leaders are intensifying their demands as they aim to expedite Trump’s legislative agenda. Arrington's challenges highlight the difficulty Republicans will face in fulfilling Trump’s promises with their slim majorities across both chambers.
Despite his position, Arrington has found it challenging to unify even the 20 other Republicans on the committee. He has made it evident that his loyalties lie with the panel’s most conservative members, who view the current climate as a rare chance to correct the nation's fiscal course. He has persistently urged Republicans to take control of the soaring spending on mandatory programs—like Medicare and Medicaid—that contribute significantly to federal budget deficits.
Yet, as a committee chair, Arrington is expected to align with the broader GOP leadership, which must juggle ideology and agenda while also safeguarding their majority and respecting the jurisdictions of other chairs with differing priorities.
Arrington does have allies among a small group of Capitol Hill budget hawks who frequently challenge Republican leaders in pursuit of deeper cuts than many within the GOP find politically acceptable.
“I appreciate what Jodey’s trying to do over there. You know, he’s serious about bringing us back to some pre-pandemic level spending,” stated Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, a member of the Senate Budget Committee and a long-standing advocate for spending restraint. “Unfortunately, others in his conference aren't.”
“He's listened,” added Rep. Ralph Norman, a member of both the Budget Committee and the hard-right Freedom Caucus. “He is doing a good job."
However, Arrington has had open confrontations with other chairs and senior Republicans who question his reliability as a team player. For instance, during a private meeting on Tuesday, he rejected Smith’s proposal to broaden the scale of the tax cuts that could be integrated into the legislation.
Following this, Smith publicly criticized him, telling reporters that the figures Arrington proposed could not simultaneously support both a permanent extension of Trump’s 2017 tax cuts and other campaign promises.
“Anything less would be saying that President Trump is wrong on tax policy,” Smith asserted.
A senior Republican aide echoed this sentiment, emphasizing that Arrington's priorities do not necessarily align with those of the party’s most influential Republican: “Everyone wants to cut spending. The problem is President Trump didn’t run on cutting spending. … Jodey just isn’t playing ball.”
Ironically, Arrington doesn't fit the mold of a stringent conservative ideologue. Instead of emerging from the tea party movements of the late 2000s like many House hardliners, he hails from the Texas GOP establishment—having served in George W. Bush’s gubernatorial administration and later in the White House, before working as an executive for Texas Tech University.
His approach to fiscal conservatism has tempered edges, much like his own persona—an affable and approachable politician seeking to rally Republicans around his "Reverse the Curse" fiscal plan.
At times, this has proven challenging and has led to some unusually personal conflicts with fellow Republican leaders.
Earlier in 2023, after assuming his new role, then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy halted Arrington from releasing a budget that featured spending cuts so severe that centrists feared they would face political repercussions. With Democrats controlling the Senate and the White House, McCarthy saw little value in exposing vulnerable members to potential backlash over the document.
“These budget resolutions are not easy,” Arrington remarked in an interview shortly after The New York Times reported that McCarthy considered him “incompetent.”
Now, Arrington’s role has transitioned from a mere inconvenience to a crucial necessity for House Republicans. The party intends to leverage budget reconciliation procedures to bypass a Democratic filibuster in the Senate, necessitating that both chambers first adopt a budget resolution—essentially a fiscal outline for the related legislation.
It falls to Arrington to take the lead in crafting that outline, and those close to him say he's hesitant to overlook the opportunity to implement substantial spending reductions while also managing tax cuts to effectively tackle out-of-control deficits.
Nevertheless, as the plan has evolved in recent months, senior Republicans have expressed concern that Arrington has hesitated on making tough choices, questioning where his loyalties lie—with the elected leadership of the conference or the Freedom Caucus hard-liners they are attempting to rein in.
Tensions peaked on Monday night during a discussion on the House floor, where Arrington engaged in a tense exchange with Johnson and several senior Republicans. The outcome was an indication that Johnson would be proposing a budget plan of his own—one that promises fewer spending cuts than what Arrington and the more conservative faction have advocated, while also tightening potential tax cuts.
After a PMG report on Monday suggested that Johnson was "snatching the pen" from the Budget chair, Arrington addressed a closed-door GOP conference meeting the following morning to refute that claim. Finally, after weeks of waiting, he informed his colleagues that his panel would schedule a markup in the coming days.
Senior Republicans remain apprehensive that an agreement will not materialize in time for the Thursday meeting, particularly with the Senate Budget Committee set to proceed Wednesday with its own competing proposal—a plan that some House hard-liners continue to favor.
“I like Jodey quite a bit, personally — I don't envy the position he's in,” observed Rep. Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania, the leading Budget Committee Democrat. “It's very interesting to me that there's suddenly a markup on Thursday because I did not realize that somehow, suddenly there is agreement on the House Republican side.”
Mia McCarthy and Jennifer Scholtes contributed to this report.
Ian Smith contributed to this report for TROIB News
However, Arrington finds himself in danger of being outmaneuvered by fellow chairs, senior leaders, and the Senate, as discontent among House Republicans escalates into outright frustration over his difficulties in promoting President Donald Trump’s extensive policy agenda.
A plan that has received the backing of Arrington's close associate, Speaker Mike Johnson, has been stalled in the Budget Committee for several weeks. Arrington and Texas hard-liner Chip Roy have clashed with Ways and Means Chair Jason Smith and other senior Republicans over the fiscal framework for a comprehensive border, energy, and tax bill.
On Tuesday, Arrington scheduled a Thursday meeting of his committee to resolve these significant differences and move forward with a budget proposal. With less than 48 hours to find a workable solution, the pressure is mounting.
“We’ll soon find out if Jodey is in over his head,” remarked one GOP lawmaker, who requested anonymity to speak freely, shortly after the announcement of the Thursday markup.
Bridging the gap between the deficit-conscious politics of the hard right and the more moderate perspectives of swing-district Republicans wary of potential political fallout is a daunting challenge. Top House leaders are intensifying their demands as they aim to expedite Trump’s legislative agenda. Arrington's challenges highlight the difficulty Republicans will face in fulfilling Trump’s promises with their slim majorities across both chambers.
Despite his position, Arrington has found it challenging to unify even the 20 other Republicans on the committee. He has made it evident that his loyalties lie with the panel’s most conservative members, who view the current climate as a rare chance to correct the nation's fiscal course. He has persistently urged Republicans to take control of the soaring spending on mandatory programs—like Medicare and Medicaid—that contribute significantly to federal budget deficits.
Yet, as a committee chair, Arrington is expected to align with the broader GOP leadership, which must juggle ideology and agenda while also safeguarding their majority and respecting the jurisdictions of other chairs with differing priorities.
Arrington does have allies among a small group of Capitol Hill budget hawks who frequently challenge Republican leaders in pursuit of deeper cuts than many within the GOP find politically acceptable.
“I appreciate what Jodey’s trying to do over there. You know, he’s serious about bringing us back to some pre-pandemic level spending,” stated Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, a member of the Senate Budget Committee and a long-standing advocate for spending restraint. “Unfortunately, others in his conference aren't.”
“He's listened,” added Rep. Ralph Norman, a member of both the Budget Committee and the hard-right Freedom Caucus. “He is doing a good job."
However, Arrington has had open confrontations with other chairs and senior Republicans who question his reliability as a team player. For instance, during a private meeting on Tuesday, he rejected Smith’s proposal to broaden the scale of the tax cuts that could be integrated into the legislation.
Following this, Smith publicly criticized him, telling reporters that the figures Arrington proposed could not simultaneously support both a permanent extension of Trump’s 2017 tax cuts and other campaign promises.
“Anything less would be saying that President Trump is wrong on tax policy,” Smith asserted.
A senior Republican aide echoed this sentiment, emphasizing that Arrington's priorities do not necessarily align with those of the party’s most influential Republican: “Everyone wants to cut spending. The problem is President Trump didn’t run on cutting spending. … Jodey just isn’t playing ball.”
Ironically, Arrington doesn't fit the mold of a stringent conservative ideologue. Instead of emerging from the tea party movements of the late 2000s like many House hardliners, he hails from the Texas GOP establishment—having served in George W. Bush’s gubernatorial administration and later in the White House, before working as an executive for Texas Tech University.
His approach to fiscal conservatism has tempered edges, much like his own persona—an affable and approachable politician seeking to rally Republicans around his "Reverse the Curse" fiscal plan.
At times, this has proven challenging and has led to some unusually personal conflicts with fellow Republican leaders.
Earlier in 2023, after assuming his new role, then-Speaker Kevin McCarthy halted Arrington from releasing a budget that featured spending cuts so severe that centrists feared they would face political repercussions. With Democrats controlling the Senate and the White House, McCarthy saw little value in exposing vulnerable members to potential backlash over the document.
“These budget resolutions are not easy,” Arrington remarked in an interview shortly after The New York Times reported that McCarthy considered him “incompetent.”
Now, Arrington’s role has transitioned from a mere inconvenience to a crucial necessity for House Republicans. The party intends to leverage budget reconciliation procedures to bypass a Democratic filibuster in the Senate, necessitating that both chambers first adopt a budget resolution—essentially a fiscal outline for the related legislation.
It falls to Arrington to take the lead in crafting that outline, and those close to him say he's hesitant to overlook the opportunity to implement substantial spending reductions while also managing tax cuts to effectively tackle out-of-control deficits.
Nevertheless, as the plan has evolved in recent months, senior Republicans have expressed concern that Arrington has hesitated on making tough choices, questioning where his loyalties lie—with the elected leadership of the conference or the Freedom Caucus hard-liners they are attempting to rein in.
Tensions peaked on Monday night during a discussion on the House floor, where Arrington engaged in a tense exchange with Johnson and several senior Republicans. The outcome was an indication that Johnson would be proposing a budget plan of his own—one that promises fewer spending cuts than what Arrington and the more conservative faction have advocated, while also tightening potential tax cuts.
After a PMG report on Monday suggested that Johnson was "snatching the pen" from the Budget chair, Arrington addressed a closed-door GOP conference meeting the following morning to refute that claim. Finally, after weeks of waiting, he informed his colleagues that his panel would schedule a markup in the coming days.
Senior Republicans remain apprehensive that an agreement will not materialize in time for the Thursday meeting, particularly with the Senate Budget Committee set to proceed Wednesday with its own competing proposal—a plan that some House hard-liners continue to favor.
“I like Jodey quite a bit, personally — I don't envy the position he's in,” observed Rep. Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania, the leading Budget Committee Democrat. “It's very interesting to me that there's suddenly a markup on Thursday because I did not realize that somehow, suddenly there is agreement on the House Republican side.”
Mia McCarthy and Jennifer Scholtes contributed to this report.
Ian Smith contributed to this report for TROIB News
