(CNN) — Speaker Mike Johnson was on the verge of an embarrassing defeat on the floor: the narrowly divided GOP-led House was on track to reject billions in DOGE cuts.
Then he pulled aside Rep. Nick LaLota, a New York centrist, who had just voted no. With the vote still open, several minutes of tense conversation followed before LaLota ultimately went to change his vote. Within seconds, the package of spending cuts narrowly passed.
LaLota wouldn’t divulge specifics of his conversation with Johnson, but suggested to reporters that it had something to do with his push for state and local tax breaks — an issue so contentious that it could threaten President Donald Trump’s agenda getting through the Senate this month.
“I had some conversations with the speaker that raised my level of confidence that will put this and future issues in the right trajectory,” LaLota told CNN, though he declined to offer specifics of the conversations and any promises on SALT.
The maneuver by LaLota and another New York centrist, Rep. Mike Lawler – who was also in the huddle with Johnson and afterward agreed to vote yes – underscores the complex politics of the local tax issue that is currently being debated by Senate Republicans. While the issue affects a small number of House GOP seats in purple districts, it is expected to be a major sticking point in the final details of Trump’s tax and spending bill.
The two measures are separate but both require immense political capital from Johnson and Trump to succeed.
For many centrist Republicans, Thursday’s vote to cancel $9.4 billion in federal spending for foreign aid and public radio and broadcasting was not an easy one. It was the first time Congress has formally weighed in on Elon Musk’s DOGE cuts — and it’s on programs that many of them would like to keep, like PBS and the Bush-era program to fight global AIDS.
Trump wants to deploy the rarely used tool, known on Capitol Hill as “rescissions,” to claw back federal dollars that Congress has already approved — something that lawmakers are typically loath to support. And it’s not certain that the more deliberative Senate will greenlight the package the same way the House did.
If also approved by the Senate, the spending cuts package, while far more limited in scope than the more than $1 trillion in cuts promised by the Department of Government Efficiency, would insulate the Trump administration from legal challenges related to its slashes to federal funding. Johnson has said he expects additional requests from the White House in the future.
The White House’s spending cuts ran into fierce resistance among some centrist Hill Republicans, who do support some federal dollars going to programs like PBS. Others disliked Trump’s plans to cut funds to fight global AIDS through the Bush-era program PEPFAR.
Four Republicans ultimately voted against the bill: Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Nicole Malliotakis of New York, Mike Turner of Ohio and Mark Amodei of Nevada.
Two more, LaLota and Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon, had initially voted no but then changed their vote in the final moments.
One House conservative is already questioning whether the Johnson-LaLota conversation will have an impact on Trump’s broader bill.
GOP Rep. Chip Roy of Texas posted to X after the vote, “Real question on the $9B rescissions package that narrowly passed – is how expensive were the 2 original no votes who flipped to yes…?”
GOP leaders ultimately convinced their members to back Trump’s plan, after several days of cajoling by top Republicans and White House legislative and budget officials — and a promise to keep some of the funds dedicated to fighting AIDS globally.
The request will now go to the Senate, where just 51 Republicans need to agree — instead of the usual 60 votes needed to end debate.
But multiple GOP senators, including Sen. Susan Collins, who leads the Senate Appropriations panel, have raised concerns about the cuts. Collins told CNN this week she is trying to make changes to the measure.
“I think we can change it. We’re still figuring out what the set rules are,” Collins said.
PBS and NPR — two networks that stand to lose federal dollars from the House-passed bill — said they are now setting their hopes on the Senate.
Both public media networks said in statements that they will lobby senators to reject the spending cut proposal promoted by President Trump, which cuts $1.1 billion in future funding for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.
“The fight to protect public media does not end with this vote, and we will continue to make the case for our essential service in the days and weeks to come,” PBS CEO Paula Kerger said.
After the vote, PBS immediately revised its website’s call to action about the funding threat to say, “Contact your senators now.”
CNN’s Brian Stelter and Liam Reilly contributed to this report.