WASHINGTON — House Republicans may postpone a planned Tuesday evening vote on their budget resolution, Speaker Mike Johnson said Tuesday, given multiple declared opponents on his own side of the aisle.

Johnson tried to win over critics during a morning meeting with the Republican Conference, but leaving the meeting, at least four members are poised to vote “no” on the resolution, with more undecided.

The vote is currently scheduled for after 6 p.m. Eastern time Tuesday, though GOP leaders could always decide to pull it at the last minute. In his post-meeting news conference, Johnson hedged a little on timing, saying the vote would be held “as early as today.”

“There may be a vote tonight. There may not be. Stay tuned,” the Louisiana Republican told reporters. “We’re very, very close.”

The budget resolution is the first step toward passing the “big, beautiful” filibuster-proof reconciliation package that Republicans have promised to tackle their major legislative priorities in one fell swoop. They can likely only lose one or two votes on the budget blueprint, depending on absences, as no Democratic support is expected.

But Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., Victoria Spartz, R-Ind., and Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., all believe the proposed $2 trillion in mandatory spending cuts do not go far enough. And Rep. Warren Davidson, R-Ohio, wants a plan for discretionary spending, which wouldn’t be affected by the underlying budget resolution, ahead of the March 14 partial government shutdown deadline.

“Look, you’ve only communicated part of the plan” for government spending, Davidson said after the conference meeting, referring to the budget blueprint. “I’m not voting for this.”

And on the other philosophical side of the conference, moderates including Rep. Juan Ciscomani, R-Ariz., want additional assurances that their constituents’ Medicaid benefits will not be cut.

Republican leadership hopes that some pressure from President Donald Trump could convince the remaining holdouts to back the plan. Ciscomani said he is going to the White House later Tuesday, and Burchett said expects to receive a call from Trump.

White House meeting

A sizable group of House Republicans is going to meet with Trump about the budget on Tuesday, a White House official said. The group includes centrists as well as conservatives, including Rep. Tom McClintock, R-Calif. It wasn’t immediately clear if McClintock was now opposed to the budget plan, which he voted for in the Budget Committee earlier this month.

At the markup, McClintock did express reservations about voting for a plan that “doesn’t go much farther to reduce mandatory spending.” And he critiqued extensions of tax provisions that are on the table extending refundable credits to “people who pay no taxes. That’s not tax policy, it’s welfare policy.”

That’s likely a reference to the expiring child tax credit, which is available to parents who earn too little to pay income taxes. There is a minimum income threshold to qualify, however, and those parents’ earnings are subject to payroll taxes.

The White House official didn’t want to “get ahead of the president” on what sweeteners Trump might be prepared to offer remaining holdouts. “The president wants to get the best deal for the American people,” the official said.

Democratic absences could make the path to adoption easier, though it’s not clear if enough Democrats will miss the vote. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries implored the rank-and-file to make it back to Washington for the vote. Democratic leaders held an event on the East Front of the Capitol to call attention to the budget plan’s spending cuts, which they charge will finance tax cuts for the rich.

“House Democrats will not provide a single vote to this reckless Republican budget,” Jeffries said on the Capitol steps, as scores of his Democratic colleagues cheered him on. He said the budget “represents the largest Medicaid cut in American history” that would leave children, families, hospitals and nursing homes “devastated.”

The GOP plan envisions extensions of the 2017 tax cuts, which expire this year; curbs on mandatory programs like Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program along with other revenue-raisers, like spectrum auctions; and a spending boost for the military and border enforcement.

The Senate has a competing, slimmed-down resolution that chamber already adopted as a backup plan in case the House vote doesn’t come together. House GOP leaders have promised moderates in that chamber that the Senate’s smaller spending-cut proposals could be looked at in conference negotiations, though that’s upset House conservatives who already believe $2 trillion is too little.

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise projected confidence the votes would be there in the end for the House plan.

“We’re talking to members all the way up until the moment the vote closes. During the vote, we’re talking to members. Go look at every big vote we’ve had. Today is no different,” the Louisiana Republican said at GOP leaders’ Tuesday morning news conference. “We still have more conservations to have today, just like we do on any day of any big vote.”

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(David Lerman and John T. Bennett contributed to this report.)

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