House Speaker Mike Johnson, left, and President Donald Trump. (Getty Images)
Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, who had been at home with his wife and newborn baby, surprised reporters when he arrived at the Cannon House Office Building after he was initially expected to miss the committee meeting.
His appearance gave House GOP leaders some added wiggle room, allowing the committee to lose two Republican votes and still pass the bill, rather than just one.
Shortly before the meeting was expected to begin, Roy, Norman, Clyde and Brecheen abruptly left the room while saying little to reporters on the way out.
Each came back a short while later and criticized the legislation in their opening remarks.
At one point, Norman came out of the room and called for the committee to recess in order to work through the fiscal hawks’ concerns.
"If they call for a vote now, it's not going to end well," he said, adding he was still waiting on commitments from House GOP leaders.
Minutes later, House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., who is not a member of the committee but had been meeting with holdouts, told reporters he wanted the legislation to advance through the Budget panel "as soon as possible."
When asked about Norman’s comments, he said, "I just walked out of the meeting with him a few minutes ago as well, we're working on some questions that Ralph and others have, and we're going to be getting them answers as soon as we get them back from the Trump administration. His questions were the same as Chips and a few others, and they're very specific questions, valid questions we're working on getting those answers right now."
Elizabeth Elkind is a politics reporter for Fox News Digital leading coverage of the House of Representatives. Previous digital bylines seen at Daily Mail and CBS News.
Follow on Twitter at @liz_elkind and send tips to elizabeth.elkind@fox.com
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