Daily SumUp

House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries lamented Thursday that Republicans were only able to advance the blueprint for President Trump’s “big, beautiful” agenda because of the “tragic” deaths of two Democratic lawmakers last month.

“Passing this initial budget resolution should have been a slam dunk for Republicans,” the Brooklyn Democrat told reporters after the vote. “They had to pull the bill down off the floor last night and barely struggled to pass it today. We had two tragic deaths in the House Democratic caucus.”

Moments earlier, Republicans had approved the measure by a 216-214 margin, after postponing the initial scheduled vote a day earlier due to a revolt by fiscal hawks.

“Had those deaths not occurred last month, Republicans could not have even passed the bill today,” added Jeffries, referring to the rule that tied votes fail in the House.

Rep. Sylvester Turner (D-Texas) died March 5 after serving just two months in Congress, followed eight days later by Rep. Raul Grijalva (D-Ariz.). With special elections not set to replace the two decedents until later this year, the House currently has 220 Republicans and 213 Democrats.