Stefanik Nomination Pulled to Protect Passage of Reconciliation, White House Official Says

President Donald Trump on Thursday withdrew Elise Stefanik’s nomination to be United Nations ambassador because Republicans in the House will likely need the New York congresswoman’s vote to help ensure passage of the budget reconciliation bill, a senior White House official told The Daily Signal.

Passing the debt ceiling and reconciliation packages are going to be difficult due to Democrats’ opposition and Republicans’ razor-thin majority in the House of Representatives no matter what, and Republicans can’t spare Stefanik’s vote.

The American people need every Republican vote in the House to enact Trump’s agenda, the official said.

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Had Stefanik been confirmed by the Senate to be the United Nations envoy, her House seat would have been vacant for most of the year, and Republicans don’t have time to waste, according to the official.

The budget reconciliation process stands as Trump’s and congressional Republicans’ best—and likely only—hope to pass their agenda through Congress.

Reconciliation is a process exempt from the filibuster 60-vote threshold required to end debate in the Senate. Through reconciliation, Congress decides which areas should get more money and which should get less based on the majority’s priorities. 

The Congressional Budget Office on Wednesday released a stark forecast of when the government’s borrowing limit would be reached—increasing the urgency of congressional Republicans’ budget negotiations. 

The forecast warns that if the government doesn’t raise the debt limit, then it will no longer be able to borrow money and pay its obligations.

House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has previously said he hopes to pass a budget reconciliation bill by Memorial Day, which this year falls on May 26.

While Stefanik would likely have had no trouble getting the necessary Senate votes for confirmation, Republicans hold a narrow majority in the House with 218 seats, while Democrats hold 213 seats. There are currently four vacant seats. Special elections for two of those seats, both in Florida, will be held on April 1.

Trump won the 6th Congressional District of Florida, formerly held by national security adviser Mike Waltz, by 30 points in November, but polls show Democrats might have a chance at flipping the seat in the special election there, threatening Republicans’ already narrow majority.

Republican state Sen. Randy Fine holds a small lead, receiving support of 48.3% of the vote, compared with 44.2% of respondents who said they plan to vote for Democrat Josh Weil, according to a new St. Pete Poll.

Nonetheless, the National Republican Congressional Committee is confident that Waltz’s former seat will not flip blue.

“Randy Fine will be a member of Congress,” Mike Marinella, an NRCC spokesman, told The Daily Signal. “Everything else is just noise.”

Johnson has poured significant amounts of time, money, and effort into Fine’s campaign and is confident Fine will win, Greg Steele, his political communications director, told The Daily Signal.

The speaker was highly concerned about New York Gov. Kathy Hochul, a Democrat, slow-walking the special election to replace Stefanik.  

Stefanik’s U.N. nomination was expected to move forward on April 2, the day after the Florida special elections, Axios reported last week. She would have been the last member of Trump’s Cabinet to get confirmed.

Trump said on Truth Social he would find another place for Stefanik in his administration when possible.