WASHINGTON Ƶ House Republicans propelled President Donald TrumpƵs to final passage Thursday in Congress, overcoming multiple setbacks to approve his signature second-term policy package before a Fourth of July deadline.
The tight roll call, 218-214, came at a potentially high political cost, with two Republicans joining all Democrats opposed. GOP leaders worked overnight and the president himself leaned on a handful of skeptics to drop their opposition. Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York delayed voting for more than eight hours by seizing control of the floor with a against the bill.
ƵYou get tired of winning yet?Ƶ said , R-La., invoking Trump as he called the vote.
ƵWith one big beautiful bill we are going to make this country stronger, safer and more prosperous than ever before,Ƶ he said. Republicans celebrated with a rendition of the Village PeopleƵs ƵY.M.C.A.,Ƶ a song the president often plays at his rallies, during a ceremony afterward.
The outcome delivers a milestone for the president and for his party. It was a long-shot effort to compile a lengthy list of GOP priorities into what they called his Ƶone big beautiful bill,Ƶ at nearly . With Democrats unified in opposition, the bill will become a defining measure of TrumpƵs return to the White House, aided by Republican control of Congress.
The president is expected to sign it into law Friday.
Tax breaks and safety net cuts
At its core, the packageƵs priority is $4.5 trillion in tax breaks enacted in 2017 during TrumpƵs first term that would expire if Congress failed to act, along with new ones. This includes allowing workers to deduct tips and overtime pay, and a $6,000 earning less than $75,000 a year.
ThereƵs also a hefty investment, some $350 billion, in national security and and to help develop the defensive system over the U.S.
To help offset the lost tax revenue, the package includes $1.2 trillion in cutbacks to and food stamps, largely by imposing new work requirements, including for some parents and older people, and a major .
The estimates the package will add over the decade and 11.8 million more people will go without health coverage.
ƵThis was a generational opportunity to deliver the most comprehensive and consequential set of conservative reforms in modern history, and thatƵs exactly what weƵre doing,Ƶ said Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, the House Budget Committee chairman.
Democrats united against the big Ƶugly billƵ
Democrats unified against as a tax giveaway to the rich paid for on the backs of the working class and most vulnerable in society, what they called Ƶtrickle down cruelty.Ƶ
Jeffries began the speech at 4:53 a.m. EDT and finished at 1:37 p.m. EDT, 8 hours, 44 minutes later, a record, as he argued against what he called TrumpƵs Ƶbig ugly bill.Ƶ
ƵWeƵre better than this,Ƶ said Jeffries, who used a leaderƵs prerogative for unlimited debate, and read letter after letter from Americans writing about their reliance of the health care programs.
ƵI never thought that IƵd be on the House floor saying that this is a crime scene,Ƶ Jeffries said. ƵItƵs a crime scene, going after the health, and the safety, and the well-being of the American people.Ƶ
And as Democrats, he said, ƵWe want no part of it.Ƶ
Tensions ran high. Ƶ fellow Democrats chanted JeffriesƵ name, a top Republican, Rep. Jason Smith of Missouri, chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, called his speech Ƶa bunch of hogwash.Ƶ
Hauling the package through the Congress has been difficult from the start. Republicans have struggled mightily with the bill nearly every step of the way, quarreling in the House and Senate, and often succeeding only by the narrowest of margins: just one vote.
The with Vice President JD Vance breaking the tie vote. The slim majority in the House left Republicans little room for defections.
ƵIt wasnƵt beautiful enough for me to vote for it,Ƶ said Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky. Also voting no was Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, who said he was concerned about cuts to Medicaid.
Once Johnson gaveled the tally, Republicans cheered ƵUSA!Ƶ and flashed Trump-style thumbs-up to the cameras.
Political costs of saying no
Despite their discomfort with various aspects of the sprawling package, in some ways it became too big to fail Ƶ in part because Republicans found it difficult to buck Trump.
Ƶ WednesdayƵs stalled floor action dragged overnight, Trump railed against the delays.
ƵWhat are the Republicans waiting for???Ƶ the president said in a midnight-hour post.
Johnson relied heavily on White House Cabinet secretaries, lawyers and others to satisfy skeptical GOP holdouts. Moderate Republicans worried about the severity of cuts while conservatives pressed for steeper reductions.
Lawmakers said they were being told the administration could provide executive actions, projects or other provisions in their districts back home.
The alternative was clear. Republicans who staked out opposition to the bill, including Massie of Kentucky and Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, were by TrumpƵs well-funded political operation. Tillis soon after announced he would not seek reelection.
Rollback of past presidential agendas
In many ways, the package is a of the last two Democratic presidents, a chiseling away at the Medicaid expansion from Barack ObamaƵs , and a pullback of Joe BidenƵs climate change strategies in the .
Democrats have described the bill in dire terms, warning that cuts to Medicaid, which some 80 million Americans rely on, would result in lives lost. Food stamps that help feed more than 40 million people would Ƶrip food from the mouths of hungry children, hungry veterans and hungry seniors,Ƶ Jeffries said.
Republicans say the tax breaks will prevent a tax hike on households and grow the economy. They maintain they are trying to rightsize the safety net programs for the population they were initially designed to serve, mainly pregnant women, the disabled and children, and root out what they describe as .
The Tax Policy Center, which provides nonpartisan analysis of tax and budget policy, projected the bill would result next year in a $150 tax break for the lowest quintile of Americans, a $1,750 tax cut for the middle quintile and a $10,950 tax cut for the top quintile. ThatƵs compared with what they would face if the 2017 tax cuts expired.
