House Republicans narrowly passed President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” with a 215-214 vote in the early hours of the morning after a grueling all-night session.
It’s another big win for Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who is proving to be a shrewd tactician in balancing the unruly House GOP’s fractured caucus.
“After a long week and a long night and countless hours of work over the past year, a lot of prayer and a lot of teamwork, my friends it quite literally is again morning in America,” Johnson said.
“It’s truly [a] nation-shaping piece of legislation,” he added.
In the end, Johnson and Trump were able to win over moderate holdouts from blue states seeking tax relief and fiscal conservatives worried about the debt. Not all of their demands are included in the bill, but Trump may sign some executive orders soon to address their lingering concerns.
Democrats seethed and promised to campaign on the bill’s Medicaid cuts.
“This GOP tax scam will force nearly $14 million people to lose their health coverage and cause millions more to pay higher co-pays, premiums and deductibles,” said House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.)
Two Republicans, Reps. Thomas Massie (Ky.) and Warren Davidson (Ohio), voted against the bill. Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris (R-Md.) voted "present."
Massie torched the bill in remarks on the House floor, likening it to “putting coal in the boiler [of the Titanic] and setting a course for the iceberg.”
“This bill dramatically increases deficits in the near term, but promises our government will be fiscally responsible five years from now,” he said. “Where have we heard that before? How do you bind a future Congress to these promises? This bill is a debt bomb ticking.”
Those warnings are reflected in the bond markets after Moody’s downgraded U.S. debt.
The Hill’s Tobias Burns writes:
“U.S. bonds have sold off in response to the House passage of the bill, which is likely to add trillions to a U.S. national deficit that has hovered around 120 percent of gross domestic product since the pandemic.”
Federal Reserve Governor Christopher Waller said on Fox Business Network:
“Everybody I’ve talked to in the financial markets, they’re staring at the bill, and they thought it was going to be much more in terms of fiscal restraint, and they’re not necessarily seeing it.”
Now the bill goes to the Senate, where Republicans are already talking about changing it and dicing it up.
Some Republicans have said they’re against the Medicaid cuts in the House bill. Others are concerned about the levels of spending.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) says he’s a hard no because the bill raises the debt limit by $4 trillion over the next two years.
“I’ve told them if they’ll take the debt ceiling off of it, I’ll consider voting for it,” he said.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-S.D.) says he wants to have passed the bill by July 4.
The U.S. reaches the debt limit in the middle of July.
