House passes Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ as opponents flip
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Diverging Reports Breakdown
House passes Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ as opponents flip
Just two Republicans voted no in the final vote. House Speaker Mike Johnson whittled down a list of over two dozen GOP holdouts who were objecting to the bill as recently as Wednesday. The vote also came after Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries held the floor for over eight hours saying that the bill would happen “in the light of day” and at another point calling the legislation a “crime scene’ The package also includes a $5 trillion debt ceiling increase and is projected to unleash new borrowing that will lead the US national debt to surpass $40 trillion in the coming years.
The final vote was 218-214, with just two Republicans voting no in the end.
House Speaker Mike Johnson whittled down a list of over two dozen GOP holdouts who were objecting to the bill as recently as Wednesday to just Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania.
White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt announced Thursday that Trump would sign the bill on Friday at 5 p.m. ET at a White House ceremony calling passage “a victorious day for the American people.”
The approval came after a pressure campaign from the White House and yet another all-night session on Capitol Hill that satisfied these Republican holdouts who were concerned about things like the multitrillion-dollar price tag and healthcare cuts.
The vote also came after Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries held the floor — for what C-SPAN confirmed was a new length record — to lambast the bill for over eight hours saying that he spoke so that the final vote would happen “in the light of day” and at another point calling the legislation a “crime scene.”
But Mike Johnson and his colleagues celebrated final passage soon after Jeffries yielded, with the House speaker saying just before the vote commenced that “this day is a hugely important one” and describing it as part of a long list of recent Trump wins.
He and his colleagues soaked in a victory many were skeptical could ever happen — the weaving together of a wide array of Republican priorities into a single bill and sending it to Trump before his self-imposed July 4 deadline.
What in the end appears to have allowed Johnson to move many of these recalcitrant lawmakers into the yes column were not any changes to the bill itself — today’s vote approved the 870-page bill that passed the Senate earlier this week with zero changes — but with promises from Trump of things like executive actions to address their concerns.
Read more: Taxes, energy, and healthcare: 3 ways Senate’s Trump megabill impacts the business world
Major changes — and a giant price tag
The back-and-forth Thursday was just the latest twist in days of negotiations over a reconciliation package that is set to reshape large swathes of the US economy, especially in areas of taxes, energy, and healthcare.
The package also includes a $5 trillion debt ceiling increase and is projected to unleash new borrowing that will lead the US national debt to surpass $40 trillion in the coming years.