Politics
Trump’s ’Big, Beautiful Bill’ Clears Key House Hurdle
President Donald Trump’s signature tax cut legislation survived a key committee vote on Sunday, fast-tracking the spending bill to the floor of the U.S. House for a vote later this week.
The accomplishment is significant for Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and puts him on firm footing to deliver Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” by the president’s Memorial Day deadline. A number of concessions were made to sell hardline fiscal conservatives on the need for its passage, according to sources close to the discussions.
Last week’s hearing by the House Budget Committee ended in spectacular failure for the GOP as Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) led four others in voting with Democrats against the legislation, arguing that proposed cuts to Medicaid and other parts of the federal budget do little to avoid adding trillions to the national debt. If passed, the bill would give most American households significant tax deductions for the remainder of Trump’s second term.
Although the specific deals reached were not made public, Roy, in a statement, hinted that Medicaid work requirements may be enhanced or implemented more quickly, while an even greater amount of the Biden administration’s green energy spending may be repealed.
“Tonight, after a great deal of work and engagement over the weekend, the Budget Committee advanced a reconciliation bill that lays the foundation for much needed tax relief, border security, and important spending reductions and reforms. Importantly the bill now will move Medicaid work requirements forward and reduces the availability of future subsidies under the green new scam,” Roy told Fox News in a statement after the vote.
Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC), one of the other four conservatives who initially voted against the bill, said the group changed their votes to “present” after receiving assurances about those changes in writing from House leadership.
Passage in the House Budget Committee provides “instructions” to other Republican-led House committees about how to enact various Trump policies under their jurisdictions.
As it stands, the legislation aims to implement work requirements for able-bodied Medicaid recipients beginning in 2029. Conservatives complained that the multi-year delay was a significant window for those reforms to be undone.
Johnson told Fox News on Sunday that he and U.S. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) are in “close communication” about passing the baton between both chambers, adding, “We hope that they don’t make many modifications to it.”
Thune has stated bluntly that Republicans in his caucus have plans to significantly mark up the legislation when it reaches them.
In order for the legislation to reach Trump’s desk, both chambers of Congress must pass identical bills; if Johnson and Thune don’t hammer out their differences early, they risk the very real possibility of political football as the House and the Senate quibble over modifications.
Both leaders have said they hope to get final legislation to President Trump’s desk by the Fourth of July.
