The House of Representatives passed President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax-and-spending bill early Thursday afternoon after nearly all of the Republican holdouts flipped their votes in support.
For the latest on the House passage of the tax and spending bill, click below:
The below article is from prior to the bill’s final passing vote.
Republican Holdouts Almost Caused Bill to Stall
The House almost failed to overcome a procedural vote on debate rules in the early morning hours on Thursday that could have resulted in the overall bill being stalled in the lower chamber of Congress.
The House was scheduled to vote on the Senate version of President Trump’s tax bill but ran into obstruction by both Republican and Democratic members who voted against a resolution vote. As of 2 a.m. ET, the bill had five Republican members of the House voting against the procedural vote. If these nay votes had stood, the measure would have stalled, because the GOP can only afford to lose three of its members’ votes for the measure to pass.
The president had urged his party’s officials to pass the bill in time to hold a signing ceremony on Friday, July 4, which is a national holiday for Independence Day. The Senate version of the tax bill was passed on Tuesday on a vote of 51-50, with the tie-breaking vote cast by Vice President JD Vance. Three Republicans joined with all 47 Democrats in the Senate in voting against the bill.
- Related article: Trump Risks Voter Blowback as GOP Tax Bill Moves Forward
- Related article: Senate Tax Bill Would Add $3.3 Trillion to Deficit, Says CBO
The bill affects a wide range of federal programs, from Medicare and Medicaid, to defense spending, immigration enforcement, tax rates and credits, clean energy spending, subsidies, foreign spending and more. The tax bill, referred to as the “One Big, Beautiful Bill,” by Trump, has drawn considerable opposition not only from Democrats, but also from many conservatives who say the bill cuts social safety net programs and healthcare significantly, particularly in rural areas.
The initial House version of the bill had 1,116 pages, but was trimmed to 887 pages when passed by the Senate. As a result, the House was required to vote to either accept the Senate’s version, which some analysts have regarded as more austere, or to send the bill back to committee for re-working.
Bill is Unpopular with Voters
Recent polling shows that most Americans, from across the political spectrum, are against the bill. Polling from the Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF) showed 64% of adults viewed it unfavorably. A poll from Quinnipiac found 55% against the bill. A Fox News poll found 59% opposed to it. Several other polls found far more opposed to the bill than supported, with some respondents having no opinion.
Another question in the Quinnipiac poll revealed, “nearly half of voters (47 percent) think federal funding for Medicaid should increase, 40 percent think it should stay about the same, and 10 percent think federal funding for Medicaid should decrease.”
Among other issues, the bill would extend Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, changes the state and local tax (SALT cap) deduction, cuts Medicaid, reduces spending on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and the WIC program, eliminates electric vehicle credits for taxpayers, removes taxes on firearm silencers, cuts taxes on tips and overtime (with income limits), changes credits for solar and wind power manufacturers, and provides funding the would enable Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) to become larger than the FBI, the largest law enforcement body in the United States.
The legislation also provides $46.5 billion for building the border wall and purchasing some land related to that endeavor, plus $45 billion to increase the capacity for for detaining immigrants. ICE would receive an additional $30 billion for hiring, training, and other resources.
Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid
Throughout President Trump’s election campaign, he declared that his tax plan “will not touch” Social Security for retirees and the disabled. However, the initial version of the bill passed by the House of Representatives only increased the standard tax deduction for individuals receiving Social Security for those over 65 years of age to $4,000 for the years 2025-2028. The Senate version approved a tax break for Social Security recipients age 65 and older of up to $6,000 for those earning less than $75,000 per year.
The most recent estimate from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says the bill would add $3.3 trillion to the U.S. deficit over the next decade. This has been one of the most contentious parts of the bill with regard to GOP support, with many Republican members expressing concern over the national debt and national deficit.
Rep. Thom Tillis (R-NC), known as a fiscal conservative, said that the bill would result in a loss of $32 billion in healthcare funding for his home state of North Carolina, and threaten medical insurance for more than 600,000 people in the state.
“What do I tell 663,000 people in two years or three years, when President Trump breaks his promise by pushing them off of Medicaid because the funding’s not there any more, guys?” Tillis said in his floor speech.
- Related article: Trump Tax Bill Passes Senate
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The advancement of the bill presages plenty of risk for the president and congressional Republicans facing reelection next year. Polling has found the legislation is not especially popular with voters, prompting Democrats to see an opening to weaponize it in midterm contests. According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the bill will push 11.8 million Americans off Medicaid—a program Trump has repeatedly promised not to gut—and add $3.3 trillion to the U.S. deficits over a decade, making it unpalatable to many fiscal hawks.
For the bill to actually become law, identical versions must be accepted by a majority in the House and Senate. This usually requires a reconciliation process, where each side passes amendments that must be agreed to by both houses. If passed by both chambers, the bill will then be sent to the president for his signature.
Wealthier taxpayers appear set to receive more benefits from this bill than poorer ones, according to the Budget Lab at Yale University. Taxpayers in the lowest-income quintile will see a 2.5% decrease in their incomes, largely due to the Snap and Medicaid cuts, while the highest earners will see their incomes grow by 2.4%, the Budget Lab estimated. The impact could change based on which amendments the Senate adopts.
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