Mammoth budget bill heads to Trump's desk in time for July Fourth

WASHINGTON — House Republicans pushed their sweeping tax and spending package across the finish line Thursday, handing President Donald Trump a major legislative victory that could define next year’s midterm elections.

After a long day and night of back-room arm-twisting, House leaders finally secured enough votes from reluctant Republicans to pass their budget reconciliation bill over vehement Democratic protests. The final vote was 218-214, with two Republicans joining all Democrats in opposition.

Reps. Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., and Thomas Massie, R-Ky., were the only GOP “no” votes.

The seemingly improbable outcome means the huge budget measure will land on Trump’s desk in time for Independence Day on Friday, the self-imposed goal that most Congress watchers thought couldn’t be achieved.

The vote marked a major victory for Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who spent much of the night corralling his conference to unite around the “one big, beautiful bill” Trump has pitched for months.

“We’ll land this plane before July Fourth, as I told you all we would do,” Johnson told reporters Thursday morning.

Conservative holdouts, who sought deeper spending cuts, wanted assurances that additional efforts to reduce deficits and fix other policy differences they had with the Senate-passed product, would be coming soon. Johnson has also talked up the possibility of a second reconciliation bill later this year.

House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris, who voted “present” in May on the initial House-passed bill, wouldn’t elaborate on specifics of what assurances he received. But he seemed pleased with the outcome of talks with leadership and the White House.

“We got significant commitments from the administration to work hard on the deficit issue,” Harris, R-Md., said Thursday.

Fitzpatrick posted a statement on his website shortly after the vote saying it was the Senate’s amendments to Medicaid, in addition to several other Senate provisions, that “altered the analysis” for the community he represents.

“The original House language was written in a way that protected our community; the Senate amendments fell short of our standard,” he said.

Before the final vote — delayed for several hours due to Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries’ record-setting “magic minute” speech — House Majority Leader Steve Scalise said Trump’s personal intervention helped seal the deal for reluctant members, including a 1 a.m. phone call Thursday.

“[Trump] was making it clear to ’em that for all the other changes people might want to make, the time for changes to this bill are over,” Scalise, R-La., said Thursday morning. “There is no unicorn out there. This is a really good bill, and all the other things you want to still do, you can go fight to do tomorrow, but you got to bank this major win for the American people today.”

Johnson said they also brought in Cabinet secretaries and other subject-matter experts to talk to those with concerns.

Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., credited Trump, as well as Vice President JD Vance, for their negotiating style.

“You know, you get in a situation with executives, and a lot of times they’ll just try to roll you,” he said. “And it wasn’t the case at all. If he didn’t know the answer, he would find someone who did.”

Burchett said he and the other holdouts received commitments to scrutinize clean energy projects’ access to tax credits in the bill and to “vigorously” enforce Medicaid eligibility requirements. “I think there’s going to be a huge savings there,” he said.

Rep. Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., initially voted against the rule for floor debate (H Res 566) before flipping hours later.

His main concern throughout the reconciliation process has been, in addition to eliminating taxes on gun suppressors and short-barreled rifles and shotguns, removing such firearms and devices from federal registration requirements. The tax cuts survived but the registration exemptions didn’t survive the Senate’s “Byrd rule,” which restricts nonbudgetary material in reconciliation bills.

In a statement before the vote, Clyde said he was able to discuss his concerns directly with Trump at the White House and that further opportunities for a fix could be in the works.

“Stay tuned,” he said.

GOP wish list

The sweeping measure, which passed the Senate on Tuesday after Vice President JD Vance broke a tie, now awaits the president’s signature. It encompasses most of the major legislative priorities Trump set for his second term.

The legislation would extend the expiring 2017 tax cuts while offering new tax breaks on tips, overtime pay and car-loan interest, creating new tax-advantaged “Trump accounts” for children, and much more. The total cost of the tax package, the bill’s centerpiece, is close to $4.5 trillion over 10 years, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation.

It would pump roughly $325 billion into border security measures and military needs. It would make over $1 trillion in cuts to the social safety net, including Medicaid and food stamps, while increasing the nation’s $36.1 trillion debt limit by an additional $5 trillion.

The bill touches virtually every policy area lawmakers deal with; 10 Senate committees and 11 House panels weighed in with recommendations, a blend of which ultimately were included.

The House started the process, passing their version before Memorial Day. The Senate used the House’s text as the basis, drafting a substitute amendment and ultimately further iterations as GOP leaders encountered procedural as well as substantive problems within their conference.

Other provisions in the final package include:

—Nearly $500 billion in reduced incentives for wind power generation, solar panel deployment, electric vehicles and batteries and more.

—Roughly $66 billion for commodity price supports, crop insurance and agricultural disaster aid, ahead of farm bill negotiations later this year.

—Almost $25 billion for Coast Guard procurement including aircraft, helicopters and cutters.

—$12.5 billion for air traffic control infrastructure and aviation safety.

—$10 billion for NASA’s missions to the moon and ultimately Mars.

—Onshore and offshore oil and gas leasing incentives.

—An expansion of tax-advantaged health savings accounts for individuals who purchase bronze or catastrophic plans on federally-subsidized exchanges and subscribers to direct primary care services.

—Over $300 billion in reductions to estimated federal student loan payouts, largely through streamlining income-based repayment options.

—Restored and expanded compensation for victims of radiation exposure as a result of U.S. nuclear testing.

The measure includes all manner of provisions that were tucked in under the radar, like new tax breaks for metallurgical coal producers and Native Alaskan fishermen.

Democrats highlighted unheralded items like a denial of exemptions from food-stamp work requirements for veterans. A tax increase costing gamblers an estimated $1 billion over a decade even got some airtime on the House floor Wednesday.

‘Immoral’ and ‘criminal’

But Democrats trained most of their fire on the bill for delivering tax cuts to well-off households while removing financial supports for the poor, as the Congressional Budget Office has confirmed.

“It will wreck health care delivery, take food from hungry children, sentence seniors to early deaths, eliminate jobs and destabilize our economy,” Rep. Danny K. Davis, D-Ill., said during floor debate. “It takes from the poor, from the disabled, from the sick, from the hungry, and gives to the wealthy. This bill is cruel, it is immoral … it is draconian, it is dangerous, it is criminal.”

House Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith, R-Mo., who represents one of America’s poorest districts, rebutted Democrats’ attacks by pointing out that waitresses and truck drivers, nurses and farmers would benefit from the bill’s tax cuts. The child tax credit and standard deduction, both doubled under the 2017 tax law, would be made permanent and expanded.

“The one, big, beautiful bill is for the people who don’t have lobbyists in this town,” Smith said. “The folks who work hard, play by the rules, and ask only for a fair shot and a government that works for them, not against them.”

Democrats also focused on the deficit impact of the bill, a critique they shared with those on the right who initially held up the package.

The CBO estimated the legislation would increase deficits by almost $3.4 trillion over 10 years at a time when deficits were already set to soar because of an aging population and rising health care costs. That was nearly $1 trillion more than the initial House-passed bill, and about $760 billion over the ceiling House conservatives said was their absolute limit.

With the additional interest payments needed to service that new debt, overall costs could creep closer to $4 trillion.

Trump and top White House officials argue the deficit impact will be wiped out by faster economic growth, tariffs and discretionary spending cuts enacted through the appropriations process.

Most independent analysts dispute such growth claims, however, and Trump’s tariffs may end up temporary due to court rulings and deals with trading partners.

‘Magic minute’

Before the close of debate, Jeffries, D-N.Y., used his “magic minute” speech privileges — unlimited floor time granted to party leaders — to draw a contrast between the words of the Declaration of Independence and the values embodied in Trump’s budget bill.

“When it comes to everyday Americans, the one big, ugly bill will hurt the quality of life of hardworking American taxpayers, and it’s all designed to put a happy smile on the face of billionaires,” Jeffries said. “And that is inconsistent with the Declaration of Independence and what we should be celebrating on July Fourth.”

Jeffries went on to read testimonials from constituents across the country facing a loss of benefits under the bill — making sure to note the district they reside in.

He started going state by state, beginning with Rep. Juan Ciscomani, R-Ariz., one of the House’s most vulnerable incumbents in next year’s midterms. Ciscomani’s is one of eight GOP races that Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales considers a Toss-up.

After more than an hour of speaking, a little after 6 a.m., Jeffries announced to applause from his Democratic colleagues that he was “going to take my sweet time.” At that point, he’d made it to Iowa and the district represented by Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa — another Inside Elections Toss-up.

Jeffries spoke for 8 hours and 45 minutes in all, breaking the 8-hour, 32-minute record set by then-Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy, R-Calif., in 2021.

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—Jessica Wehrman and Paul M. Krawzak contributed to this report.