President Trump’s extensive tax and spending proposal advanced through a crucial House committee late Wednesday, overcoming Republican disagreements and paving the way for a House vote early Thursday.
The progress followed intense, late-night negotiations that resulted in enough compromises to regain support from key Republican members of the House Rules Committee, despite disagreements over the bill’s financial implications and proposed Medicaid changes. Ultimately, all Republicans except Representative Chip Roy of Texas, who was absent, voted to send the bill out of committee, concluding the committee’s discussion.
Passing the Rules Committee is a significant victory for Trump, who has actively pushed Congress to approve his “One Big, Beautiful Bill” to solidify key conservative goals for his potential second term. Trump had expressed frustration with dissenting Republicans, calling some “grandstanders” and suggesting they leave the party.
To address concerns from the House Freedom Caucus, who sought quicker, larger spending cuts and the phasing out of energy tax credits, the White House and Republican leaders revised the bill late Wednesday. Trump invited House Speaker Mike Johnson and key opponents to the White House to resolve their differences. Several of these opponents stated that the meeting helped them align with Trump’s vision.
According to a review of the amendments, the revised bill would expedite the implementation of new Medicaid work requirements to December 2026; eliminate many tax credits for wind, solar, and battery storage by 2028; remove a tax on gun silencers; officially set a $40,000 limit on the state and local tax (SALT) deduction; and allocate $12 billion to reimburse states for border security assistance since January 2021.
The bill now proceeds to a vote in the full House, where Speaker Johnson faces a narrow margin, with Republicans holding a historically thin majority of 220-212. This means Johnson can only afford to lose three Republican votes if all Democrats oppose the bill.
Trump and congressional leaders aim for final approval of the legislation by July 4, with the Speaker urging the House to pass the bill before Memorial Day on Monday. Some opponents disagreed with the timeline, stating they would not be rushed into a deal without concessions.
Trump’s 1,100-plus-page legislation would permanently extend his 2017 tax cuts, set to expire at the end of the year, while introducing new policies such as tax exemptions for tips and overtime wages. It also increases spending on defense and border security while decreasing spending on Medicaid and food stamps. The bill would also reverse green energy tax credits from the Biden Administration, including the $7,500 electric vehicle tax credit.
Nonpartisan research groups estimate that the proposal would over the next ten years. However, a senior White House official told TIME that the legislation would reduce the national debt by generating an additional $2.6 trillion in revenue over the next ten years through increased economic growth.
Some staunch conservatives previously argued that the legislation did not cut spending enough, advocating for an earlier end to clean-energy tax breaks and a quicker implementation of new work requirements for some Medicaid recipients, before 2029.
Democrats have cautioned that the measure would force millions of low-income Americans to lose Medicaid and food assistance benefits, in order to finance tax cuts for the wealthy. “The structure of this bill is such that low- and middle-income households bear the brunt, while the wealthy reap significant benefits,” said Daniel Hornung, former Deputy Director of the National Economic Council under President Joe Biden.
An from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) released Tuesday indicates that the wealthiest households are expected to benefit from the bill, while the lowest-income households would lose resources due to the spending cuts. A separate CBO report estimated that the proposed changes to Medicaid could leave without insurance.
“President Trump promised to lower the high cost of living in America. He has failed,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a statement on Wednesday. “Costs aren’t going down, they are going up. The GOP Tax Scam will make life more expensive for everyday Americans and it’s his toxic legislation that represents the ultimate betrayal.”
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