House Passes Trump’s Major Legislation
The House of Representatives successfully passed President Donald Trump’s significant legislation, with Speaker Mike Johnson moving ahead after a lengthy overnight session. Johnson managed to sway a faction of conservative skeptics to support the bill.
The final vote saw a tally of 218 to 214, sending tax and immigration measures to the president’s desk. Notably, two Republicans—Thomas Massey from Kentucky and Brian Fitzpatrick from Pennsylvania—joined Democrats in opposing the bill.
“It wasn’t quite as beautiful as I would have liked,” Massey remarked to reporters after casting his “no” vote.
This successful vote followed an eight-hour speech by House Democrat leader Hakeem Jeffries, making it the longest speech ever recorded in the House. Johnson later commented, “It takes longer to explain a lie than to tell the truth,” during his remarks before the final vote.
Johnson’s margin for error was slim, given the narrow 220-212 majority of House Republicans. Despite previous opposition from the House Freedom Caucus—concerned about the bill’s impact on the fiscal deficit—these conservatives ultimately supported the legislation.
While details of the commitments received from the White House weren’t entirely clear, some holdouts mentioned that Trump’s promise of strict enforcement on solar and wind tax credits helped win them over.
No changes were made to the Senate-amended bill, as leadership hoped to pass it before the President’s July 4 deadline.
This vote represents the culmination of nearly 15 months of effort by Congressional Republicans to draft the Budget Settlement Bill. Although they faced several challenges during this process, Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Tune managed to guide the legislation through their respective chambers despite their slim majorities.
House GOP leadership felt they had successfully maintained a deadline despite conservative doubts. Majority Leader Steve Scalise remarked early Thursday, “Every time it seemed like it might die, we didn’t give anyone the opportunity to lower the bill.” He added that there was a consistent push to vote rather than delay further.
Johnson highlighted the contributions of Trump and his administration in rallying support for the bill, stating, “The president helped answer the questions. We had Cabinet Secretaries involved and experts in all fields.”
Johnson spent much of Wednesday and the night leading up to the vote negotiating with holdouts, pushing for a procedural vote around 9:30 PM, despite threats from some conservatives to oppose him.
He referred to the holdouts’ stance as a “bluff,” and the House eventually proceeded to vote on the president’s bill shortly after 3:30 AM.
Fitzpatrick was the sole GOP member to vote “no” on the rules to initiate debate on the bill, while all House Democrats were present and voted against it.
Before the procedural vote, Johnson commented on the legislative process, stating, “This is exactly how the framers intended it to work.” He expressed confidence in the progress being made, adding, “We’re going to offer the President’s first American agenda, a massive, beautiful bill.”
Trump, whom many Congressional Republicans regard as a key figure, has called for urgency in moving the bill forward, urging lawmakers to act decisively. He characterized the bill as containing “the biggest tax cuts in history” and expressed impatience with those hesitating to vote in favor.
Three hours later, some holdouts voted “yes” in the procedural vote and again in support of the final passage that afternoon.
The ultimate budget adjustment bill spans an extensive 870 pages, embedding Trump’s policy priorities. It includes a permanent extension of the 2017 tax cuts, fulfills various campaign promises, eliminates taxes on tips, and raises the child tax credit to $2,200.
The legislation also allocates substantial funding for border security and defense, aims to reduce mandatory spending by over $1.5 trillion over the next decade, and plans to slow Medicaid spending growth by about $1 trillion in that same timeframe.
