Republicans early Thursday morning passed their cruel budget bill that will rip away health care, nutritional assistanceand educational aid from millions of low-income Americans in order to pass deficit-busting tax cuts that overwhelmingly benefit the rich.
After debating the bill in the dead of night, President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” ultimately passed by a vote of 215-214with two Republicans voting “no” and one GOP lawmaker voting “present.”
The bill passed because hard-line Republican lawmakers, who had been screaming for days that the bill added too much to the deficitcaved after House GOP leadership amended the bill to make draconian Medicaid work requirements—which will drown eligible recipients in paperwork and lead many to lose coverage—go into effect earlier, on Dec. 31, 2026, instead of at the start of 2029 in an earlier draft of the bill. Dear Leader Don then twisted those GOP lawmakers’ arms at a meeting at the White House Wednesday afternoon, which seemed to get the sycophantic lawmakers onboard.
Just a few hours before that meeting, Republican Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland—chair of the right-wing House Freedom Caucus—claimed that his group’s members would vote against the bill because it did not make enough spending cuts and had been amended to allow for higher state and local taxes deductions.
“I think actually we’re further away from a deal because that SALT cap increase, I think, upset a lot of conservatives,” Harris said in a Wednesday morning interview on Newsmax. “The conservatives are pushing for some balancing spending reductions.”
But even though the legislation still adds $3.8 trillion to the deficit over the next decade, those Republicans voted for the bill. In fact, the bill is so deficit-busting that it might force almost $500 billion to be cut from Medicare—the overwhelmingly popular government health care program that covers more than 68 million people ages 65 and older.
Among the hard-liners that suddenly shrugged off their fiscal conservatism is Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, who was part of a group of Republicans who initially voted against the legislation in the House Budget Committee. Roy eventually voted for the bill despite that it adds trillions to the federal deficit—so much so that it is rattling the United States bond marketwith investors viewing it as a risk to invest in American assets because of how high the national debt is.
Harris, for his part, voted “present” on the legislation, a way to allow the bill to advance but still wage his discontent. How brave.
“I voted to move the bill along in the process for the President. There is still a lot of work to be done in deficit reduction and ending waste, fraud, and abuse in the Medicaid program,” Harris wrote in a Wednesday morning post on X.
Ultimately, only two Republicans ended up voting “no”: Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Warren Davidson of Ohio.
“I’d love to stand here and tell the American people ‘we can cut your taxes and increase spending and everything will be fine.’ But I can’t because I’m here to deliver a dose of reality about the ticking debt bomb known as the ‘Big Beautiful Bill,” Massie wrote on X, summarizing an impassioned speech he gave on the House floor.
“While I love many things in the bill, promising someone else will cut spending in the future does not cut spending. Deficits do matter and this bill grows them now. The only Congress we can control is the one we’re in. Consequently, I cannot support this big deficit plan. NO,” Davidson wrote in a post on X, defending his position.
Meanwhile, the group of so-called moderate Republicans who had been telegraphing their fears of Medicaid cuts all voted for the legislation, even though it is expected to lead to over 7 million Americans enrolled in Medicaid going uninsured.
Democrats slammed their GOP colleagues for hurting the poor and working-class Americans in order to help the richest few.
“Today, every single House Democrat voted to stop the largest cuts to Medicaid and food assistance in American history,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said in a statement.
“This fight is just beginning, and House Democrats will continue to use every tool at our disposal to ensure that the GOP Tax Scam is buried deep in the ground, never to rise again,” he added.
Democrats also vowed to make GOP lawmakers pay for their votes at the ballot box in next year’s midterm elections.
“Their vote to pass a singularly devastating piece of legislation that will hurt millions of working people, all to pay for hundreds of billions in tax breaks for the ultra-wealthy is the latest example of their complete abandonment of everyday Americans in favor of billionaires,” Rep. Suzan DelBene of Washington, who chairs the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee, said in a statement.
“Now that vulnerable Republicans are on the record voting for it, this betrayal of the American people will cost them their jobs in the midterms and Republicans the House Majority come 2026,” she said.
Now that the House has passed the bill, it goes to the Senate, where Republicans are expected to make their own changes.
Senate Republicans have been similarly criticizing the legislation for adding to the deficit and taking away Medicaid coverage. But given that House Republicans folded under pressure from Trump, there’s no reason to assume the Senate GOP lawmakers won’t fold too.
If the Senate passes the bill with changes, it will go back to the House again for approval before it would reach Trump’s desk, which House Speaker Mike Johnson claims he wants to happen before July 4.
There’s still miles to go, but never bet against the GOP and its fealty to Trump.
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