Republicans on the House Budget Committee advanced President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill” out of committee late Sunday night, after GOP leadership promised the bill would take health care away from poor people sooner.
The hard-liners on the committee, who initially tanked the bill on Friday, voted present on Sunday night—a way for them to let the legislation move forward while still expressing their discontent that the bill doesn’t make more cuts to Medicaid to help pay for the tax cuts that will overwhelmingly benefit the richest few. The bill ultimately advanced by a vote of 17-16.
Reps. Chip Roy of Texas, Josh Brecheen of Oklahoma, Andrew Clyde of Georgia, and Ralph Norman of South Carolina allowed the bill to advance.They said House Speaker Mike Johnson promised them in writing that cuts to Medicaid—the government program that provides health insurance to 72 million low-income Americans annually—will begin earlier than the bill currently states.
The Medicaid work requirements—which experts say lead to immense administrative costs and will ultimately lead millions of people who should be eligible for the program to lose their coverage due to bureaucratic red tape—would now begin in 2026, rather than 2029, as initially drafted.
Johnson also promised that the bill will cut more of the green energy tax credits Democrats passed in the Inflation Reduction Act, ultimately ending all of the credits by 2028, according To Punchbowl News.
Even with those promises, the House Freedom Caucus, a group of far-right Republicans, still says they are unhappy with the bill—which will increase the deficit by at least $3.3 trillion over the next decade in order to basically only help the richest Americans. In fact, the Penn Wharton Budget Model released data on Friday that found the GOP’s bill would lead people who earn less than $51,000 per year to lose an average of $700 per yearwhile the top 0.1% of earners—people who make more than $4.3 million annually—would see their incomes rise by $389,000.
“While progress has been made on advancing the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ out of the Budget Committee, it does not yet meet the moment,” the group wrote in a post on X. “As written, the bill continues increased deficits in the near term with possible savings years down the road that may never materialize. Thanks to discussions over the weekend, the bill will be closer to the budget resolution framework we agreed upon in the House in April, but it fails to actually honor our promise to significantly correct the spending trajectory of the federal government and lead our nation towards a balanced budget.”
Indeed, Moody’s lowered the country’s credit rating for the first time since 1917, saying their decision, “reflects the increase over more than a decade in government debt and interest payment ratios to levels that are significantly higher than similarly rated sovereigns.” That sent the stock market tumblingwith investors worried about the health of the U.S. economy.
Changes in the bill—which will cause more than 13 million people to lose their insurancemake college more expensive for low-income Americans, cut food aid to 11 million peopleand fund Trump’s draconian immigration enforcement—will have to be made in the House Rules Committee, which amends the legislation and sends it to the House floor for a vote before every member of Congress.
Related | House GOP sneakily proposes kicking millions of people off Medicaid
But if the House Rules Committee makes these changes, it could create problems with other factions of the House Republican conference. Republicans in competitive districts could balk at the even more draconian Medicaid cuts.
And it’s still unclear if the New York and California Republicans, who are currently threatening to tank the bill because it doesn’t allow their constituents to deduct more of their state and local taxes, known as SALT, have reached a deal with Johnson. Increasing SALT deduction caps would almost certainly make the bill cost more, which could anger the House Freedom Caucus members.
“Let’s be clear here: A deal isn’t very close,” Punchbowl News, a media outlet that covers the nitty gritty of Congress, wrote. “The changes conservatives are seeking are drastic. Some of these tweaks are clearly unacceptable to moderates and the middle of the conference.”
The House Rules Committee is set to meet at 1 AM on Wednesday—yes, another middle-of-the-night hearing where Americans won’t be awake to see Republicans move to steal from the poor to give to the rich.
“For House Republicans, kicking millions of Americans off their health care wasn’t good enough. So, Republicans worked this weekend behind closed doors to jam their budget betrayal through committee at 10pm on a Sunday,” Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-PA), ranking member of the Budget Committee, wrote in a post on X. “I won’t stop fighting against this betrayal.”
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