The U.S. House of Representatives on Tuesday afternoon launched the final portion of the legislative process to make President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” law.
After the Senate narrowly passed the sweeping tax and spending cuts package Tuesday on a tie-breaking vote from Vice President J.D. Vance, House Rules Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx, R-N.C., immediately called the panel into session, a prerequisite to the legislation moving to the House floor.
Top Republicans and Democrats on four major House committees were called as witnesses, including Reps. Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, and Brendan Boyle, D-Pa., of the House Budget Committee and Reps. Brett Guthrie, R-Ky., and Frank Pallone, D-N.J., of the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
Republicans defended their bill in front of the panel, arguing that it reduces taxes for working Americans and tackles waste, fraud and abuse in the federal government. Democrats, however, blasted the legislation for its cuts to federal Medicaid funding and cited analysis from the Congressional Budget Office that says an estimated 11.8 million Americans would lose healthcare if the bill is signed into law.
Democrats on the Rules Committee are allowed to propose amendments before a vote is called by the chairwoman. When the panel considered an initial draft of the bill in May, Democrats introduced a flurry of amendments as a symbolic way to slow the process down.
Two members of the House GOP’s ultra conservative bloc are vowing to vote against the bill’s passage out of the Rules Committee. Reps. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., and Chip Roy, R-Texas, oppose the “absurd” changes made by the Senate to the version passed out of the House in May.
“What the Senate did to our bill was unconscionable,” Norman said to the Rules panel.
Norman signaled that he would vote against the bill in the Rules Committee and on the House floor unless revisions are made to curb an increase in the national debt.
Republicans need a simple majority to pass the legislation through the Rules Committee, meaning these two ‘no’ votes do not have the power to sink the bill alone.
After clearing the Rules panel, the budget package will move to the House floor for debate and a procedural rule vote. This could happen as early as Wednesday morning.
The last hurdle for Speaker of the House Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., will be a chamber-wide vote on final passage of the bill. Johnson must wrangle nearly every member of his conference if he wants to meet the self-imposed deadline of July 4. The House passed a preliminary version of the legislation by just one seat in May, and this round is likely to look similar.
