House Speaker Mike Johnson had recalled lawmakers to Washington, eager to seize on the momentum of the bill’s passage the day before in the Senate and vowed to press ahead.
House Republicans were locked in a tense standoff late Wednesday as they raced to push President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax cuts and spending plan across the finish line—just days ahead of a self-imposed July 4 deadline.
The House vote on the more than 800-page package was held open for over an hour as GOP leaders scrambled to lock down the final votes. With just a narrow 220–212 majority, even a handful of GOP defections could derail the bill. House Speaker Mike Johnson had called lawmakers back to Washington in an urgent bid to capitalize on the bill’s razor-thin Senate passage the night before.
“Everybody wants to get to yes,” Johnson said during a live Fox News interview as voting continued.
The rushed vote was a high-risk move aimed at satisfying Trump’s public demand for a holiday-week victory. But frustration simmered among House Republicans, with moderates concerned about deep Medicaid cuts and conservatives balking at what they view as bloated spending.
GOP Divided, Trump Presses for Loyalty
Speaker Johnson and his leadership team worked around the clock to corral wavering members. In a sign of how precarious the situation was, Republicans met directly with President Trump at the White House for a two-hour lobbying session.
“The president’s message was, ‘We’re on a roll,’” said Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC). “He wants to see this.”
Despite Senate passage, several House Republicans remained unwilling to rubber-stamp the version approved less than 24 hours earlier. Some objected to the accelerated timeline, while others feared political backlash.
Meanwhile, House Democrats made their opposition clear. Leader Hakeem Jeffries stood outside the Capitol with his caucus, holding up four fingers—the number of Republicans needed to block the bill.
“Hell no!” Jeffries declared.
Trump’s Bill: Tax Cuts, Defense Spending, and Safety Net Rollbacks
The bill would extend and make permanent many of Trump’s 2017 tax cuts and add new provisions promised during his 2024 campaign. These include:
- A $6,000 deduction for most seniors earning under $75,000
- Tax breaks for tips and overtime pay
- New business incentives
In total, the legislation carries $4.5 trillion in tax cuts over 10 years, plus $350 billion in military and border enforcement spending.
To offset some costs, the package includes steep reductions to Medicaid and food assistance, new 80-hour-per-month work requirements, and shifts more of the SNAP cost burden to states.
But even with those offsets, the Congressional Budget Office estimates the bill would add $3.3 trillion to the national debt over a decade.
“Let’s go Republicans and everyone else,” Trump posted on social media late Wednesday, urging lawmakers to act.
Trump Loyalists vs. Internal Dissent
Johnson and Trump are banking on political loyalty and fear of retribution to bring GOP holdouts in line. After Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) opposed the bill, Trump publicly urged a primary challenge. Days later, Tillis announced he wouldn’t seek reelection.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) has also opposed the legislation and is now facing pressure from Trump’s political machine.
Democrats, meanwhile, are targeting vulnerable Republicans in swing districts. Jeffries invoked the late Sen. John McCain’s famous thumbs-down vote that torpedoed GOP efforts to repeal Obamacare, and asked:
“Why would Rob Bresnahan vote for this bill? Why would Scott Perry vote for this bill?”
Democrats warned that the bill’s cuts would harm children, veterans, and seniors, with Jeffries calling it “literally ripping the food out of people’s mouths.”
The Clock Is Ticking
The House narrowly passed an earlier version of the bill in May. But the Senate version includes deeper cuts and is expected to add more to the deficit—making final passage even more politically risky.
If Congress doesn’t act by year’s end, many of the 2017 Trump-era tax breaks will expire. The Tax Policy Center projects:
- A $150 tax cut for the lowest-income Americans
- $1,750 for middle-income earners
- $10,950 for top earners
The stakes are high, the timeline short, and Republican unity fragile—as Trump’s signature tax-and-spending bill teeters on the edge.
