WASHINGTONย – House Republicans stayed up all night to pass their multitrillion-dollar tax breaks package, withย Speaker Mike Johnsonย defying the skeptics and unifying his ranks to muscleย President Donald Trump’sย priority bill to approval Thursday.
Withย last-minute concessionsย and stark warnings from Trump, the Republican holdouts largely dropped their opposition to salvage theย โOne Big Beautiful Billโย that’s central to the GOP agenda. The House launched debate before midnight and by dawn the vote was called, 215-214, with Democrats staunchly opposed. It next goes to the Senate.
โTo put it simply, this bill gets Americans back to winning again,” saidย Johnson, R-La.
The outcome caps an intense time on Capitol Hill, with days of private negotiations and public committee hearings, many happening back-to-back, around-the-clock. Republicans insisted their sprawling 1,000-page-plus package was what voters sent them to Congress โ and Trump to the White House โ to accomplish. They believe it will be โrocket fuel,โ as one put it during debate, for theย uneasy U.S. economy.
Trump himselfย demanded action, visiting House Republicans at Tuesday’s conference meeting and hosting GOP leaders and the holdouts for a lengthy session Wednesday at the White House. Before the vote, the administration warned in aย pointed statementย that โfailure to pass this bill would be the ultimate betrayal.โ
Central to the package is the GOP’s commitment to extending some $4.5 trillion in tax breaks they engineered during Trumpโs first term in 2017, while temporarily adding new ones he campaigned on during his 2024 campaign, includingย no taxes on tips, overtime pay, car loan interest and others.
To make up for some of the lost tax revenue, the Republicans focused on changesย to Medicaidย and the food stamps program, largely by imposingย work requirementsย on many of those receiving benefits. There’s also a massiveย rollback of green energy tax breaksย from the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act.
Additionally, the package tacks on $350 billion in new spending, with about $150 billion going to the Pentagon, including for the presidentโs new โย Golden Domeโ defense shield, and the rest for Trumpโsย mass deportationย and border security agenda.
All told, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates 8.6 million fewer people would have health care coverage and 3 million less people a month would have SNAP food stamps benefits with the proposed changes.
The CBO said the tax provisions would increase federal deficits by $3.8 trillion over the decade, while theย changes to Medicaid, food stamps and other services would tally $1 trillion in reduced spending. The lowest-income households in the U.S. would see their resources drop, while the highest ones would see a boost, it said.
Houseย Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffriesย of New York read letters from Americans describing the way the program cuts would hurt them. “This is one big ugly bill,โ he said.
As the minority, without the votes to stop Trump’s package, Democrats instead offered up impassioned speeches and procedural moves to stall its advance. As soon as the House floor reopened for debate, the Democrats forced a vote to adjourn. It failed.
In โthe dark of night they want to pass this GOP tax scam,โ said Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif.
Other Democrats called it a โbig, bad billโ or a โbig, broken promise.โ
Pulling the package together and pushing it to passage has been an enormous political lift for Johnson, with few votes to spare from his slim GOP majority whose rank-and-file Republicans have conflicting priorities of their own.
Conservatives, particularly from the Freedom Caucus, held out for steeper spending cuts to defray costs piling onto theย nation’s $36 trillion debt.
At the same time, more moderate and centrist GOP lawmakers were wary of the changes to Medicaid that could result in lost health care for their constituents. And some worried the phaseout of the renewable energy tax breaks will impede businesses using them to invest in green energy projects in many states.
One big problem had been the costly deal with GOP lawmakers from New York and other high-tax states to quadruple the $10,000 deduction for state and local taxes, called SALT, to $40,000 for incomes up to $500,000, which was included in the final product.
For every faction Johnson tried to satisfy, another would roar in opposition.
Late in the night, GOP leaders unveiled aย 42-page amendmentย with a number of revisions.
The changes included speedier implementation of the Medicaid work requirements, which will begin in December 2026, rather than January 2029, and a faster roll back of the production tax credits for clean electricity projects, both sought by the conservatives.
Also tucked into the final version were some unexpected additions โ including a $12 billion fund for the Department of Homeland Security to reimburse states that help federal officials with deportations and border security.
And in a nod to Trump’s influence, the Republicans renamed a proposed new childrenโs savings program after the president, changing it from MAGA accounts โ money account for growth and advancement โ to simply โTrumpโ accounts.
Rep. Erin Houchin, R-Ind., said Americans shouldnโt believe the dire predictions from Democrats about the impact of the bill. โWe can unlock the โGolden Ageโ of America,โ she said, echoing the presidentโs own words.
By early morning hours, the chief holdouts appeared to be falling in line. Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., said they โgot some improvements.โ
But two Republicans voted against the package, including Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, a deficit watcher who had been publicly criticized by Trump, remained unmoved. โThis bill is a debt bomb ticking,โ he warned.
And Rep. Andy Harris, the chairman of the Freedom Caucus who wanted more time, voted present. Some others did not vote.
Final analysis of the overall package’s costs and economic impacts are still being assessed.
Along with extending existing tax breaks, it would increase the standard income tax deduction, to $32,000 for joint filers, and boost the child tax credit to $2,500. There would be an enhanced deduction, of $4,000, for older adults of certain income levels, to help defray taxes on Social Security income.
To cut spending, those seeking Medicaid health care, who are able-bodied adults without dependents, would need to fulfill 80 hours a month on a job or in other community activities.
Similarly, to receive food stamps through SNAP, those up to age 64, rather than 54, who are able-bodied and without dependents, would need to meet the 80 hours a month work or community engagement requirements. Additionally, some parents of children older than 7 years old would need to fulfill the work requirements.
Republicans said they want to root out waste, fraud and abuse in the federal programs.
