Speaker of the House Mike Johnson speaks to the press, as Republican lawmakers struggle to pass U.S. President Donald Trump's sweeping spending and tax bill, on Capitol Hill, in Washington, D.C., U.S., July 2, 2025. REUTERS/Annabelle Gordon
In a razor-thin vote of 218-214 the House finally passed Thursday afternoon President Donald Trump’s "One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
It followed an all-night session in which the Republican leadership was able to convince all but one of its members to back the legislation. The night had started with five members voting against the bill, and several others declining to vote at all.
Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) voted no, along with Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY). Rep. John James (R-MI) and Ralph Norman of South Carolina ended up voting for the bill after a brief delay.
Considered Trump’s top domestic priority, the megabill permanently extends the tax cuts implemented during Trump’s first term, the benefits of which disproportionately go to the wealthiest Americans. To offset the trillions of dollars lost in tax revenue from those tax cut extensions, major cuts to Medicaid and food assistance programs are included — cuts that reports have projected could leave 17 million Americans without health insurance, and boot nearly five million off of food assistance.
Most Republicans have aggressively supported the bill, including Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-NC), who on the House floor Wednesday championed it as an extension of Trump’s victory last November.
“The One Big Beautiful Bill Act, it is one of the most consequential pieces of legislation that any party has ever passed, and for good reason,” Foxx said. “The provisions interwoven in this legislation are monumental; they are what the American people voted for in November.”
Democrats, however, have remained vehemently opposed to the legislation, voicing dire warnings of its potential impacts on health care and food access.
“President Trump, you’re either being lied to or you are lying to the American people, because this bill represents the largest and greatest loss of health care in American history, 17 million Americans will lose their health care on this bill, not undocumented people, but 17 million Americans,” said Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY), pushing back on Republican claims that the bill would only boot undocumented immigrants from Medicaid.
A number of Republican lawmakers had publicly criticized the bill as well, particularly the House Freedom Caucus, which voiced outrage Wednesday for its impact on the national debt.
The bill is projected to add $3.3 trillion to the national debt over ten years, per estimates from the Congressional Budget Office. It now awaits Trump’s final signature.