Rep. Derrick Van Orden (R-WI) pushed back hard Wednesday on the notion that Republicans always caved to President Donald Trump’s demands amid mounting pressure from the White House for House Republicans to fall in line in supporting the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act."
“The president of the United States didn't give us an assignment,” Orden said Wednesday, reported Kenzie Nguyen with Punchbowl News. “We're not a bunch of little b------ around here, okay?”
As of Wednesday afternoon, the House was still deliberating on the megabill, Trump’s budget reconciliation package that extends corporate tax cuts and slashes funding for Medicaid and food assistance. Having passed in the Senate, all that remains is for the bill to be adopted in the House before being sent to Trump’s desk, though uncertainty remains.
A number of House Republicans, particularly those in the House Freedom Caucus, a bloc of hardline conservatives, have opposed the Senate version of the bill for its impact on the deficit, with the package projected to increase the national debt by $3.3 trillion over 10 years, around $900 billion more than the House version of the bill.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY), while not a member of the House Freedom Caucus, has also vehemently opposed the bill, largely over its impact on the deficit, and on Wednesday told NOTUS reporter Reese Gorman that he had secured the commitment of 10 Republican House members to vote against the bill.
Conversely, Orden has not voiced any opposition to the Senate version of the bill, and instead congratulated the Senate for passing it with its changes.
“I'm a member of Congress,” Orden said Wednesday, speaking with reporters just outside the House chamber. “I represent almost 800,000 Wisconsinites.”