House Republicans have failed to push their big package of tax breaks and spending cuts through the Budget Committee, in a major setback for the Trump administration.
A handful of hard-right lawmakers unexpectedly joined Democrats in voting against the bill, insisting on steeper spending cuts to Medicaid and the Biden-era green energy tax breaks, among other changes.
Democrats on the other hand slammed the bill as “unconscionable,” emphasising that millions of people would lose their health coverage and food stamps assistance if the bill passes while the wealthiest Americans would reap enormous tax cuts. They also said it would increase future deficits.
The failed vote, 16-21, stalls House Speaker Mike Johnson’s push to have the package approved next week. But the Budget Committee plans to reconvene Sunday to try again.
‘One, big beautiful bill’
Ahead of Friday’s vote, US President Donald Trump had implored his party to fall in line.
“Republicans MUST UNITE behind, ‘THE ONE, BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL!’” he posted on social media. “We don’t need ‘GRANDSTANDERS’ in the Republican Party. STOP TALKING, AND GET IT DONE!”
Tallying a whopping 1,116 pages, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, named with a nod to Trump, is teetering at a critical moment.
The Budget panel is one of the final stops before the package is sent to the full House floor for a vote, which is still expected sometime next week. Typically, the job of the Budget Committee is more administrative as it compiles the work of 11 committees that drew up various parts of the big bill.
Four Republican conservatives initially voted against the package — Roy and Reps. Ralph Norman of South Carolina, Josh Brecheen of Oklahoma, Rep. Andrew Clyde of Georgia. Then one, Rep. Lloyd Smucker of Pennsylvania, switched his vote to no in a procedural step so it could be reconsidered later, saying afterward he was confident they’d “get this done.”
Norman insisted he was not defying the president — “this isn’t a ‘grandstand,’” he said — as he and the others push from Trump’s priorities.
Millions to lose out on health insurance
As it stands, the bill proposes tripling what’s currently a $10,000 cap on the state and local tax deduction, increasing it to $30,000 for joint filers with incomes up to $400,000 a year.
At its core, the sprawling package extends the existing income tax cuts that were approved during Trump’s first term, in 2017, and adds new ones that the president campaigned on in 2024, including no taxes on tips, overtime pay and some auto loans.
It increases some tax breaks for middle-income earners, including a bolstered standard deduction of $32,000 for joint filers and a temporary $500 boost to the child tax credit, bringing it to $2,500.
It also provides an infusion of $350 billion for Trump’s deportation agenda and to bolster the Pentagon.
Certain Medicaid recipients would need to engage in 80 hours a month of work or other community options to receive health care. Older Americans receiving food aid through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP, would also see the program’s current work requirement for able-bodied participants without dependents extended to include those ages 55-64. States would also be required to shoulder a greater share of the program’s cost.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates at least 7.6 million fewer people with health insurance and about 3 million a month fewer SNAP recipients with the changes.
