WASHINGTON: House Republicans stayed up all night into Thursday (May 22) to pass a multitrillion-dollar spending package, with Speaker Mike Johnson unifying the Republican ranks to get President Donald Trump’s package through.
With last-minute concessions Republican holdouts mainly dropped their opposition to get what the President has called the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ passed, and onto the Senate for consideration.
The 1,100-page bill would extend corporate and individual tax cuts passed in 2017 during Trump’s first term in office, cancel many green-energy incentives passed by Democratic former President Joe Biden and tighten eligibility for health and food programs for the poor.
It also would fund Trump’s crackdown on immigration, adding tens of thousands of border guards and creating the capacity to deport up to 1 million people each year. Regulations on firearm silencers would be loosened.
Democrats blasted the bill as disproportionately benefiting the wealthy while cutting benefits for working Americans. The Congressional Budget Office found it would reduce income for the poorest 10% of US households and boost income for the top 10%.
“This bill is a scam, a tax scam designed to steal from you, the American people, and give to Trump’s millionaire and billionaire friends,” Democratic Representative Jim McGovern said.
BILL ADDS TO GOVERNMENT DEBT
The House launched debate before midnight, and by dawn, the vote was called, 215-214, with Democrats staunchly opposed.
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 — and Trump to the White House — to accomplish.
However, it will add about $3.8 trillion to the federal government’s $36.2 trillion in debt over the next decade, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.
All of the chamber’s Democrats and two Republicans voted against it, while a third Republican voted “present”, neither for nor against the bill. Another Republican missed the vote because he had fallen asleep.
