US House Republicans advance Trump tax-cut bill opening way for debate
The Republican-controlled US House of Representatives on Thursday advanced President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax-cut and spending bill, a procedural step setting the stage for possible passage of the legislation in a vote expected later in the day, reports Reuters.
The House voted 219-213 to move forward.
Key events
In the latest Guardian Politics Weekly America podcast, Jonathan Freedland is joined by Eleanor Mueller of Semafor to look at the potential fallout from Donald Trump’s tax-and-spending bill – financially and politically.
You can listen to the full episode here.
Politics Weekly America
The winners and losers of Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ – podcast
Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries is reading out correspondence from people who rely on Medicaid and highlighting its importance in their lives.
In response to ‘Gwendoline from Arizona’, he says:
Let me speak directly… her Representative might not be fighting on your behalf. As House Democrats, we are here to say; we agree.
Medicaid matters and it must be preserved. It must be preserved because Medicaid matters to millions of people all across this great country.
To children, to seniors, to people with disabilities, to women, to families, to people in every corner of the United States of America.
Bill an ‘abomination’ that will ‘reward billionaires’, says Jeffries
Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries has spoken in “strong opposition of Donald Trump’s one big ugly bill”. Jeffries argued that the bill, that he described as an “abomination”, would gut Medicaid and “rip food from the mouth of children, seniors and veterans”. Instead, he said, it would “reward billionaires with massive tax breaks”.
Jeffries continued:
Every single Democrat stands in strong opposition to this bill because we are standing up for the American people.
He questioned why, if the Republicans were so proud of the bill, the debate had begun in the early hours. Many of his comments were followed by applause.
Jeffries said the bill would “hurt everyday Americans” and “people in America will die unncessary deaths”. He added:
That is outrageous, that is disgusting. That is not what we should be doing here in the United States House of Representatives.
Here are some of the images from the last 24 hours in Washington DC:
It is 4.46am in Washington DC. A final vote is expected at about 5.30 am, according to reports. We will bring updates as soon as they come in.
For the moment, the final debate is taking place and can be followed via the live stream at the top of this blog.
Flanked by nearly every member of his caucus, Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, of New York delivered a pointed message: With all Democrats voting “no,” they only need to flip four Republicans to prevent the bill from passing, reports the Associated Press (AP).
Jeffries invoked the “courage” of the late Sen. John McCain giving a thumbs-down to the GOP effort to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act, and singled out Republicans from districts expected to be highly competitive in 2026, including two from Pennsylvania.
“Why would Rob Bresnahan vote for this bill? Why would Scott Perry vote for this bill?” Jeffries asked.
Democrats have described the bill in dire terms, warning that Medicaid cuts would result in lives lost and food stamp cuts would be “literally ripping the food out of the mouths of children, veterans and seniors,” Jeffries said on Monday.
Republicans say they are trying to right-size the safety net programs for the population they were initially designed to serve, mainly pregnant women, disabled people and children, and root out what they describe as waste, fraud and abuse.
The package includes new 80-hour-a-month work requirements for many adults receiving Medicaid and applies existing work requirements in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, to more beneficiaries. States will also pick up more of the cost for food benefits.
The driving force behind the bill, however, is the tax cuts. Many expire at the end of this year if Congress doesn’t act.
The Tax Policy Center, which provides nonpartisan analysis of tax and budget policy, projected the bill would result next year in a $150 tax break for the lowest quintile of Americans, a $1,750 tax cut for the middle quintile and a $10,950 tax cut for the top quintile. That’s compared with what they would face if the 2017 tax cuts expired.
With a narrow 220-212 majority, Republicans can afford no more than three defections to get a final bill passed, reports Reuters.
Democrats are united in opposition to the bill, saying that its tax breaks disproportionately benefit the wealthy while cutting services that lower- and middle-income Americans rely on. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated that almost 12 million people could lose health insurance as a result of the bill.
“This bill is catastrophic. It is not policy, it is punishment,” Democratic representative Jim McGovern said in debate on the House floor.
Republicans in Congress have struggled to stay united in recent years, but they also have not defied Donald Trump since he returned to the White House in January.
Any changes made by the House would require another Senate vote, which would make it all but impossible to meet the 4 July deadline.
The legislation contains most of Trump’s top domestic priorities, from tax cuts to immigration enforcement. The bill would extend Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, cut health and food safety net programs, fund Trump’s immigration crackdown, and zero out many green-energy incentives. It also includes a $5tn increase in the nation’s debt ceiling, which lawmakers must address in the coming months or risk a devastating default.
The Medicaid cuts have also raised concerns among some Republicans, prompting the Senate to set aside more money for rural hospitals.
Now that the House has voted to advance the bill, a final debate on the floor has begun. You can follow it via the live stream video at the top of the blog.
The debate will be followed by a final vote on the bill.
US House Republicans advance Trump tax-cut bill opening way for debate
The Republican-controlled US House of Representatives on Thursday advanced President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax-cut and spending bill, a procedural step setting the stage for possible passage of the legislation in a vote expected later in the day, reports Reuters.
The House voted 219-213 to move forward.
Another update on Scott Perry by way of Fox News’s Chad Pergram and Dan Scully on X:
Johnson on GOP PA Rep Perry on leaving DC to go back to PA. The House is waiting for him to return to the Capitol: It’s a two hour drive home, so he went home to get a change of clothes and all of that. So it’s very practical reason for it.
While we wait for updates, here is a handy explainer of what is in Donald Trump’s major tax bill:
According to multiple reports, Republican Scott Perry returned home to Pennsylvania and the holdouts are unwilling to vote until he returns, as they want to vote as a bloc.
Donald Trump spoke to holdouts by phone early this morning, Fox confirms.
According to the NYT, speaker Mike Johnson said the delay is partly due to members wanting additional time to go through the changes made in the Senate. The publication reports that Johnson told reporters just after 1.30am on Thursday:
It will have all been worth it in the end. And we will meet our July 4 deadline, which everybody mocked when I said it.
House speaker Mike Johnson has said they are “about to get those votes right now” and he expects final vote “by early morning”, reports Chad Pergram, senior congressional correspondent for Fox News.
On the holdouts, Johnson reportedly said: “We’re about to get those votes right now.”
