House passes Trump’s megabill, sends it to the president’s desk
In a vote of 218-214, Republicans passed Trump’s megabill, sending it to the president’s desk by his self-imposed Independence Day deadline. Republicans burst into chants of “U-S-A!”
In the end, two Republicans voted against the bill: Kentucky congressman Thomas Massie, a libertarian-leaning fiscal hawk who has drawn Trump’s wrath for opposing his agenda, and Pennsylvania congressman Brian Fitzpatrick, who was opposed to the Medicaid cuts.
Key events
The White House is celebrating passage of the president’s domestic policy bill.
Republican leaders are taking a victory lap, heaping praise on “our leader”.
“They doubted us,” said Representative Lisa McLain of Michigan, the House GOP conference chair. “But here we are again! What are we? Six and zero?”
“We delivered on our promises to the American people – no taxes on tips, no taxes on overtime, tax relief for seniors, enhanced childcare tax credits, elimination of the death tax, more Ice agents – we’re finishing the border wall and funding the golden dome.”
Representative Tom Emmer, another member of leadership, repeated the Republican claim that the bill cuts only “waste, fraud and abuse” from Medicaid. According to estimates from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the bill cuts roughly $1t from Medicaid, a joint federal and state health insurance program for disabled and low-income Americans. It would result in an estimated 11.8 million people losing health insurance over the next decade.
“To put it simply,” Emmer said, “this bill is President Trump’s ‘Make America Great Again’ agenda. Being codified into law from Minnesota to Texas and Maine to California, there are wins in this legislation for every single American.”
Here’s a breakdown of what’s in the tax cut and spending bill that just passed the House, and next goes to Trump for his signature.
The bill is largely the same version as the one Senate Republicans narrowly passed, with JD Vance casting the tie-breaking vote. Trump has imposed a 4 July deadline for the legislation to be on his desk.
House passes Trump’s megabill, sends it to the president’s desk
In a vote of 218-214, Republicans passed Trump’s megabill, sending it to the president’s desk by his self-imposed Independence Day deadline. Republicans burst into chants of “U-S-A!”
In the end, two Republicans voted against the bill: Kentucky congressman Thomas Massie, a libertarian-leaning fiscal hawk who has drawn Trump’s wrath for opposing his agenda, and Pennsylvania congressman Brian Fitzpatrick, who was opposed to the Medicaid cuts.
The 15-minute voting window has now closed – though that matters little. It will remain open for as long as Republican leaders believe they need.
So far, two Republicans are recorded as voting against the bill, though nothing is final until the vote officially closes. One Republican – conservative Ralph Norman, has yet to vote, according to CSPAN.
Passage would amount to a remarkable feat for Johnson, who has navigated, in his own words, “so many dire straits” since assuming the gavel.
Johnson, once a relatively unknown congressman from Louisiana, came to power after the historic ouster of former speaker Kevin McCarthy, who was toppled by hardliners in his own party. Many expected Johnson – soft-spoken, deeply religious and lacking leadership experience – would meet a similar fate.
Yet, in the months since, Johnson has surprised both his critics and colleagues by holding together one of the narrowest House majorities in modern history. He has overcome the threat of rebellion from the hard-right faction of his party and mollified moderates uneasy with aspects of the president’s agenda.
One critical factor in his success so far: Trump’s support. The president’s backing has largely helped insulate Johnson from the kind of rightwing backlash.
House voting on Trump’s domestic policy bill
The House has officially started voting on final passage of Trump’s so-called “one big, beautiful” bill – more than 24 hours after it the reconciliation package was first brought to the floor. It is expected to narrowly pass, with all Democrats opposed.
Johnson closed his remarks with a plea to members to help pass Trump’s megabill, though his cheery delivered made clear he no longer had any doubts about the outcome.
“The president of the United States is waiting with his pen. The American people are waiting for this relief,” Johnson said. “We’ve heard enough talk. It’s time for action. Let’s finish the job for him, vote yes on the bill.”
Johnson said Americans gave Republicans a mandate to pass this legislation when the handed the levers of power in Washington to Trump and his party.
“That election was decisive. It was a bellwether. It was a time for choosing. And I tell you what the American people chose. Overwhelmingly, they chose the Republican party,” he said. “And the reason they did that – they didn’t come hesitantly. They came with hopeful anticipation. You know why? Because this is not your father’s Democratic party. They went so far, full speed, to the far left, and their radical, woke progressive agenda, that nonsense that they tried to push on the people, was rejected by the people.”
Johnson later declared that the Republican party stands for “law and order”.
“The idea that those who put their own lives on the line to protect us would be assaulted for doing their jobs is unconscionable,” he declared, an apparent reference to the LA protests in which some individuals were accused of assaulting officers. Upon taking office, Trump pardoned hundreds of rioters who assaulted police during the January 6 attack on the US Capitol.
Republican speaker takes back the House floor: ‘We waited long enough’
Mike Johnson is now speaking, promising to abide by Ronald Reagan’s adage that no speech should be longer than 20 minutes.
Of the content of Jeffries remarks, Johnson said: “It takes a lot longer to build a lie than to tell the simple truth.”
Then, declaring today a “hugely important one in the history of our nation” said the chamber would soon vote on Trump’s “big, beautiful” bill.
“We waited long enough, some of us have literally been up for days now,” he said.
Republican congressman Jason Smith from Missouri has just stepped up to the lectern to decry Jeffries’ speech as a “bunch of hogwash” that mischaracterized the president’s bill.
“The eight hours of hogwash that we just heard will not change the outcome that you will see very shortly when we deliver historic tax relief for working families owners and farmers,” he said, before bringing the speaker to the lectern.
Jeffries ends marathon speech: “I yield back.”
After speaking for eight hours and 44 minutes, Jeffries concluded his remarks. Invoking the legacy of the late civil rights activist and Georgia congressman John Lewis, Jeffries vowed that Democrats would “press on”.
“No matter what the outcome is, on this singular day, we’re going to press on,” he said. “We’re going to press on until victory is won.”
When he yielded the floor back, Democrats erupted in applause and chants of “Hakeem”.
Jeffries, in closing, is reading from the Declaration of Independence on the eve of the country’s 249th birthday.
He said the document’s introduction lays out the founders’ “aspirational” dreams for a new country that guaranteed its citizens the inalienable rights of “life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness”. But the rest of the declaration, he said, reads more like an “indictment against an out-of-control king”.
“And why was that indictment issued? I think it was because the framers of this great country, they were fed up with Project 1775 and so they implemented Project 1776,” he declared. “So I know that there are people concerned with what’s happening in America, but understand, what our journey teaches us is that after Project 2025 comes Project 2026.”
Jeffries breaks the record for longest House floor speech
House minority leader Hakeem Jeffries has delivered the longest floor speech in modern House history, a forceful eight-plus-hour denunciation of the president’s marquee domestic policy bill which he called an “abomination”.
“Shame on this institution if this bill passes,” Jeffries said, as Democrats chanted “shame”. “We are better than this.”
In what appears to be the closing stretch of Jeffries’s hours-long speech, the minority leader has turned to the subject of faith. With the cadence of a preacher, the minority leader, read from the Bible, the 25th chapter of Matthew: “For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat.”
“I’m not down with this situation,” he said, adding to scripture with his own words. “I was sick – I had medical problems. Maybe I needed Medicare or Medicaid or the Affordable Care Act or the children’s health insurance program or planned parenthood. I was sick. And you look after me. I was in prison and you came to visit me. We have a right as members of Congress to visit people who are detained. It’s not just in law. It’s right here in Matthew!”
Then Jeffries leveled a sharp criticism, which he said was not intended to question anyone’s faith, but probably tweaked the deeply religious House speaker who is delivering this bill for a president the minority leader called a “wannabe king”.
“You got some folks in this town, they go to church and they pray – P-R-A-Y – on Sunday,” Jeffries declared, his voice rising as Democrats applauded, “And then come to Congress and prey – P-R-E-Y – on the American people. I’m not down with that kind of faith.”
Jeffries’ ‘magic minute’ speech passes the eight-hour mark
The minority leader’s marathon floor speech has stretched into its eighth hour. Jeffries began speaking shortly before 5am Washington time. If he speaks for roughly another half-hour, he will have set the record for the longest House floor speech.
Late last night, Trump’s bill seemed to be in peril. But over the course of hours, the president and the speaker of the House, Mike Johnson, were able to persuade a group of so-called budget hawks concerned with the fiscal impact of the legislation – the most expensive in a generation that is projected to add at least $3.3tn to the nation’s debt over the next 10 years – to drop their objections.
“We held out as long as we could,” Representative Ralph Norman said on CNBC’s Squawk Box on Thursday morning. The conservative said the president warned him that changing the bill, which would require another vote in the Senate, would only make it worse.
He said Trump offered assurances that his administration would enforce rules for wind or solar projects to qualify for the tax credits under the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act.
“What he’s going to do is use his powers as chief executive to make sure that the companies that apply for solar credits, as an example, he’s going to make sure that they’re doing what they say when they say they’ve started construction,” he said. “He’s going to make sure they’ve done that.”
But the bill the House is voting on is the bill that was sent to them by the Senate – the very one these conservatives railed against – and are now poised to vote for this afternoon.
JD Vance has said an undecided Republican congressman texted to him to say Jeffries’ marathon speech drove him to a “firm yes” on Trump’s domestic policy bill.
Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez shot back on X:
Hmm! Was it @RepGarbarino?
After all, he “fell asleep” and conveniently missed the first vote on this bill.
Did he just wake up and decide to throw Long Island families off their healthcare? Because a speech by a Democrat made him sad? ☹️ https://t.co/I7YHT7DCyB
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) July 3, 2025
During his speech, Jeffries has been appealing to House Republicans with concerns about the legislation to vote against it, naming several who have publicly expressed concern with some of the provisions. Republicans can only afford three defections, with all Democrats opposed.
