While most of the United States was asleep, House Republicans delivered a major win for President Donald Trump’s agenda, passing the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” by a razor-thin margin of 215-214.
The landmark legislation extends the 2017 tax cuts, bolsters border security, and rolls back Joe Biden’s wasteful green energy policies.
Despite unified Democrat opposition and some Republican holdouts, Speaker Mike Johnson successfully navigated the bill through the House just before the Memorial Day recess.
The 1,000-page bill is a key part of President Trump’s second-term agenda. It addresses critical tax, defense, and energy priorities that Americans have demanded.
After weeks of intense negotiations and last-minute amendments, Johnson managed to secure just enough votes from both moderate and conservative wings of the party to move the legislation forward.
Johnson’s leadership was crucial in getting the bill across the finish line:
“Nothing in Congress is ever easy, especially when you have small margins, but we are going to land this plane and deliver this and we’re proud of what we’ve accomplished together. Every member of the conference can be proud of this legislation in the end. It’s truly [a] nation-shaping piece of legislation.”
The bill includes several key conservative priorities: extending the 2017 Trump tax cuts, allocating $12 billion for border security, implementing work requirements for Medicaid recipients, and eliminating many of Biden’s failed green energy tax incentives.
It also amends the National Firearms Act to remove the tax on silencers, a win for Second Amendment supporters.
“If you vote no, you’re voting against American energy, you’re voting against securing America’s border, you’re voting against helping those middle-class families,” Majority Leader Steve Scalise told his Republican colleagues ahead of the vote.
Democrats predictably voted in lockstep against the bill, with Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries calling it a “reckless, regressive and reprehensible GOP tax scam.”
President Trump personally intervened to ensure passage, warning Republican holdouts that opposition would be a “betrayal” of their constituents.
His direct involvement included a key White House meeting with Johnson and right-wing holdouts that ultimately secured enough votes for passage.
“To our friends in the Senate, I would just say, the president is waiting with his pen,” Johnson declared after the victory, signaling to Senate Republicans that they should quickly move the legislation forward.
The bill faces challenges in the Senate, where some Republicans have already expressed concerns about certain provisions.
GOP leaders are using the budget reconciliation process to bypass a Democrat filibuster, but will need to address individual senators’ concerns to maintain party unity.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent has emphasized the urgency of addressing the debt limit by mid-July to prevent a default, adding further pressure on the Senate to act quickly on the bill.
Johnson has ambitiously set July 4th as the target date for getting the bill to President Trump’s desk.
Despite the narrow victory, this legislation represents a crucial first step in implementing the president’s agenda to put America back on track after years of Democrat mismanagement and wasteful spending.
