Trump’s Ambitious Bill Faces House Hurdles After Narrow Senate Win
Washington: President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act, a sweeping legislative package central to his second-term agenda, narrowly passed the U.S. Senate on Tuesday with a 51-50 vote, with Vice President JD Vance breaking the tie. The nearly 1,000-page bill, which aims to make Trump’s 2017 tax cuts permanent, eliminate taxes on tips and overtime, and increase standard deductions, faced a grueling 24-hour Senate session, including a record-breaking “vote-a-rama. Despite securing support from key holdouts like Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who gained protections for her state, opposition came from Senators Thom Tillis, Rand Paul, and Susan Collins, who cited concerns over steep Medicaid cuts and a projected $3 trillion to $4.5 trillion deficit increase.
In the House, Speaker Mike Johnson now confronts significant resistance as he pushes to meet Trump’s July 4 deadline for passage. With a slim Republican majority, 16 moderate Republicans oppose the bill’s Medicaid cuts, while fiscal conservatives like Representative Chip Roy of Texas, who called the Senate version “unacceptable” on X, argue the spending reductions fall short. The bill’s proposed cuts to Medicaid, SNAP, and clean energy tax credits have drawn sharp Democratic criticism, with Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer forcing a full reading of the 940-page document to highlight its rushed process.
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The White House, backed by Trump’s vocal support on Truth Social for Senators Rick Scott, Mike Lee, and Cynthia Lummis, is pressing for swift House approval. However, opposition from influential figures like Elon Musk, who labeled the bill “utterly insane” on X, and logistical challenges from East Coast storms delaying lawmakers’ travel, complicate the path forward. As the House prepares for a potential Wednesday vote, Johnson must navigate internal GOP divisions and Democratic objections, led by Schumer and Senator Bernie Sanders, to secure passage and deliver Trump’s Independence Day legislative goal.
