Mike Johnson readies House vote on Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' amid warring GOP factions
The Senate passed the bill after a marathon weekend session, which included Democrats forcing a read-through of the entire 940-page text. Vice President JD Vance cast the tie-breaking vote.
The bill first passed the House in late May by just one vote – and Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., will have a margin of just three Republicans to advance it again.
Both moderate and conservative House Republicans still had various concerns about the bill as of the weekend, but it's not immediately clear if it will be enough to force GOP leaders to pause their ambitious timeline of getting the bill to the president's desk by Fourth of July.
"The House will work quickly to pass the One Big Beautiful Bill that enacts President Trump's full America First agenda by the Fourth of July. The American people gave us a clear mandate, and after four years of Democrat failure, we intend to deliver without delay," House GOP leaders said ina joint statement.
"This bill is President Trump's agenda, and we are making it law. House Republicans are ready to finish the job and put the One Big Beautiful Bill on President Trump's desk in time for Independence Day."
House GOP leadership held a brief call with lawmakers on Saturday to discuss their expectations on the timing of the bill, while also urging them to air concerns about the bill with their Senate counterparts directly – rather than on social media.
Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said lawmakers would be asked to return with 48 hours' notice, noting that Tuesday or Wednesday looked more likely than a Monday callback, Fox News Digital was told.
That was when the Senate was expected to begin considering the bill with a vote on whether to proceed with the debate set for 4 p.m. ET, however. The chamber began the vote at 7:31 p.m. ET and passed it just after 11 p.m.
Since then, House leaders have signaled to lawmakers that votes could begin as early as 9 a.m. on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., and his team began taking temperatures in the House GOP conference remotely on Sunday, even as the Senate still considered the bill.
"We want to get on this as soon as possible, so be prepared," Emmer told lawmakers, Fox News Digital was told.
But a source familiar with whip team operations told Fox News Digital on Sunday that conservative fiscal hawks had concerns about the Senate's version of the bill, particularly after the parliamentarian said key provisions must be stripped out.
Republicans are using the budget reconciliation process to fast-track a massive bill advancing Trump's agenda on taxes, the border, defense, energy and the national debt.
Budget reconciliation allows the party in power to sideline opposition – in this case, Democrats – by lowering the Senate's threshold for passage from 60 votes to 51. But the legislation must adhere to certain guidelines, including only adding measures that deal with the federal budget or national debt.
The parliamentarian is a non-partisan, unelected Senate staffer who helps guide the chamber through its complex procedures. The parliamentarian is chosen by the Senate majority leader, without term limits, and is typically selected from someone already working in the parliamentarian's office due to their deep knowledge of its mechanisms.
Measures deemed non-germane to the final bill included a provision banning Medicaid funding from covering transgender medical services and a measure aimed at slashing funding to states that allow illegal immigrants to use Medicaid services.
But the Senate made its own changes to the House bill even without the parliamentarian's input; the Senate added a $25 billion rural hospital fund to offset concerns from Senate Republicans about Medicaid cuts still in the bill.
A provision was also added late Saturday morning that raised tax deductions for whale hunters, an apparent bid to court Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, who had various concerns about the bill.
The Senate bill would also increase the debt limit by $5 trillion, compared to the House bill's $4 trillion. The U.S. debt is currently over $36 trillion.
House Freedom Caucus Policy Chair Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, wrote a lengthy post on X listing his issues with the bill.
"The Senate BBB has a deficit problem. 1) CBO shows the Senate bill misses the House framework by $651 billion EXCLUDING interest. Even adjusted for dynamic growth revenues - interest in light of front-loaded cost vs. backloaded savings lifts cost to $1.3 Trillion," he began.
Among his other issues were the debt limit increase and the added benefit aimed at Alaska.
"There remain numerous substantive problems - from illegals on benefits to funding sex change operations, no REINS Act regulatory relied," he posted.
Rep. Greg Steube, R-Fla., said on "Fox Report" on Sunday, "If it does pass to Senate and come over with those significant changes, it changes the framework that we agreed upon in the House from a spending perspective."
"When you do that, there are a lot of us that are going to have pause because we're not cutting as much spending as we wanted to cut previously because of decisions that the parliamentarian has made. So it's going be challenging," Steube said.
Meanwhile, multiple House GOP moderates are threatening to vote "no" over Medicaid cuts – specifically, changes that would shift a greater cost burden onto states that expanded their Medicaid populations under Obamacare.
A source close to Rep. Young Kim, R-Calif., told Fox News Digital that she would vote against the bill if the Senate did not adhere to the House's Medicaid language on Saturday.
Rep. David Valadao, R-Calif., said in a public written statement, "I've been clear from the start that I will not support a final reconciliation bill that makes harmful cuts to Medicaid, puts critical funding at risk, or threatens the stability of healthcare providers across [California's 22nd Congressional district]."
"I urge my Senate colleagues to stick to the Medicaid provisions in H.R.1 – otherwise, I will vote no," Valadao wrote.
On the lawmaker-only call Saturday, both Johnson and Scalise urged Republicans to keep their negotiations and concerns about the bill private.
"They're not going to be reading your social media, so putting it there doesn't help. You need to reach out to them directly, they're in the thick of it," Johnson said, Fox News Digital was told.
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