In closely watched vote, Fong and Valadao vote for 'One Big Beautiful Bill Act'

Yahoo

6 days ago

Following an overnight session, the U.S. House of Representatives passed the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," a massive piece of legislation containing several priorities for Republicans and the Trump administration.
The bill — which only passed the House by one vote — would extend tax cuts enacted by the Trump administration in 2017; enact work requirements for certain federal aid programs; and increase defense spending among a host of other provisions included in the more than 1,000-page bill.
The bill's passage was met with praise by Republican leadership, including President Donald Trump, who said the legislation was fulfilling the administration's promises to the American people.
"Thank you to every Republican who voted YES on this Historic Bill! Now, it's time for our friends in the United States Senate to get to work," President Donald Trump posted on social media.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, spent the past week in tense negotiations with several Republican caucuses with opposition to various provisions in the bill, according to the Associated Press. President Trump met with House Republicans in the days before the vote, urging them to pass the legislation.
In the end, only two Republicans voted against the bill, though another cast no vote and two lawmakers were absent.
"To put it simply, this bill gets Americans back to winning again," Johnson said.
Kern County's representatives
Both of Kern County's House members, Vince Fong of Bakersfield and David Valadao of Hanford, both Republicans, voted for the bill.
"After four years of skyrocketing prices and crippling national debt under the Biden administration, Americans gave Washington a mandate to take our country in a new direction. That is exactly what this bill does," Fong said in a news release.
"With the passage of this bill here in the House, we are one step closer to rebuilding the American Dream for hardworking families in the Central Valley and across the country," Fong said.
Some of the bill's provisions highlighted by Fong include making permanent the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act; $144 billion in defense spending; and $60 billion in support for farmers and ranchers.
Fong's vote for the bill had widely been taken for granted, as California's 20th Congressional District is solidly Republican and the representative has been a vocal supporter of the president.
But Valadao's 22nd District seat is considered one of the most vulnerable in the state, if not the nation, and his office has been the target of several well-funded pressure campaigns by Democrats and aligned groups urging a vote against the bill.
Those groups have largely focused on the potential threats to Medicaid, known in California as Medi-Cal, and for weeks a series of demonstrations has focused on Valadao.
Since Monday, protesters have demonstrated daily outside his Bakersfield office, on Tuesday holding a mock funeral for the health care program.
Valadao — whose district has the highest number of Medicaid enrollees in the state — had long said he would not vote for a bill that doesn't strengthen Medicaid and other critical programs such as the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, or SNAP.
In his statement, Valadao said he had fulfilled that promise.
"After months of meetings with my constituents, Central Valley healthcare providers, and my congressional colleagues, I successfully preserved the integrity of the program and prevented proposals that would disproportionately impact California," Valadao said in a statement.
"This bill honors my commitment to protect Medicaid for our most vulnerable populations, while implementing commonsense reforms to strengthen the program," he said.
Valadao also praised the bill's tax measures, which he said would help working families.
"More than 90 percent of my constituents rely on the standard deduction, and this legislation preserves the provisions that doubled it," Valadao said. "It also expands the Child Tax Credit, eliminates taxes on tips and on overtime, and enhances deductions for seniors. These are real wins that will put more money back in the pockets of hardworking Central Valley families."
Democrats' reaction
Across the aisle, Democrats and their allies were swift in their condemnation of the bill and the Republicans who voted for it.
Assemblywoman Dr. Jasmeet Bains, D-Delano, a practicing physician, went so far as to introduce a resolution at the state level to formally censure all nine members of California's Republican Congressional Delegation for voting for the bill.
"We send representatives to Washington, D.C. to fight for California,' Bains said in a news release. "Instead of standing up for us, our Republican delegation sold us out. No state in the nation is harmed more by Trump's Big Ugly Lie. The Negligent Nine betrayed California, putting loyalty to Trump and their political party above the 40 million residents of the greatest state in the union."
In Bakersfield, local activists said they're weren't surprised by the vote.
"The fact that Valadao feels as if he needs to vote and follow his party tells me that he was probably threatened by Trump and by (Elon) Musk," said Neel Sannappa, an organizer with the progressive Working Families Party.
"That they would highly fund a challenger on the right to him, and that he felt as if he needed to do this in order to stay in power," Sannappa said.
For the past week, Sannappa and other activists have been protesting daily outside Valadao's Bakersfield office and on Monday he and a few other demonstrators began fasting as a form of protest.
On Thursday, Alicia Huerta, an employee with the Dolores Huerta Foundation, said she was on hour 60 of her fast, which she and others planned to break at midday Friday.
"It was just very disheartening and I don't think Valadao cares about the working community at all," Huerta said. "He just cares about that seat and having it and making sure that he's protecting those with money in the valley."
Democrats have claimed for months that Republicans were trying to slash Medicaid and other social safety net programs in order to pay for tax cuts that would disproportionately benefit wealthier earners.
"Medi-Cal and SNAP, those were meant to help people at their most dire need," Huerta said. "These are working people that lose their jobs or people that are with disabilities. And those programs are meant exactly for that; when you're not working and when you're in dire need that this is to help you get through until you find your next job."
Program changes
According to AP, the bill would reduce spending on SNAP by about $267 billion over 10 years. The bill also increases work requirements for aid recipients, raising the work requirement for able-bodied adults without children from 54 to 65, and lowering the work requirement for parents with children under 18 to children under 7.
The bill would also reduce Medicaid spending by $700 billion by adding additional work requirements.
Starting Dec. 31, 2026, there would be new 'community engagement requirements' of at least 80 hours per month of work, education or service for able-bodied adults without dependents. People would also have to verify their eligibility for the program twice a year, rather than just once.
A preliminary estimate of the impacts of the bill by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimate the changes could result in 8.6 million people losing their health care through 2034.
In a news release, Fong's office said the revision "restores integrity to Medicaid, SNAP, and other essential safety net programs by rooting out waste and strengthening them for those they are intended to serve — our nation's most vulnerable."
To the Senate
The bill now heads to a similarly narrowly divided Senate, where several Republican lawmakers have already expressed skepticism, if not outright opposition, to the bill.
Kentucky Republican Sen. Rand Raul told reporters he was "a hard 'no'" on the bill as written.
In addition to the universal opposition to the bill from Democrats, several Republicans have been critical of the bill for adding to the country's budget deficit. According to a CBO analysis, the bill would increase the federal deficit by $3.8 trillion.
One of only two Republicans to vote against the bill, Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Kentucky, called the bill a "debt bomb ticking."
"I'd love to stand here and tell the American people, we can cut your taxes and we can increase spending and everything's going to be just fine. But I can't do that because I'm here to deliver a dose of reality," Massie said on the House floor.
Looking to 2026
Outside Valadao's Bakersfield office, Sannappa said the bill would have a harder time in the Senate, but said the president and his allies have been willing to pressure reluctant lawmakers.
"They could do anything at this point, especially because they have the billionaires 100% on their side like Musk, who's ready to put millions to billions of dollars into political campaigns, into (political action committees)."
Democrats have their own cadre of reliable donors, including billionaires, and in the past two elections in California's 22nd District, millions of dollars have poured into both candidates' coffers, largely from donors outside the district.
According to the Federal Elections Commission, in the 2024 election Valadao's campaign raised $4.9 million while Democratic challenger Rudy Salas raised $6.5 million. The Sacramento Bee reported last month nearly $1 million worth of donations to Valadao's campaign came from Musk's America PAC, though there was no evidence of meetings between the two.
Valadao has held his Congressional seat since 2012 with the exception of one term from 2019-2021 when the Hanford Republican was ousted by Fresno Democrat T.J. Cox. Many observers have attributed that loss to Valadao's 2017 vote to repeal the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare.
So far, only one candidate has officially challenged Valadao for his seat: Visalia school board member and progressive Democrat Randy Villegas.
Salas, a former state lawmaker who lost to Valadao in 2022 and 2024, has filed paperwork with the FEC to run again but has not committed to doing so.