Trump's ‘Big, Beautiful Bill' Heads to Senate, Where New Fights Loom
WASHINGTON—President Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' squeezed through the House after a late scramble to get rival factions on board. Next it goes to the Senate, where GOP lawmakers are already making demands and party leaders will once again need to bridge sharp disagreements.
The more than 1,000-page bill passed the House early Thursday morning after Speaker Mike Johnson (R., La.) found a recipe that satisfied just enough lawmakers, approving the measure by just one vote after an all-night session. Now Senate Republican leader John Thune needs to line up enough support within his own narrow majority—without making changes that fracture the fragile House agreement and derail the party's hopes to finish the bill by its July 4 target.
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Stephen Miller Breaks Silence With ‘Pork' Prod at Elon Musk
Stephen Miller has broken his silence after Elon Musk turned on his billionaire bestie, Donald Trump. The deputy chief of staff, usually a prolific social media poster, had been silent for hours online after the volcanic fall out between the two men, despite social media erupting with Musk's bombshell allegations including a claim that the president was named in the Jeffrey Epstein files. It comes as Miller's wife, Katie, followed Elon Musk out of the White House and DOGE duties last month, reportedly for a new job working with the tech billionaire. While Miller did not tag Musk or mention any of the billionaire's personal claims about Trump in a belated Thursday night post, he instead took a jab by referencing a comment made by the 53-year-old earlier this week. 'The only 'new' spending in the bill is to defend the homeland and deport the illegals—paid for by raising visa fees. All the other provisions? Massive spending cuts. There is no 'pork' in the bill. Just campaign promises," Miller wrote. Miller was quoting a pointed comment made by Musk which claimed Trump's bill is a 'massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill,' adding it 'is a disgusting abomination.' The Trump confidante followed the veiled comment with another late-night post that read, 'Still trying to figure out what the objection is to a bill that combines record tax cuts with record spending cuts with record deportations.' Miller's relative silence on the issue was in stark contract with his flurry of posts throughout the week as the Musk and Trump drama boiled over, and the Trump adviser went on a posting spree in an attempt to save the bill's reputation. Miller also pulled out on a scheduled appearance on Larry Kudlow's Fox News show on Thursday afternoon, with the host apologizing for him. 'We lost Mr Miller to a meeting in the Oval Office,' Kudlow said. 'Perfectly understandable, when I was in government it would happen all the time, you'd have to kill a TV show, you're at the president's beck and call.' Miller then appeared in a White House discussion alongside Senior White House officials Taylor Budowich, Russ Vought and James Braid discuss Trump's 'big, beautiful bill.' The half-hour YouTube video was posted Thursday night, with Miller the first to speak. 'The most important thing in politics in American is honoring the promises you make to the American people, the sacred trust between the voter and the man they elect, in this case the president of the United States,' Miller said, noting the president made numerous promises on the campaign trail that 'are codified in this legislation.' Miller reposted numerous videos uploaded from the discussion to X by the White House's Rapid Response team. Musk earlier unfollowed Miller's account on X on Thursday, in an unfollowing spree that also included right-wing media personality Charlie Kirk. Appearing on Kirk's podcast on Thursday, Kirk said to Miller, 'I want you to say again that this would be one of the greatest legislative accomplishments in Republican party history.' Miller began the interview by telling Kirk, 'You've been such a critical element of the success of the MAGA movement. I hope your audience appreciates how much we appreciate you.' The interview descended into both men talking up the 'big beautiful bill.' 'If Ronald Reagan had just done no tax on tips, they'd still be giving speeches today about it at the Reagan Library,' Miller claimed. 'There'd be whole statues, there'd be museum displays, they'd have entire industries built off just telling the story of when Reagan did no tax on tips. Isn't that right Charlie?" The 30-minute discussion did not mention Elon Musk calling the bill a 'disgusting abomination' or his wife Katie's employment status. Miller did say he was 'optimistic' the bill would be passed 'because I have faith in the power of the Trump voter.'
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House, Senate dispense with other priority bills
On a busy final day of regular legislative business, the New Hampshire House of Representatives and state Senate acted on some major bills including a permanent expansion of Education Freedom Accounts (EFA) along with a bell-to-bell ban on cellphone use in New Hampshire public schools. There were a few hiccups Thursday as the House of Representatives voted overwhelmingly to set aside a Senate-passed bill (SB 54) that would impose more penalties on motorists accused of driving drunk who refused to submit to a blood alcohol test. State Rep. Terry Roy, R-Deerfield, had convinced the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee he chairs to add to the bill a proposed mandate that K-12 schools offer at least one hour a year of firearms training. Without debate, the House voted 256-106 to table the bill, effectively killing it for the year. State Sen. Victoria Sullivan, R-Manchester, authored the EFA expansion (SB 295) that has now passed both the House and the Senate. Currently, EFAs are only available to families that make up to 350% of the federal poverty level, which is just above $100,000 for a family of four. The bill would eliminate the income limit but place an initial enrollment cap of 10,000 students; presently abut 5,400 are enrolled. The Senate still has to agree with changes that the House made to the bill on Thursday before passing it, 190-178. Sen. Glenn Cordelli, R-Tuftonboro, said EFAs have been very popular among middle class New Hampshire families. But Rep. Kate Murray, D-New Castle, said this expansion will cost the state at least $17 million more a year and she said the public at large doesn't like EFAs. 'Between the thousands of emails and online sign-ins against this bill, and warrant articles passed in communities throughout the state, the public has repeatedly expressed its strong disapproval of the voucher program,' Murray said. 'Instead of listening to the people we were elected to represent, Republicans voted to raise taxes to expand an unpopular program to that subsidizes wealthier households whose students are already in private schools.' Cellphone ban The House gave final approval to the cellphone ban (SB 206) that would direct all school boards to adopt policies that prevent student access throughout the school day. Earlier this year, the House and the Senate approved separate, more limiting bills that merely directed local officials to adopt the plans to deal with the issue. Gov. Kelly Ayotte urged the Senate to approve the House plan, which was similar to what the governor proposed in her budget last February. 'Screens are distraction for students and a barrier for teachers to do their jobs. A bell-to-bell ban on cellphones in the classroom will help kids focus on learning and let teachers do what they do best without being the phone police,' Ayotte said in a statement. 'I'm glad to see the House pass this today and thank them for taking action to help deliver a best-in-class education for all of New Hampshire's students.' In another mild surprise, the House voted 170-168 against legislation to move the state primary election from September to June in time for the 2026 election. Last March, the House had approved a different bill to make that change but to not have it begin until 2028. Rep. Matt Wilhelm, D-Manchester, said state and local election officials along with the candidates need more time to cope with the change. House Election Laws Committee Ross Berry, R-Manchester, had said there was still time to act, but the House narrowly disagreed. 'OK, I guess it's 2028,' Berry said in response. The state Senate has yet to approve the House-passed bill (HB 481) to move the primary for the 2028 election. klandrigan@
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State budget rolls through Republican-led Senate
It took four hours of debate over 20 amendments, but a $15.4 billion two-year state budget proposal easily cleared the state Senate Thursday. Senate Finance Committee Chairman James Gray, R-Rochester, said his committee's proudest achievement is the reversal of more than $160 million in unpopular cuts made by the House of Representatives to Medicaid providers and those relying on community mental health and developmental disability services. 'We made some tough choices with limited resources,' Gray said. Relying on rosier estimates for future state revenues, the Senate proposal spends nearly $250 million more than the House's. Senate Democratic Leader Rebecca Perkins Kwoka of Portsmouth praised the Senate Republicans for making those changes, but she said working families are hurt in other parts of the budget, which imposes new health care premiums for some families on Medicaid, raids an eight-figure surplus in the state's renewable energy fund and fails to include any new spending for housing. Perkins Kwoka said the state's fiscal problems are the result of Republican governors and legislators voting for repeated cuts in business and unearned income taxes that robbed the state treasury of money it could now use to pay for programs. 'Let's be clear: This is not magically a tight budget year,' Perkins Kwoka said. The Senate passed the spending bill (HB 1) on a 15-9 vote with only Sen. Keith Murphy, R-Manchester, breaking ranks to oppose the measure along with the eight Senate Democrats. Fellow Manchester Republican Sen. Victoria Sullivan joined Murphy and all the Democrats opposing the trailer bill to the state budget (HB 2) that makes the necessary changes in state law to implement the budget; it passed the Senate, 14-10. Senate President Sharon Carson, R-Londonderry, said Senate Democrats had proposed $168 million in higher spending with no corresponding cuts in other parts of the budget. 'This isn't a perfect budget; we have never had a perfect budget, but this is a budget that works for the people of New Hampshire,' Carson said. Democrats targeted EFAs Nearly half of the amendments Senate Democrats tried to make Thursday would have eliminated the expansion of Education Freedom Accounts. If signed into law, the measure would remove income restrictions on eligibility for these taxpayer-paid grants for private, religious, alternative public or home school programs. Sullivan said her family has used EFAs since the Legislature created the program in 2021 and she expressed doubt that the very wealthy would bother seeking what critics call school vouchers. 'There is the middle-class families that are usually not mentioned … the ones who pay all the bills for the state and municipalities and get nothing back,' Sullivan said. 'They do all the paying and this allows them to use their taxpayer money for their own children's education.' Senate Deputy Democratic Leader Cindy Rosenwald said other states that made these vouchers universal ended up with large budget deficits. YDC settlements The Senate rejected an attempt to increase by $50 million spending on settlements for victims of alleged sexual or physical abuse at its youth detention centers. The House set aside $20 million more to the $165 million that lawmakers have already directed to the settlement fund. The Senate budget adds $20 million as well but also would earmark for the fund the proceeds from the sale of the Sununu Youth Services Center in Manchester. State officials estimate that could raise $80 million. Senate Deputy Democratic Leader Cindy Rosenwald said the state can't sell the Sununu Center until construction is complete on a new, treatment-oriented replacement on the grounds of the former Hampstead Hospital. Chuck Miles, a Youth Development Center abuse survivor who works with Justice for YDC Victims, an advocacy group, said the Senate budget falls short. 'The budget passed by the Senate would be devastating for the YDC Settlement Fund and would break the promises made to the victims of horrendous abuse while in the care of the state,' Miles said. 'Survivors came forward with courage, opting for a settlement process over the courtroom to seek closure, accountability and justice, but by falling woefully short on funding and removing the fund's independence, the state is essentially telling victims 'see you in court,'' he said. Landfill regulation The Senate voted 14-9 against an amendment from Sen. David Rochefort, R-Littleton, that tried to remove from the trailer bill changes to the landfill law that will allow a site evaluation committee to declare a 'public benefit' for a new or expanded commercial landfill in the state. 'The potential with this language is to undo local control,' Rochefort said. Sen. Denise Ricciardi, R-Bedford, joined Rochefort in voting for the amendment while Sen. David Watters, D-Dover, joined the rest of the Republicans voting against it. What's Next: The House and Senate next week will name members to a conference committee to be charged with working out differences between their competing budget bills. Prospects: This issue is far from resolved as it's unclear if the GOP-led House will be willing to accept a final compromise that spends much more money than it budgeted. klandrigan@
