Republicans advance Trump tax-cut Bill, opening way for debate
's flagship tax and spending Bill moved closer to final Congressional approval on Thursday after Republican holdouts in the House of Representatives agreed to advance the legislation.
The rebellion by a handful of members of Mr Trump's own party held up the Bill's progress for several hours, but the House finally voted 219-213 to take the legislation to a final vote later on Thursday.
'We have the votes,' Mike Johnson, the speaker of the House, told reporters. 'We're still going to meet the deadline.'
The legislation, which Mr Trump dubs the 'big, beautiful Bill', extends vast tax cuts from his first administration, paid for in part by steep cuts to Medicaid, the public health insurance scheme for low-income and disabled Americans, and other social welfare programmes.
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The Bill would also roll back
Joe Biden
-era tax credits for clean energy, while increasing investment in the military and border protection.
With a narrow majority in the House, Republicans can only afford to lose three votes on the Bill.
Mr Trump, who has set a deadline of July 4th to sign the Bill into law, earlier lashed out at the Republican holdouts on his Truth Social network.
'Largest Tax Cuts in History and a Booming Economy vs. Biggest Tax Increase in History, and a Failed Economy. What are the Republicans waiting for??? What are you trying to prove??? MAGA IS NOT HAPPY, AND IT'S COSTING YOU VOTES!!!,' Mr Trump said.
On Wednesday, Mr Trump met privately at the White House with Republican dissidents to prevent them from torpedoing the Bill.
Several conservative and centrist Republican lawmakers have raised concerns about the legislation that was approved by the Senate this week.
Some are unhappy that the Bill — which implements a big chunk of Mr Trump's domestic agenda — does not go far enough to rein in the US debt, or cut back clean energy subsidies. Others are worried about cuts to healthcare programmes.
A version of the sweeping legislation was narrowly passed in the Senate after three Republicans sided with Democrats against the Bill, forcing US vice-president JD Vance to cast a tie-breaking vote.
That sent the legislation back to the House, which must approve the Bill before Mr Trump signs it into law. An earlier version of the legislation passed the House by a single vote in May.
Fiscally conservative lawmakers, including many Freedom Caucus members, object to the cost of the legislation, which the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) says will add $3.4 trillion to the deficit over the next decade. The group has circulated a three-page memo detailing what it described as 'failures' of the Senate Bill.
More moderate members have argued that the cuts to Medicaid, which would strip an estimated 12 million people of their health insurance, are too steep.
The White House has dismissed the CBO's projections and argued that the Bill would more than pay for itself in the long term by generating stronger economic growth. - Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2025
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