House Republicans race toward a final vote on Trump's tax bill, daring
critics to oppose
[July 02, 2025]
By KEVIN FREKING and LISA MASCARO
WASHINGTON (AP) — Republican leaders in the House are sprinting toward a
Wednesday vote on President Donald Trump's tax and spending cuts
package, determined to seize momentum from a hard-fought vote in the
Senate while essentially daring members to defy their party's leader and
vote against it.
“The American people gave us a clear mandate, and after four years of
Democrat failure, we intend to deliver without delay,” the top four
House GOP leaders said Tuesday after the bill passed the Senate 51-50,
thanks to Vice President JD Vance's tiebreaking vote.
It's a risky gambit, one designed to meet Trump's demand for a July 4
finish — and there's a steep climb ahead. Since launching early this
year, Republicans have struggled mightily with the bill nearly
everystepoftheway, often succeeding by only a single vote. Their House
majority stands at only 220-212, leaving little room for defections.
Some Republicans are likely to balk at being asked to rubber stamp the
Senate bill less than 24 hours after passage, having had little time to
read or absorb the changes that were made, many at the last minute to
win the vote of Alaska Sen. Lisa Murkowski.
House Republicans from competitive districts have bristled at the Senate
bill's cuts to Medicaid, while conservatives have lambasted the
legislation as straying from their fiscal goals.
It falls to Speaker Mike Johnson and his team to convince them that the
time for negotiations is over.
Trump pushes Republicans to do ‘the right thing’
The bill would extend and make permanent various individual and business
tax breaks that Republicans passed in Trump's first term, plus
temporarily add new ones that Trump promised during the campaign,
including allowing workers to deduct tips and overtime pay, and provide
a new $6,000 deduction for most older adults. In all, the legislation
contains about $4.5 trillion in tax cuts over 10 years.
The bill also provides some $350 billion for defense and Trump's
immigration crackdown. Republicans partially pay for it all through less
spending on Medicaid and food assistance. The Congressional Budget
Office projects that it will add about $3.3 trillion in federal deficits
over the coming decade.
The House passed its version of the bill back in May, despite worries
about spending cuts and the overall price tag. Now, they are being asked
to give final passage to a version that, in many respects, exacerbates
those concerns. The Senate bill's projected impact on federal deficits,
for example, is significantly higher.
Trump praised the bill profusely in a social media post, saying “We can
have all of this right now, but only if the House GOP UNITES, ignores
its occasional ‘GRANDSTANDERS’ (You know who you are!), and does the
right thing, which is sending this Bill to my desk.”
The high price of opposing Trump's bill
Speaker Johnson, R-La., is intent on meeting the president's July 4
timeline. He's also betting that hesitant Republicans won't cross Trump
because of the heavy political price they would have to pay.
They need only look to Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who announced his
intention to vote against the legislation over the weekend. Soon, the
president was calling for a primary challenger to the senator and
personally attacking him on social media. Tillis quickly announced he
would not seek a third term.
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House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., speaks during a news
conference after passage of the budget reconciliation package of
President Donald Trump's signature bill of big tax breaks and
spending cuts, at the Capitol in Washington, Tuesday, July 1, 2025.
(AP Photo/Mariam Zuhaib)
Others could face a similar fate. One House Republican who has
staked out opposition to the bill, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky,
is already being targeted by Trump's well-funded political
operation.
House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, R-La., said leadership was not
entertaining the possibility of making changes to the bill before
the final vote. He said the two chambers already agree on the vast
majority of what's in it.
“It’s not as easy as saying, ‘hey, I just want one more change,’
because one more change could end up being what collapses the entire
thing,” Scalise said.
Democratic lawmakers, united against the bill as harmful to the
country, condemned the process as rushed. Rep. Jim McGovern,
D-Mass., said there’s no real deadline for getting the bill passed
by July 4th.
“We’re rushing not because the country demands it, but because he
wants to throw himself another party,” McGovern said. “This isn’t
policy. It’s ego management.”
Democrats warn health care, food aid are being ripped away
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries described the bill in dire
terms, saying that cuts in Medicaid spending would result in
“Americans losing their lives because of their inability to access
health care coverage.” He said Republicans are “literally ripping
the food out of the mouths of children, veterans and seniors.”
“House Democrats are going to do everything we can for the next few
hours, today, tomorrow, for the balance of this week and beyond to
stop this bill from ever becoming law,” Jeffries said.
Republicans say they are trying to rightsize the safety net programs
for the population they were initially designed to serve, mainly
pregnant women, the disabled and children, and root out what they
describe as waste, fraud and abuse.
The package includes new 80-hour-a-month work requirements for many
adults receiving Medicaid and applies existing work requirements in
the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to more beneficiaries.
States will also pick up more of the cost for food benefits, with
the amount based on their payment error rates, which include both
underpayments and overpayments.
The driving force behind the bill, however, is the tax cuts. Many
expire at the end of this year if Congress doesn't act.
“Passing this bill means smaller tax bills and bigger paychecks for
the American people — permanently,” said Senate Majority Leader John
Thune. “It will also help get our economy firing on all cylinders
again.”
The Tax Policy Center, which provides nonpartisan analysis of tax
and budget policy, projected the bill would result next year in a
$150 tax break for the lowest quintile of Americans, a $1,750 tax
cut for the middle quintile, and a $10,950 tax cut for the top
quintile. That's compared to what they'd face if the 2017 tax cuts
expired.
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Associated Press writer Joey Cappelletti contributed to this report.
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