House Republicans pass Trump's big bill of tax breaks and program cuts
after all-night session
[May 22, 2025]
By LISA MASCARO, KEVIN FREKING and LEAH ASKARINAM
WASHINGTON (AP) — House Republicans stayed up all night to pass their
multitrillion-dollar tax breaks package, with Speaker Mike Johnson
defying the skeptics and unifying his ranks to muscle President Donald
Trump's priority bill to approval Thursday.
With last-minute concessions and stark warnings from Trump, the
Republican holdouts largely dropped their opposition to salvage the “One
Big Beautiful Bill” that's central to the GOP agenda. The House launched
debate before midnight and by sunrise the vote was called, 215-214, with
Democrats staunchly opposed. It next goes to the Senate.
“To put it simply, this bill gets Americans back to winning again," said
Johnson, R-La, just before the vote.
The outcome caps an intense time on Capitol Hill, with days of private
negotiations and public committee hearings, many happening back-to-back,
around-the-clock. Republicans insisted their sprawling 1,000-page-plus
package was what voters sent them to Congress — and Trump to the White
House — to accomplish. They believe it will be “rocket fuel,” as one put
it during debate, for the uneasy U.S. economy.
Trump himself demanded action, visiting House Republicans at Tuesday's
conference meeting and hosting GOP leaders and the holdouts for a
lengthy session Wednesday at the White House. Before the vote, the
administration warned in a pointed statement that “failure to pass this
bill would be the ultimate betrayal.”
Central to the package is the GOP's commitment to extending some $4.5
trillion in tax breaks they engineered during Trump’s first term in
2017, while adding new ones he campaigned on during his 2024 campaign,
including no taxes on tips, overtime pay, car loan interest and others.
To make up for some of the lost tax revenue, the Republicans focused on
changes to Medicaid and the food stamps program, largely by imposing
work requirements on many of those receiving benefits. There's also a
massive rollback of green energy tax breaks from the Biden-era Inflation
Reduction Act.
Additionally, the package tacks on $350 billion in new spending, with
about $150 billion going to the Pentagon, including for the president’s
new “ Golden Dome” defense shield, and the rest for Trump’s mass
deportation and border security agenda.
All told, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates 8.6
million fewer people would have health care coverage and 3 million less
people a month would have SNAP food stamps benefits with the proposed
changes.
The CBO said the tax provisions would increase federal deficits by $3.8
trillion over the decade, while the changes to Medicaid, food stamps and
other services would tally $1 trillion in reduced spending. The
lowest-income households in the U.S. would see their resources drop,
while the highest ones would see a boost, it said.
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York read letters from
Americans describing the way the program cuts would hurt them. "This is
one big ugly bill,” he said.
As the minority, without the votes to stop Trump's package, Democrats
instead offered up impassioned speeches and procedural moves to stall
its advance. As soon as the House floor reopened for debate, the
Democrats forced a vote to adjourn. It failed.
In “the dark of night they want to pass this GOP tax scam,” said Rep.
Pete Aguilar, D-Calif.
Other Democrats called it a “big, bad bill” or a “big, broken promise.”
Pulling the package together and pushing it to passage has been an
enormous political lift for Johnson, with few votes to spare from his
slim GOP majority whose rank-and-file Republicans have conflicting
priorities of their own.
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Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., speaks during a news
conference at the Capitol, Tuesday, May 20, 2025, in Washington. (AP
Photo/Rod Lamkey, Jr.)
Conservatives, particularly from the Freedom Caucus, held out for
steeper spending cuts to defray costs piling onto the nation's $36
trillion debt.
At the same time, more moderate and centrist GOP lawmakers were wary
of the changes to Medicaid that could result in lost health care for
their constituents. And some worried the phaseout of the renewable
energy tax breaks will impede businesses using them to invest in
green energy projects in many states.
One big problem had been the costly deal with GOP lawmakers from New
York and other high-tax states to quadruple the $10,000 deduction
for state and local taxes, called SALT, to $40,000 for incomes up to
$500,000, which was included in the final product.
For every faction Johnson tried to satisfy, another would roar in
opposition.
Late in the night, GOP leaders unveiled a 42-page amendment with a
number of revisions.
The changes included speedier implementation of the Medicaid work
requirements, which will begin in December 2026, rather than January
2029, and a faster roll back of the production tax credits for clean
electricity projects, both sought by the conservatives.
Also tucked into the final version were some unexpected additions —
including a $12 billion fund for the Department of Homeland Security
to reimburse states that help federal officials with deportations
and border security.
And in a nod to Trump's influence, the Republicans renamed a
proposed new children’s savings program after the president,
changing it from MAGA accounts — money account for growth and
advancement — to simply “Trump” accounts.
Rep. Erin Houchin, R-Ind., said Americans shouldn’t believe the dire
predictions from Democrats about the impact of the bill. “We can
unlock the ‘Golden Age’ of America,” she said, echoing the
president’s own words.
By early morning hours, the chief holdouts appeared to be falling in
line. Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., said they “got some improvements.”
But Republican, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, a deficit watcher
who had been publicly criticized by Trump, remained unmoved. “This
bill is a debt bomb ticking,” he warned.
Final analysis of the overall package's costs and economic impacts
are still being assessed.
Along with extending existing tax breaks, it would increase the
standard income tax deduction, to $32,000 for joint filers, and
boost the child tax credit to $2,500. There would be an enhanced
deduction, of $4,000, for older adults of certain income levels, to
help defray taxes on Social Security income.
To cut spending, those seeking Medicaid health care, who are
able-bodied adults without dependents, would need to fulfill 80
hours a month on a job or in other community activities.
Similarly, to receive food stamps through SNAP, those up to age 64,
rather than 54, who are able-bodied and without dependents, would
need to meet the 80 hours a month work or community engagement
requirements. Additionally, some parents of children older than 7
years old would need to fulfill the work requirements.
Republicans said they want to root out waste, fraud and abuse in the
federal programs.
_
Associated Press writers Matt Brown and Joey Cappelletti contributed
to this report.
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