ABC was surprisingly the only major broadcast network to break in Thursday afternoon for a special report on the House passage of President Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill, which he’s slated to sign into law Friday. What was unsurprising, however, was the ABC presented a wholly negative perspective declaring the bill was to “mostly” benefit “the wealthiest Americans” while stating as though it’s a done deal that “an estimated 11.8 million Americans” will “lose their health care.”
Weekend Good Morning America co-host and Saturday World News Tonight anchor Whit Johnson helmed the ABC News Special Report, sharing the bill’s final pssage came after Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) having “worked around the clock to cross this threshold here, many of his party’s holdouts flipping overnight, ultimately voting yes on the bill.”
He then descended into all the standard liberal talking points, ignoring the tax cuts being extensions of ones that already exist, what “cuts to Medicaid” actually are (and instead calling it a fact millions would lose health care), and ignoring other provisions such as a child tax credit and billions to upgrade the country’s aviation systems.
Notice too he trumpeted the showboating machinations of House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY):
Chief White House correspondent Mary Bruce delivered more partisan hectoring as only she could, calling it “a massive victory, a huge win for President Trump,” but was otherwise a dud for the country.
Bruce huffed that while President Trump “has sold Republicans on this, the President now has to go out and sell the American people” since the liberal media are deadset on seeing him fail:
Johnson closed with congressional correspondent Jay O’Brien, but tried to a mountain of a molehill the shenanigans of a man many on the right have referred to as “Temu Obama”:
I want to talk about the Democrats here because House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, we talked about that marathon, that record-breaking speech on the House floor. He warned all of us that he was going to take his sweet time. He said he felt obligated to do so. But Democrats were powerless. They just didn’t have the votes, so what message was he hoping to send here?
O’Brien shared Jeffries broke the record for longest House floor speech at eight hours and 44 minutes, beating then-House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s (R-CA) speech denouncing what would eventually become the comically named Inflation Reduction Act (then known as the Build Back Better Act) and that Democrats were “elated by his speech.”
Then came the reality check with O’Brien giving mention to the two Republicans who joined Jeffries in voting against the bill:
But ultimately, as you said, they did not have the votes to block this bill. They are not in the majority. Speaker Johnson, though, he had his work cut out for him, he could only afford to lose three Republicans. As Mary said, he lost two on two different ideological sides of his party. One is Thomas Massie, who’s a fiscal hawk who did not like the price tag of this bill. The other is Brian Fitzpatrick, a moderate Republican who represents a district in Pennsylvania that Kamala Harris won, who has long expressed concerns about cuts to Medicaid. Ultimately, though, those are the only two Republican no votes that Johnson loses.
O’Brien pivoted with a few seconds remaining, saying the bill’s passage didn’t happen over the last few days and was really “the culmination of a months long process not just for Speaker Johnson, not just for President Trump, but congressional Republicans writ large, multiple, marathon, into-the-night votes in both the House and the Senate, backroom deal-making and, frankly, drama and dysfunction in their party on full display in both of these votes.”
To see the relevant ABC transcript from July 3, click “expand.”
ABC News Special
July 3, 2025
2:34 p.m. EasternWHIT JOHNSON: Good afternoon. I’m Whit Johnson in New York. We’re coming on the air because House Republicans have just delivered a major victory for President Trump passing his mega spending bill. Final passage coming after an intense pressure campaign from the President, at times even threatening to primary holdout Republicans in both the Senate and the House. There you see speaker Mike Johnson, gaveling that win. He worked around the clock to cross this threshold here, many of his party’s holdouts flipping overnight, ultimately voting yes on the bill. Conservatives and moderates, though, raising some concerns ahead of this vote about cuts to Medicaid, which will cause an estimated 11.8 million Americans to lose their health care. Some also concerned about the price tag, expected to add $3.4 trillion to the debt. President Trump has disputed those estimates. The bill includes more spending for the President’s immigration policies and roughly $4 trillion in tax cuts. The bill passing without any Democratic support. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries taking to the floor for what’s known as the magic minute. He ended up speaking for more than 8.5 hours, breaking a modern-day record, railing against the bill, warning it will have a devastating impact on millions of Americans. President Trump calling this one of the most consequential bills ever. Let’s go to Mary Bruce, our chief White House correspondent, with more Mary, we know this July 4 deadline was self-imposed by the President. We noted that pressure campaign. Ultimately, only two Republicans voted against it. So, what did it take to get this over the finish line? And what does this mean for Trump’s agenda?
MARY BRUCE: It will, Whit. There is no question this is a massive victory, a huge win for President Trump, by far his biggest legislative victory so far in his second term. But this did not come easy. The President and Speaker Johnson had to put down a Republican revolt. This took a lot of arm twisting, cajoling, and haggling. The President deeply involved himself. He’s been working the phones over the last 24 hours, even meeting here at the White House with the holdouts in person. Whit, at one point, he was even handing out Trump merchandise and swag. And of course, the President was willing to give them assurances, especially about how this bill will be implemented. But he also warned that there would be consequences for any Republicans who opposed this. We have heard him in recent days and weeks say that he would primary anyone who got in the way of his agenda. So, those Republicans who voiced concerns one by one, we saw them caving and falling in line over the last 24 hours, despite many of their objections and concerns over what this bill would do to the debt, the $3.4 trillion it’s projected to add to the debt over the next decade, their concerns about what this would mean for Medicaid recipients, the estimated 11.8 million Americans that could lose their health coverage because of this bill, all of them except for two Republicans falling in line. Now, this is the cornerstone of the President’s agenda. You can guarantee there’s a lot of celebrating here at the White House right now, in addition, of course, to what this does for taxes, cutting roughly $4 trillion in taxes, mostly for the wealthiest Americans. It also includes more funding, as you mentioned, for immigration enforcement and border security. It also fulfills some of his campaign promises to eliminate taxes on tips and overtime. But, Whit, now that he has sold Republicans on this, the President now has to go out and sell the American people on this bill. And it starts tonight with a big speech he’s giving in Iowa.
JOHNSON: It sure does, Mary Bruce. And again, as you illustrated, also points out the amount of power that he holds over the Republican party. Mary. Thank you. Once again, let’s go to ABC’s congressional correspondent Jay O’Brien on the Hill. And Jay, I want to talk about the Democrats here because House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries, we talked about that marathon, that record-breaking speech on the House floor. He warned all of us that he was going to take his sweet time. He said he felt obligated to do so. But Democrats were powerless. They just didn’t have the votes, so what message was he hoping to send here?
JAY O’BRIEN: Exactly right. Whit. Jeffrey spoke for eight hours and 44 minutes, breaking a record for longest House floor speech that was previously set by Kevin McCarthy, who was speaking at the time in opposition in 2021 to a Biden-era piece of legislation. Jeffries elated — or Jeffries — Democrats elated by his speech. But ultimately, as you said, they did not have the votes to block this bill. They are not in the majority. Speaker Johnson, though, he had his work cut out for him, he could only afford to lose three Republicans. As Mary said, he lost two on two different ideological sides of his party. One is Thomas Massie, who’s a fiscal hawk who did not like the price tag of this bill. The other is Brian Fitzpatrick, a moderate Republican who represents a district in Pennsylvania that Kamala Harris won, who has long expressed concerns about cuts to Medicaid. Ultimately, though, those are the only two Republican no votes that Johnson loses. And this is the culmination of a months long process not just for Speaker Johnson, not just for President Trump, but congressional Republicans writ large, multiple, marathon, into-the-night votes in both the House and the Senate, backroom deal-making and, frankly, drama and dysfunction in their party on full display in both of these votes. But they pull it off, Whit, and they pull it off right before that self-imposed Friday, July 4 deadline from the President.
JOHNSON: A long night on Capitol Hill. And, Jay, I know you’re awake through most of it. We appreciate you and the entire team. Thank you. Once again, our breaking news right now, the House passing President Trump’s sweeping spending bill — that big, beautiful bill.