The House passed Republicans’ major policy bill in a tight vote, 218 to 214, that was mostly along party lines. Representatives rushed and wrangled to meet the Fourth of July deadline President Trump had set.
The bill divided Congress for months. It frustrated Democrats who said it would hurt the working class, and who disputed it bitterly until the very end. Hakeem Jeffries, the Democratic leader in the House, held up the final vote for nearly nine hours yesterday as he spoke against it. Representatives had been up all night debating the bill when Jeffries’s speech began, and some slumped in their seats or nodded off as he told stories of Americans whose health care and incomes would be affected.
The bill also divided Republicans, angering deficit hawks who worried about how it would increase the national debt. Ultimately, after weeks of protesting the bill, they relented to pressure from Trump and party leaders. “It is, by now, a well-worn routine,” Catie Edmondson, who covers Congress, wrote.
Trump celebrated the bill’s passage at a rally in Iowa. His job now is to sell it to a skeptical public as Democrats focus on all the ways it helps the wealthy. — Lauren Jackson, an editor for The Morning
So what’s in the bill?
As a refresher, here are some of the major things the legislation does:
Extends tax cuts that had been scheduled to expire at the end of the year
Eliminates some taxes on tips and overtime pay
Funds more defense and border security
Cuts Medicaid funding by nearly $1 trillion
Increases the debt limit by $5 trillion
For more
Democrats are hoping the legislation is so unpopular with voters that they can leverage it to win back one, if not both, of the chambers of Congress in next year’s midterm elections.
The bill provides its most generous tax breaks early on and saves its most painful benefit cuts for later — a careful calculation by Republicans.
Elon Musk, the country’s largest known Republican donor in the last presidential election, suggested that he would form a new political party and support primary challengers against all Republicans who voted for the bill. He called the legislation and the increase in deficit “insane.”
How will Trump’s big bill affect your wallet? Take this quiz.