The House Rules Committee late Wednesday night advanced the GOP’s bill of President Trump’s legislative priorities, sending the legislation to the floor for consideration after a marathon meeting that stretched nearly 22 hours.
The panel voted 8-4 to advance the measure — officially titled the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” — including a series of last-minute changes to the sprawling measure designed to appease blue-state moderates and hardline conservatives who withheld support from the legislation.
The last-minute changes to the bill — coming after closed-door negotiations with various GOP factions that stretched days — are designed to help Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) unite his conference around the measure.
Leaders released the changes in the form of a manager’s amendment about 20 hours into the Rules Committee meeting, underscoring the tenuous — and ongoing — nature of the negotiations. The tweaks increased the state and local tax (SALT) deduction cap to $40,000 for individuals making less than $500,000; implements beefed up Medicaid work requirements “no later than December 31, 2026;” and makes a slew of alterations to the energy and environment portions of the bill.
The “big, beautiful bill” now heads to the House floor, where the full body will debate the measure with hopes of holding a vote and passing the legislation out of the lower chamber, and sending it to the Senate by Memorial Day.
The legislation’s centerpiece is an extension of the tax cuts Trump enacted in 2017, in addition to energy policy, Medicaid changes and a $4 trillion debt limit increase, among other provisions.
The committee gaveled in shortly after 1 a.m. Wednesday morning — a result of Republican leadership aiming to pass the bill on the House floor as soon as possible, House timing rules, and an unusual Sunday late-night Budget Committee vote to advance the bill to overcome a roadblock from hardline conservatives days earlier.
“What the hell are you guys so scared of, that you guys are holding this hearing at 1 in the morning?” Rules Committee Ranking Member Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) said. “If Republicans are so proud of what is in this bill, then why are you trying to ram it through in the dead of the night?”
House Rules Committee Chairwoman Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) defended the committee meeting’s timing.
House Republicans have been crafting the bill for months, looking for ways to appease hardline conservatives, demanding steep spending cuts, moderate Republicans wary of such slashes, and GOP lawmakers in high-tax blue states pushing for an increase to the state and local tax (SALT) deduction cap.
Trump met with House Republicans Tuesday morning to urge the conference to unite around the bill — and press each faction to relent on their demands — as leaders look to clear the measure in the lower chamber. And the president huddled with members of the House Freedom Caucus, Johnson and other GOP leaders Wednesday afternoon, during which they talked through final tweaks to the bill.
Updated at 11:21 p.m. EDT