WASHINGTON (AP) 鈥� House Republicans propelled President Donald Trump鈥檚 to final congressional passage Thursday, overcoming multiple setbacks to approve his signature second-term policy package before a Fourth of July deadline.
The tight roll call, 218-214, came at a potentially high political cost, with two Republicans joining all Democrats opposed. GOP leaders worked overnight and the president himself leaned on a handful of skeptics to drop their opposition and send the bill to him to sign into law. Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York delayed voting by holding the floor for more than eight hours with a against the bill.
鈥淲e have a big job to finish,鈥� said , R-La. 鈥淲ith one big beautiful bill we are going to make this country stronger, safer and more prosperous than ever before.鈥�
The outcome delivers a milestone for the president, by his Friday goal, and for his party,. It was a long-shot effort to compile a lengthy list of GOP priorities into what they called his 鈥渙ne big beautiful bill,鈥� an . With Democrats unified in opposition, the bill will become a defining measure of Trump's return to the White House, aided by Republican control of Congress.
Tax breaks and safety net cuts
At its core, the package's priority is $4.5 trillion in tax breaks enacted in 2017 during Trump's first term that would expire if Congress failed to act, along with new ones. This includes allowing workers to deduct tips and overtime pay, and a $6,000 earning less than $75,000 a year.
There's also a hefty investment, some $350 billion, in national security and and to help develop the defensive system over the U.S.
To help offset the lost tax revenue, the package includes $1.2 trillion in cutbacks to and food stamps, largely by imposing new work requirements, including for some parents and older people, and a major .
The estimates the package will add over the decade and 11.8 million more people will go without health coverage.
"This was a generational opportunity to deliver the most comprehensive and consequential set of conservative reforms in modern history, and that鈥檚 exactly what we鈥檙e doing,鈥� said Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, the House Budget Committee chairman.
Democrats united against 鈥榰gly bill鈥�
Democrats unified against the bill as a tax giveaway to the rich paid for on the backs of the working class and most vulnerable in society, what they called 鈥渢rickle down cruelty.鈥� Tensions ran high in the chamber.
Jeffries began the speech at 4:53 a.m. EDT and finished at 1:37 p.m. EDT, 8 hours, 44 minutes later, a record, as he argued against what he called Trump鈥檚 鈥渂ig ugly bill.鈥�
鈥淲e鈥檙e better than this,鈥� Jeffries said, who used a leader's prerogative for unlimited debate and read letter after letter from Americans writing about their reliance of the health care programs.
鈥淚 never thought that I鈥檇 be on the House floor saying that this is a crime scene," Jeffries said.
鈥淚t鈥檚 a crime scene, going after the health, and the safety, and the well-being of the American people."
And as Democrats, he said, "We want no part of it.鈥�
Hauling the package through the Congress has been difficult from the start. Republicans have struggled mightily with nearly every step of the way quarreling in the House and Senate, and often succeeding only by the narrowest of margins: just one vote.
The with Vice President JD Vance breaking the tie vote. The slim majority in the House left Republicans little room for defections.
Political costs of saying no
Despite their discomfort with various aspects of the sprawling package, in some ways it became too big to fail 鈥� in part because Republicans found it difficult to buck Trump.
As Wednesday's stalled floor action dragged overnight Trump railed against the delays.
鈥淲hat are the Republicans waiting for???" the president said in a midnight post. "What are you trying to prove???鈥�
Johnson relied heavily on White House Cabinet secretaries, lawyers and others to satisfy skeptical GOP holdouts. Moderate Republicans worried about the severity of cuts while conservatives pressed for steeper reductions. Lawmakers said they were being told the administration could provide executive actions, projects or other provisions in their districts back home.
The alternative was clear. Republicans who staked out opposition to the bill, including Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, and Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina, were by Trump鈥檚 well-funded political operation. Tillis soon after announced he would not seek reelection.
Rollback of past presidential agendas
In many ways, the package is a of the last two Democratic presidents, a chiseling away at the Medicaid expansion from Barack Obama's , and a pullback of Joe Biden's climate change strategies in the .
Democrats have described the bill in dire terms, warning that cuts to Medicaid, which some 80 million Americans rely on, would result in lives lost. Food stamps that help feed more than 40 million people would "rip food from the mouths of hungry children, hungry veterans and hungry seniors,鈥� Jeffries said.
Republicans say the tax breaks will prevent a tax hike on households and grow the economy. They maintain 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 .
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 with what they would face if the 2017 tax cuts expired.
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Associated Press writers Kevin Freking, Joey Cappelletti and Matt Brown contributed to this report.
Lisa Mascaro, Mary Clare Jalonick And Leah Askarinam, The Associated Press
