WASHINGTON — President Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” failed to get out of committee at the first attempt Friday due to opposition from GOP fiscal hawks who insisted the measure didn’t do enough to reduce the federal budget deficit.
Five Republicans — Chip Roy of Texas, Ralph Norman of South Carolina, Josh Brecheen of Oklahoma, Andrew Clyde of Georgia and Lloyd Smucker of Pennsylvania — voted against advancing the massive reconciliation measure out of the House Budget Committee, sending it to a 21-16 defeat.
“I do not anticipate us coming back today,” Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington (R-Texas) announced after the vote, saying the committee would likely reconvene Monday.
“This bill falls profoundly short. It does not do what we say it does with respect to deficits,” fumed Roy, pointing to estimates provided by the non-partisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget that projected a $3.3 trillion deficit hike over the next decade if the legislation becomes law in its current form.
If Trump’s 2017 tax cuts — which also include barring payments to the IRS based on income from tips, overtime or social security — are made permanent, the bill will add around $5.2 trillion to the deficit by 2034, the CRFB estimated.
“This bill has backloaded savings and has front-loaded spending,” Roy said. “We are writing checks we cannot cash, and our children are gonna pay the price. So I’m a ‘no’ on this bill unless serious reforms are made: today, tomorrow, Sunday.”
Norman added that the $3.8 trillion in tax cuts were “great” but he was a “hard no” until curbs to Medicaid benefits given to “able-bodied” Americans as well as non-citizens receiving emergency services were scrapped.
Those Medicaid changes won’t take effect until 2029, according to a version of the bill’s text released by the House Ways and Means Committee on Monday, rankling members like Roy and Norman.
The two abruptly exited the Budget panel hearing mid-Friday morning after Arrington acknowledged that “a whole lot of work is still left undone.”
Just three Republican committee defectors would have tanked the budget resolution. If advanced, it could have passed by a simple majority in the House and Senate due to a process known as reconciliation.
“Republicans MUST UNITE behind, ‘THE ONE, BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL!’” Trump had posted on his Truth Social en route back to Washington from the Middle East. “Not only does it cut Taxes for ALL Americans, but it will kick millions of Illegal Aliens off of Medicaid to PROTECT it for those who are the ones in real need.”
“The Country will suffer greatly without this Legislation, with their Taxes going up 65%. It will be blamed on the Democrats, but that doesn’t help our Voters. We don’t need ‘GRANDSTANDERS’ in the Republican Party. STOP TALKING, AND GET IT DONE! It is time to fix the MESS that Biden and the Democrats gave us. Thank you for your attention to this matter!”
The Budget panel compiled Congressional Budget Office estimates that found taxpayers forked over more than $16 billion for illegal immigrants to obtain emergency medical services covered by Medicaid under the Biden administration.
The House Energy and Commerce Committee earlier this week outlined $900 billion in proposed cuts to spending and programs including Medicaid, in part by imposing work requirements.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) telegraphed optimism on Thursday following a meeting with fiscal hardliners and New York Republicans who are pushing for a higher State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction cap than the $30,000 limit laid out in the current bill.
“If you do more on SALT, you have to find more in savings. … We are trying to do this in a deficit-neutral way,” he said. “We’re very very close. … I’m committed to work throughout the weekend on it, others are as well. … We are still on path to pass this bill next week.”
