After an all-night session, House Republicans managed to move the massive One Big Beautiful Bill Act past the Rules Committee late Wednesday, setting the stage for a vote by the full House.
The committee, controlled by the GOP, approved the sweeping legislation in an 8–4 vote just before 11 p.m., with members divided strictly along party lines.
The session had begun at 1 a.m. that morning to comply with the rule granting Democrats two full days to submit their dissenting views before final consideration.
During the final stretch of debate, a Manager’s Amendment was introduced. This revision included numerous last-minute changes to the bill, among them a provision significantly raising the cap on State and Local Tax (SALT) deductions by 400%.
More than 500 Democratic amendments were introduced during the extended proceedings, but none were adopted, as Republicans stayed unified in rejecting them.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) has been pushing to get the bill passed before the House departs for its Memorial Day recess. However, a narrow GOP majority and a few undecided members are making the outcome uncertain.
With the Rules Committee now having approved the measure, Republican leaders can move the legislation to the floor for a vote under a simple majority threshold, avoiding the more difficult two-thirds vote required had they bypassed the committee process.
Nonetheless, the margin for error remains slim. With Republicans holding a 220–213 edge in the House, they can lose no more than three votes—assuming all members are present and voting.
To become law, the bill must also make it through the Senate. It has been crafted to qualify under budget reconciliation rules, which allow it to skirt the 60-vote threshold needed to defeat a Democratic filibuster.
Despite Republican control of the Senate, with a 53–47 majority, not every GOP senator is on board. Senators Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Ron Johnson (R-Wis.) have each expressed opposition to the current draft.
President Trump visited Capitol Hill on Tuesday to meet with House Republicans, rallying them to support the legislation and praising Speaker Johnson for his leadership.
“It’s not a question of holdouts, we have a tremendously unified party,” Trump told reporters about the chances of getting the votes. “I don’t think we’ve ever had a party like this. There are some people that want a couple of things that maybe I don’t like or they’re not going to get.”
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act is intended to serve as Trump’s defining legislative push of the year—and potentially of his second term—encompassing a wide range of conservative policy goals in one enormous package.
Among its core elements are the renewal of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act provisions, exemptions from taxes on tips and overtime income, deep cuts to federal spending, increased defense funding, and sweeping changes to energy and border security policies.
Here are the main features included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act:
• A permanent extension of the personal tax cuts introduced in 2017, with some revisions.
• Temporary tax exemptions for income earned via tips, overtime work, and interest on auto loans.
• A new deduction for seniors that substitutes for eliminating taxes on Social Security benefits, which cannot be touched under reconciliation rules due to the Byrd Rule.
• A dramatic expansion of the SALT deduction cap, raising it to $40,000 for households earning under $500,000 annually.
• An increase in the national debt ceiling by $4 trillion, anticipated to be necessary by late summer if no action is taken.
• A $175 billion boost for border security, which includes $46.5 billion dedicated to constructing a wall along the southern border.
• An infusion of $150 billion into the military, allocating funds for missile defense (including the space-based Golden Dome), naval expansion, ammunition replenishment, and border operations.
• A requirement that able-bodied adults aged 19–64 on Medicaid perform 80 hours per month of work, school, or volunteer activity to keep benefits.
• Reduced reimbursement rates for states that extend Medicaid to undocumented immigrants.
• States with excessive errors in SNAP benefits will be required to share the program’s costs.
• New fast-track permitting for natural gas projects, provided developers pay 1% of the project’s value or $10 million—whichever is lower.
• Elimination of the Biden administration’s target for two-thirds of new car sales to be electric vehicles by 2032.
• An increase in the SNAP work requirement age for able-bodied adults without dependents from 54 to 64.
• The creation of “Trump” savings accounts for children born between January 1, 2024, and December 31, 2028, with a $1,000 federal contribution.
• Provisions barring large abortion providers like Planned Parenthood from receiving Medicaid funds.
• Restrictions on using Medicaid to cover transgender-related surgeries.
• Repeal of the $200 tax on gun silencers.
• A new tax of up to 21% on certain large university endowments.
• Consolidation of federal student loan programs into two repayment options: a standard plan over 10 to 25 years, and a more lenient “repayment assistance” plan.
• The removal of several measures from the Inflation Reduction Act.
• A program to modernize the country’s air traffic control systems.
Several changes were included in the 42-page Manager’s Amendment. These included renaming “MAGA” accounts to “Trump” savings accounts, removing silencers from the 1934 National Firearms Act, scrapping a plan to sell federal lands in Nevada and Utah, accelerating the Medicaid work requirement timeline to no later than December 31, 2026, and launching a $12 billion program to reimburse states for border security efforts dating back to January 2021.
Throughout the bill’s development, five contentious issues have sparked disagreement among Republicans: the SALT cap expansion, when to begin Medicaid work requirements, how to alter state reimbursements under Medicaid, and the bill’s impact on the federal deficit.
Fiscally conservative Republicans and those representing high-tax states have often clashed over these provisions, with negotiations stretching on for months as leaders tried to reconcile competing priorities.
{Matzav.com}