President Donald Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ faced a major setback as it failed to secure the necessary votes in the House Budget Committee, dealing a significant blow to the plans of House GOP leaders to advance the measure. The legislation, a comprehensive piece of legislation that incorporates the priorities of the president on issues such as border security, tax cuts, and energy policies, is a culmination of efforts by 11 different House committees to craft policies under their respective jurisdictions. However, the bill faced opposition from several Republican representatives, raising concerns about its viability for passage.
Reps. Chip Roy, R-Texas, Josh Brecheen, R-Okla., Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., and Ralph Norman, R-S.C., and Lloyd Smucker, R-Pa., all voted against the legislation. Smucker’s vote was a procedural maneuver that allows him to bring the legislation up again, rather than opposition to the legislation. House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, said the panel would likely not meet again on Friday, and could reconvene on Monday.
The committee met to mark up and debate the bill, a massive piece of legislation that’s a product of 11 different House committees’ individual efforts to craft policy under their jurisdictions. The result is a wide-ranging bill that advances Trump’s priorities on the border, immigration, taxes, energy, defense and raising the debt limit. Emotions ran high in the hallway outside the House Budget Committee’s meeting room from the outset, however, giving the media little indication of how events would transpire.
Rep. Brandon Gill, R-Texas, who had been at home with his wife and newborn baby, surprised reporters when he arrived at the Cannon House Office Building after he was initially expected to miss the committee meeting. His appearance gave House GOP leaders some added wiggle room, allowing the committee to lose two Republican votes and still pass the bill, rather than just one. But at least four House Republicans went into the meeting warning they were opposed to the bill.
Shortly before the meeting was expected to begin, Roy, Norman, Clyde and Brecheen abruptly left the room while saying little to reporters on the way out. Each came back a short while later and criticized the legislation in their opening remarks. The fiscal hawks are frustrated about provisions curbing Medicaid in the bill not going into effect until 2029, and had similar issues with the delay in phasing out green energy subsidies from former President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.