After months of politicking, policy writing, and several all-nighters, Republicans finally, officially, passed their massive reconciliation bill on Thursday afternoon.
Rep. Andy Harris — who railed against the $3.3 trillion cost of the package as the chair of the conservative House Freedom Caucus — called the bill “not ready for prime time.”
Rep. Andy Ogles — who introduced an amendment that would have undone all of the Senate’s changes to the legislation — called the bill “Frankenstein.”
Rep. David Valadao — who represents a California Central Valley district that is highly dependent on Medicaid — said he was a “no” on a bill that cut more than the House-approved $793 billion from the program.
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Sen. Lisa Murkowski — who fought to shield her state from the most severe Medicaid and food assistance cuts in the measure — called the bill “not good enough for the rest of our nation.”
Sen. Josh Hawley — who wrote a New York Times op-ed warning about backlash to the reconciliation bill — said centering Medicaid cuts was “morally wrong and politically suicidal.”
Rep. Keith Self called it “broken.” Rep. Chip Roy called it “a travesty.” Rep. Ralph Norman said it was “mortgaging our future.”
They all voted for it.
They even sent it to President Donald Trump’s desk with less than 10 hours to spare before their self-imposed July 4 deadline so they could celebrate their handiwork alongside America’s independence.
“You just can’t script this any better,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said of the timing, adding that he expects a signing ceremony at the White House on Independence Day.
Following hours of delays, the reconciliation bill passed around 2:30 p.m. by a vote of 218-214, with two House Republicans, Reps. Thomas Massie and Brian Fitzpatrick, joining all 212 Democrats in opposing the legislation.
The political takeaways are obvious.
If there was any doubt, Trump has cemented himself as the unquestioned boss of the Republican Party, unfazed about bullying even the most stubborn Republican lawmakers, threatening them with a primary challenge.
Moderate and conservative Republicans alike cowed under the pressure. Their promises to tank policy in pursuit of their principles will register as empty, unserious threats for the rest of this Congress — or at least so long as Trump is in charge.
Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune have proven themselves skilled negotiators, able to stitch together their fractured conferences in the high-pressure political moments, silencing the doubters who tried to keep them from power.
Democrats will now try to run against the legislation — which Republicans are still championing as their “One Big, Beautiful Bill” despite Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer stripping the name. They will air campaign ads ahead of the 2026 midterms against the vulnerable GOP incumbents who backed the bill despite acknowledging the costs to their own constituents.
They already are.
Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries spoke for nearly nine hours — delaying the final passage of the bill by using his “magic minute” privilege and breaking then-Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy’s magic minute record.
“House Democrats, we envision a different country than the one that is being ravaged by such extremism right now,” Jeffries said on the floor.
The political theater of the last six months was the stuff of an Aaron Sorkin fantasy: It passed despite the upper chamber versus lower chamber infighting, despite the partisan zingers during overnight committee mark-ups, despite the feud between the world’s richest man and the world’s most powerful. Republicans held hands and jumped to pass over 900 pages of legislation.
But it’s the personal implications for millions of Americans that will prove to be the bill’s more dramatic legacy. The bill cuts more than $1.1 trillion from Medicaid. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that by 2034, the number of people uninsured would increase by 11.8 million.
After spending the past year saying they are only going after “waste, fraud and abuse” in the system, the final product goes significantly further.
The bill reduces spending on the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program by nearly $230 billion. It will require states to shoulder up to 15% of the program’s cost. Able-bodied adults under 65 are required to work 80 hours per month unless they have a child under 10.
The bill is also expected to add $3.5 trillion to the deficit through 2034, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. Extending Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act is estimated to cost $2.2 trillion. Trump’s “no tax on tips” priority — which would sunset at the end of 2028 — would cost $30.8 billion, while “no tax on overtime” would cost $89.2 billion.
The bill increases the state and local tax deduction from $10,000 to $40,000, but only for five years instead of the 10 that a group of Republican lawmakers from wealthy blue states insisted they would stake their political careers on achieving. It also ups the annual child tax credit to $2,200.
It phases out Biden-era tax credits for renewable energy projects. And the bill bars Planned Parenthood from receiving any federal funds for non-abortion-related services for a year — a massive win for the anti-abortion movement. The legislation also raises the debt ceiling by $5 trillion.
It funds a $25 billion “Golden Dome” missile defense system, as well as $46.5 billion for Trump’s promise of a wall at the U.S.-Mexico border and $10 billion for space missions to Mars.
It’s not entirely clear that lawmakers know what’s tucked into the rest of their reconciliation bill. When the House voted on its version of the bill in May, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene said she was disturbed to learn — after backing the bill — that it would hamstring the ability of states to regulate artificial intelligence. (That provision has since been removed.)
As NOTUS reported Wednesday, Trump told House Republicans in his closing pitch that they should not “touch” Medicaid if they want to win elections. A member had to inform the president that the bill does, in fact, touch Medicaid. Considerably.
But whether or not Republicans know what’s in their “big, beautiful” behemoth of a bill, whether or not they like it, they did it.
Now they just have to defend it.
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