Trump Asks Republicans To Rally Around ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ After Failed Committee Vote
The “big, Beautiful bill” that Donald Trump has requested from Congress has been torpedoed by his own party, but the president has encouraged Republicans to keep working until they reach an agreement.
The legislation failed to pass the House Budget Committee on Friday as Republican Reps. Chip Roy of Texas, Josh Brecheen of Oklahoma, Andrew Clyde of Georgia, and Ralph Norman of South Carolina voted against the measure, Fox News reported.
Pennsylvania Republican Rep. Lloyd Smucker changed his vote from “yes” to “no,” but that was only a procedural maneuver so that the bill could be voted on again. He said that he has confidence that the legislation will ultimately be passed.
House Budget Committee Chairman and Republican Texas Rep. Jodey Arrington has asked the committee to come back together on Sunday night at 10 p.m. for another vote.
“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,” the Fox News report said.
Republican Texas Rep. Brandon Gill surprised the committee by coming in for the vote when everyone anticipated that he would have stayed home with his wife and newborn son. But his arrival meant that his party had more wiggle room, though his presence would allow two other Republicans to vote against the legislation, the report said.
The failed committee vote put in limbo the planned House-wide vote next week on the massive bill.
The Republicans who voted against it are frustrated that the planned cuts to Medicaid and cuts to former President Joe Biden’s green energy initiatives would not take effect until 2029.
“Only in Washington are we expected to bet on the come that in five years, then everything will work. Then we will solve the problem,” Roy said as the House committee debated. “We have got to change the direction of this town. And to my colleagues on the other side of the aisle, yes, that means touching Medicaid.”
Norman warned Republicans, “If they call for a vote now, it’s not going to end well,” as he called for a recess to work on their issues.
After his comments, House Majority Leader Rep. Steve Scalise (R-La.) said, “I just walked out of the meeting with him a few minutes ago as well. We’re working on some questions that Ralph and others have, and we’re going to be getting them answers as soon as we get them back from the Trump administration,” as he said that he wanted the legislation to be passed “as soon as possible.”
After the vote, Roy posted on X about his reasons for voting against the legislation.
“We were making progress, but the vote was called, and the problems were not resolved, so I voted no. I am staying in Washington this weekend to deliver,” the Texas Republican wrote.
“Medicaid Work requirements must start NOW not 2029 & the Green New Scam must be fully repealed, as President Trump called for,” he added.
Meanwhile, Trump posted on his Truth Social account, where he called the Republican holdouts “grandstanders” and urged them to pass the legislation.
“Republicans MUST UNITE behind, ‘THE ONE, BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL!’ 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 president said.
“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!” he said.
