Trump’s tax-and-spending bill stalls in House as president calls Republican skepticism ‘ridiculous’ – US politics live

Guardian:

Trump’s tax-and-spending bill stalls in House as president calls Republican skepticism ‘ridiculous’ – US politics live


Procedural vote would open final debate but measure has already been voted against by enough Republicans to have it fail



House convenes to debate Trump's tax and spending bill


Amy Sedghi (now); Adam Fulton, Robert Mackey, Lucy Campbell, Marina Dunbar and Tom Ambrose (earlier)Thu 3 Jul 2025 17.24 AEST


From 1h ago

16.10 AEST
Summary

It’s passed 2am in Washington DC and Donald Trump’s signature tax-and-spending bill has been hanging in the balance as Republican leaders struggle to muster sufficient votes in the US House of Representatives.

House speaker Mike Johnson said he was “absolutely confident we are going to land this plane” but lawmakers were blocking the approval of a procedural rule that is necessary to begin debate on the bill and set the stage for its passage.

Johnson said he would keep the procedural vote open for “as long as it takes” and the vote was still open as the clock struck midnight with five Republicans and all Democrats voting against it.

Eight GOP lawmakers had yet to cast their votes, and that group contains several of the bill’s detractors. Enough Republicans have already voted to block the rule but Johnson has been hoping to change their minds.

In other key developments:

Trump has demanded the legislation – known as the One Big Beautiful Bill Act – be on his desk by Friday 4 July and spent much of Wednesday holding meetings and phone calls with skeptical Republican lawmakers. As the rule stalled, he wrote on Truth Social: “FOR REPUBLICANS, THIS SHOULD BE AN EASY YES VOTE. RIDICULOUS!!!”


The chamber began taking procedural votes on the bill earlier in the day, but in a sign of the measure’s challenges one was kept open for more than seven hours, making it the longest vote in the history of the House of Representatives.


For the bill to pass it must approve the version passed by the Senate on Tuesday when vice-president JD Vance cast the tie-breaking vote after an all-night session. Johnson has acknowledged the bill “went a little further than many of us would have preferred” in its changes, particularly to Medicaid.


Johnson said as he headed to the House floor for the rule vote: “We’re in a good place right now. This is the legislative process, this is exactly how I think the framers intended for it to work.” But after voting against the motion, Keith Self, a conservative Texas congressman, blasted the bill as having failed to save enough money, curb green energy incentives or crack down on transgender rights.


The bill in its current form would add $3.3tn to the US budget deficit through 2034, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimates.Share

Updated at 16.31 AEST

3m ago08.31 BST
US House Republicans advance Trump tax-cut bill opening way for debate

The Republican-controlled US House of Representatives on Thursday advanced President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax-cut and spending bill, a procedural step setting the stage for possible passage of the legislation in a vote expected later in the day, reports Reuters.

The House voted 219-213 to move forward.