Topline
Republicans revolted against President Donald Trump’s signature legislative agenda Friday that would enact tax cuts and immigration policy, blocking it from reaching the House floor for a formal vote.
President Donald J. Trump boards Air Force One as he departs the Al Bateen Executive Airport on May … More
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Key Facts
The House Budget Committee rejected the bill 16-21, with five Republicans voting alongside all Democrats on the committee against the legislative package.
Reps. Chip Roy, R-Texas, Ralph Norman, R-S.C., Josh Brecheen, R-Okla., Andrew Clyde, R-Ga., and Lloyd Smucker, R-Pa., opposed the bill, in large part because some said spending cuts did not go far enough: “It does not do what we say it does with respect to deficits,” Roy said.
Norman also said the bill should be adjusted to enact work requirements for childless Medicaid recipients without disabilities earlier than 2029, as the existing legislation proposes, while other Republican dissenters cited the need to more quickly eliminate Biden-era clean energy tax credits.
The legislation would set the spending plan for Trump’s signature policy priorities, including immigration and about $4.5 trillion in tax cuts over 10 years, achieved, in part, via an extension of his 2017 tax cuts and the elimination of taxes on tips and overtime.
Earlier Friday, Trump said Republicans “MUST UNITE behind, ‘THE ONE, BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL!’” in a Truth Social post that said “we don’t need ‘GRANDSTANDERS’ in the Republican Party.”
Tangent
Smucker said he changed his vote from “yes” to “no” to allow him to reintroduce the legislation once changes are made.
Big Number
$3.3 trillion. That’s how much the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget estimates the bill would add to the federal debt over the next 10 years.
Key Background
The package rejected by the Budget Committee is a compilation of 11 separate bills approved by House committees this week, hence Trump’s “one, big beautiful bill” description. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., had hoped to push the legislative package through the House before Memorial Day, though he can afford to lose just three Republican votes to pass it. While Republicans are almost certain to revise the proposal to appease the Budget Committee and move it to the House floor for a formal vote, it faces an uncertain future in the Senate, where some Republicans are already showing resistance. Medicaid is a key issue dividing Republicans. The topline spending plan Republicans approved earlier this year calls for $2 trillion in overall spending cuts over the next 10 years to help pay for $4.5 trillion in tax cuts. It assigns the Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees Medicaid, to find $880 billion in cuts, a figure that’s virtually unachievable without some cuts to Medicaid spending, raising concerns for some Republicans in vulnerable districts.
Further Reading
A Guide To The Tax Cuts In (And Out) Of Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ (Forbes)
House Passes Budget Bill: Trump Touts ‘Big First Step’ For Mike Johnson (Forbes)
Was Medicaid Cut? Will Tips Be Taxed? What To Know About Trump’s Budget Bill (Forbes)
Source: https://www.forbes.com/sites/saradorn/2025/05/16/republicans-block-trumps-signature-policy-agenda/