After a marathon debate and an overnight negotiating blitz, the House of Representatives on Thursday green-lit Donald Trump’s sweeping “big, beautiful bill,” dispatching it to the president’s desk for signature. The measure passed 218–214, with only two Republicans—Reps. Thomas Massie (Ky.) and Brian Fitzpatrick (Pa.)—ultimately voting no.
As recently as Wednesday, more than two dozen Republicans threatened to scuttle the legislation over its multitrillion-dollar cost and proposed health-care trims. Speaker Mike Johnson spent the night cajoling holdouts, while the White House applied its own pressure. By dawn, only Massie and Fitzpatrick remained opposed. Johnson credited private assurances from Trump—including promised executive actions—rather than edits to the text itself for winning converts; the House adopted the exact 870-page Senate version without amendments.
Opposition Democrats mounted their final stand on the House floor. Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries spoke for more than eight hours—setting a new C-SPAN-verified record—to denounce the bill as a “crime scene” and insist the vote occur “in the light of day.” His marathon speech ended just before the chamber moved to final passage.
The reconciliation package bundles a long wish-list of Republican priorities:
Tax, energy and health-care overhauls touching virtually every sector of the economy.
A $5 trillion boost to the debt ceiling, enabling fresh borrowing.
Provisions that analysts say could add roughly $4 trillion to the deficit over the next decade—costs partly obscured by accounting maneuvers highlighted by economists.
With House approval secured ahead of Trump’s self-imposed July 4 deadline, the president is expected to sign the legislation within days. Once enacted, regulators will scramble to implement wide-ranging changes—while fiscal hawks brace for national debt levels projected to top $40 trillion in the near future.
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