House Passes ‘Big, Beautiful Bill,’ White House Signing Ceremony Planned for Friday

WASHINGTON — House Republicans passed the so-called “big, beautiful bill” on Thursday, sending it on to the White House where President Donald Trump is planning a signing ceremony for Friday.

The 218-214 vote in the chamber was a high victory for both the president and House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., who managed to flip more than a dozen members who had threatened to vote “no” on the bill as recently as late Wednesday night.

In the end, only two Republicans voted against the signature piece of Trump’s legislative agenda: Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., who almost always opposes the president’s policies, and Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa.

They joined all of the chamber’s Democrats in voting against the package.

The vote came after something of an unofficial filibuster by House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., who spoke on the chamber’s floor for a record 8 hours, 44 minutes and 25 seconds before finally ceding the floor.

During his remarks, Jeffries blasted away at the bill, calling it a “disgusting abomination” and calling on his Republican colleagues to join Democrats in opposing it.

“What our journey teaches us is that after Project 2025 comes Project 2026. And you will have an opportunity to end this national nightmare,” he told voters watching the proceedings unfold on CSPAN, previewing what’s sure to be a central debate of the 2026 midterm elections.

After he finished, an exuberant Johnson dismissed Jeffries’ marathon remarks, saying with a smile, “It takes a lot longer to build a lie than to tell the simple truth.

“Today there was performance for some of them, but today for us is about results, results that improve the lives of Americans, regardless of their race, religion, color or creed,” Johnson said.

At the White House, press secretary Karoline Leavitt said, “President Trump’s One Big, Beautiful Bill delivers on the commonsense agenda that nearly 80 million Americans voted for — the largest middle-class tax cut in history, permanent border security, massive military funding, and restoring fiscal sanity. The pro-growth policies within this historic legislation are going to fuel an economic boom like we’ve never seen before.

“President Trump looks forward to signing the One Big, Beautiful Bill into law to officially usher in the Golden Age of America,” she added.

As for the bill itself, it is composed of the central pillars of Trump’s domestic policy agenda, including $4.5 trillion in tax cuts, tens of billions for his border wall and border security, deep cuts to Medicaid and food stamps, a dramatic rollback of clean energy incentives and a higher debt ceiling.

Rep. Jason Smith, R-Mo., chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, hailed the bill’s passage as a triumph, saying the panel has been preparing for two years “for this moment.”

“Thanks to President Trump’s overwhelming victory in November, a historic, pro-growth, pro-America tax bill that delivers on the president’s promises to American workers and families will soon become law,” Smith said.

“Permanency for the successful provisions of the 2017 Trump tax cuts, no tax on tips, no tax on overtime pay, no tax on car loan interest, and tax relief for seniors, along with tax incentives that reward businesses who manufacture more in the U.S. and hire more American workers will soon usher in the Golden Age of America,” he continued.

“This legislation will not only be transformational for the American economy, ensuring that it works for working-class Americans, not against them, but it also provides the largest one-time investment in border security in American history,” Smith said.

“It takes necessary steps to rein in out-of-control spending by making the largest cut to mandatory spending in American history. This bill is nothing short of the greatest piece of Republican legislation in a generation,” he said.

But Debbie Cox Bultan, CEO of NewDEAL, the center-left network of state and local elected officials, called the bill a “fundamental betrayal of the federal government’s partnership with states to provide health care and food assistance to those in our country who need it most.”

“Instead of working to make life more affordable for Americans, this legislation increases the burden on working families, slashing health care and food assistance and undermining clean energy investments that create good-paying jobs,” she said. “And it adds trillions of dollars to the debt at a time when we clearly cannot afford it.

“I talk to state and local leaders every day. … They tell me that this bill represents a huge step in the wrong direction. Let’s be clear, no state will be able to fully support the millions of people who will lose their health care coverage as a result of this bill,” Bultan added.

According to the independent Congressional Budget Office, the massive package will raise the federal deficit $3.3 trillion over the next 10 years.

After the vote, Michael A. Peterson, president and CEO of the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, a fiscal watchdog group, lamented the outcome.

“This weekend, millions of families across the country will gather to celebrate July 4. For nearly two and a half centuries, America’s success was based on our enduring commitment to leaving the next generation better off,” Peterson said.

“Today, our national debt stands at $36 trillion and we were on pace to add $22 trillion more over the next decade. This legislation will add more than $4 trillion to our debt trajectory, even though budget reconciliation is a tool intended to improve our fiscal health. The true fiscal damage of the bill may be much greater, if the temporary tax cuts are extended and the delayed spending cuts fail to materialize,” he continued.

“If America is going to find its way back to its principle of leaving the next generation better off, our elected leaders must acknowledge that growing the national debt is burdening our own kids and grandkids, and weakening the very independence that we are celebrating this weekend,” Peterson said.

Dan can be reached at [email protected] and @DanMcCue