House Passes 'Big Beautiful Bill'

They made the deadline: House Republicans on Thursday passed the sprawling legislation that will fund President Trump's domestic policy agenda, reports CNN. Trump had made clear he wanted it by the July 4th holiday on Friday. Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania were the only GOP nay votes in the 218-214 tally. Democrats stalled the final vote by more than eight hours thanks to a record-breaking speech by Hakeem Jeffries, but they could not alter the outcome. Cheers of "USA!" erupted from Republican lawmakers after Speaker Mike Johnson brought down his gave to make the vote official, per the New York Times.

• Passage came despite criticism—from lawmakers in both parties—that it will send the national deficit soaring and cause millions of low-income Americans to lose health coverage through Medicaid cuts. The measure is centered on $4.5 trillion in tax breaks, most of which are extensions of cuts enacted in Trump's first term that would otherwise expire, notes the AP.

• "We are looking at the most expensive piece of legislation probably since the 1960s," Jessica Riedl, a senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute, a conservative think tank, told the New York Times ahead of passage. "The danger is that Congress is piling trillions of new borrowing on top of deficits that are already leaping."
• Trump has repeatedly countered that line of criticism by saying that the legislation will supercharge economic growth, making concerns about the deficit overblown. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office disagrees, estimating that the bill will add $3.3 trillion to the deficit over a decade. The CBO also estimates that nearly 12 million will lose health coverage.
• The measure has been known as the "Big Beautiful Bill Act," though the Senate technically killed that name earlier this week.