WASHINGTON, D.C. – U.S. Rep. Blake Moore (R-UT) is applauding the passage of the so-called “big, beautiful bill” by House Republicans on Capitol Hill.
That measure, a budget reconciliation bill passed by a narrow 215-214 vote in the early morning hours of May 22, delivered on major elements of President Donald Trump ‘s legislative agenda, from tax cuts and border security to lifting the nation’s borrowing limit.
“This bill is in direct response to what Americans have communicated they want,” according to Moore, “competitive tax rates, a more secure border, bolstered domestic energy resources, more support for our military and less government waste.”
The House vote came after weeks of grueling negotiation behind the scenes between congressional leaders and insurgent factions of the Republican conference that threatened to block the reconciliation effort.
The final vote on the “big, beautiful bill” came after Trump made personal visits to Capitol Hill to sway GOP holdouts.
Not a single House Democrat voted for the bill, however, with most objecting to what they called its threats to Medicaid programs.
The reconciliation bill spanned more than 1,000 pages, according to the inside the Beltway journal Roll Call. The legislation would make Trump’s first-term 2017 tax cuts permanent; slash federal spending by at least $1.5 trillion over the next decade; boost defense and border security spending by $300 billion; and raise the U.S. borrowing limit by at least $4 trillion.
Coming as predicted before the Memorial Day holiday, the House vote represented a big political win for Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA).
In a statement released by the White House, Trump praised GOP members of the House for delivering on his campaign promises, while “the Left stood in lockstep against tax relief, border security and protecting American families.”
In their summary of the reconciliation proposal, White House officials emphasized that it provides the largest tax cut in U.S. history; a stronger, safer border; Medicaid protection for citizens, not illegal immigrants; increased spending on service members and their families; air traffic control modernization; and, relief for family farmers and small business owners.
“We’ve seized this opportunity head-on,” Moore said of the legislative victory. “Now I urge the Senate to quickly move through its legislative process so that we can get this bill to the president’s desk.”
The fate of the reconciliation bill in the Senate is by no means certain, however.
Roll Call reports that Republicans in the Senate have already signaled that they intend to give the “big, beautiful bill” a rewrite.
GOP conservatives in the upper chamber of Congress have said they are considering more generous tax breaks and moderates have expressed concern about the size of proposed Medicaid cuts.