House Republicans pushing through an all-nighter trying to pass Trump’s big bill

WASHINGTON (AP) — Up all night, House Republicans are charging ahead on their multitrillion-dollar tax breaks package, with Speaker Mike Johnson defying the skeptics within his ranks and working to muscle President Donald Trump’s priority bill to passage Thursday.

Johnson and his GOP leadership team appeared confident after a lengthy White House meeting with GOP holdouts to salvage the “big, beautiful bill,” even as more Republicans announced their opposition. Shortly before midnight, they launched debate to set the stage for an early morning vote.

“You never know till the final vote tally, but I’m convinced we’re going to pass this bill tonight,” said Johnson, R-La., as the chamber action resumed.

Throughout the evening the upbeat tone stood at odds with the unwieldy scene at the Capitol. The Rules Committee had been grinding through its own round-the-clock session, wrapping up after nearly 22 hours, and sending the package ahead on a party-line vote.

Democrats, without the votes to stop Trump’s package, utilized procedural moves and offered impassioned speeches trying to stall progress and capitalize on the GOP disarray. As soon as the House floor reopened, the Democrats forced a vote to adjourn. It failed.

In “the dark of night they want to pass this GOP tax scam,” said Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif.

House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York had called it “one big, ugly bill that’s going to hurt the American people.”

The Republicans insisted their sprawling 1,000-page-plus package, the centerpiece of their majority hold on Congress, was what voters sent them — and Trump — to Washington to accomplish.

They devoted the crucial first months of the president’s return to the White House to the legislation, even naming it the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” after his own phrase, and faced mounting pressure from the president himself.

Trump visited them at the Capitol this week and met for a lengthy session with Johnson and the holdouts Wednesday at the White House. Ahead of the vote, the White House warned in a pointed statement that “failure to pass this bill would be the ultimate betrayal.”

Passage would send the measure next to the Senate, which is working on its own version.

At its core, the package is centered on extending the tax breaks approved during Trump’s first term in 2017, while adding new ones he campaigned on during his 2024 campaign.

To make up for some of the lost revenue, the Republicans are focused on spending cuts to Medicaid and food stamps programs and a massive rollback of green energy tax breaks from the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act.

Additionally, the package tacks on $350 billion in new spending, with about $150 billion going to the Pentagon, including for the president’s new “ Golden Dome” defense shield, and the rest for Trump’s mass deportation and border security agenda.

Rep. Erin Houchin, R-Ind., said Americans shouldn’t believe the dire predictions from Democrats about the impact of the bill. “We can unlock the ‘Golden Age’ of America,” she said, echoing the president’s own words.

A fresh analysis from the Congressional Budget Office said the tax provisions would increase federal deficits by $3.8 trillion over the decade, while the changes to Medicaid, food stamps and other services would tally $1 trillion in reduced spending. The lowest-income households in the U.S. would see their resources drop, while the highest ones would see a boost, the CBO said.

Late in the night, GOP leaders released a 42-page amendment of changes with many of the provisions that had been up for debate — as well as unexpected new ones, including a $12 billion fund for the Department of Homeland Security to reimburse states that help federal officials with deportations and border security.

They also renamed a new children’s savings program after the president, changing it from MAGA accounts — money account for growth and advancement — to simply “Trump” accounts.

One big problem had been the tentative deal with GOP lawmakers from New York and other high-tax states to quadruple the $10,000 deduction for state and local taxes, called SALT, to $40,000 for incomes up to $500,000, which was included in the final product.

That costly provision, which runs into the hundreds of billions of dollars, alarmed the most conservative Republicans, worried it will add to the nation’s $36 trillion debt.

But conservatives from the hard-right House Freedom Caucus who had been among the chief holdouts appeared to be falling in line. The package advanced on a procedural vote.

Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., said they “got some improvements.”

But at least one Republican, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, was unmoved, warning during the floor debate, “This bill is a debt bomb ticking.”

“If something is beautiful, you don’t do it after midnight,” Massie said.

As Trump promised voters, the package proposes there would be no taxes on tips for certain workers, including those in some service industries; automobile loan interest; or some overtime pay.

There would be an increase to the standard income tax deduction, to $32,000 for joint filers, and a boost to the child tax credit to $2,500. There would be an enhanced deduction, of $4,000, for older adults of certain income levels, to help defray taxes on Social Security income.

To cut spending, the package would impose new work requirements for many people who receive health care through Medicaid. Able-bodied adults without dependents would need to fulfill 80 hours a month on a job or in other community activities.

Similarly, those who receive food stamps through the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, known as SNAP, would also face new work requirements.

Older Americans up to age 64, rather than 54, who are able-bodied and without dependents would need to work or engage in the community programs for 80 hours a month. Additionally, some parents of children older than 7 years old would need to fulfill the work requirements; under current law, the requirement comes after children are 18.

Republicans said they want to root out waste, fraud and abuse in the federal programs.

At the same time, more moderate and centrist lawmakers are wary of the changes to Medicaid that could result in lost health care for their constituents. Others are worried the phaseout of the renewable energy tax breaks will impede businesses using them to invest in green energy projects in many states.

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Associated Press writer Chris Megerian contributed to this report.