The Latest: House leaders rush toward a final vote as Democrats hold the floor
Jul 3, 2025, 5:34 AM | Updated: 7:52 am
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., walks behind his security detail through a crowd of reporters as he tries to push President Donald Trump's signature bill of tax breaks and spending cuts across the finish line even as conservative and moderate GOP holdouts slow that effort, at the Capitol in Washington, Wednesday, July 2, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
Credit: ASSOCIATED PRESS
(AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite)
House Republicans are ready to vote on President Donald Trump鈥檚 $4.5 trillion tax breaks and spending cuts bill early Thursday after staying up all night with GOP leaders and the president himself working to persuade skeptical holdouts to drop their opposition by his Fourth of July deadline.
Final debates began in the predawn hours after another chaotic day and night at the Capitol following a series of closed-door meetings.
Putting the bill on Trump’s desk would be a milestone for the president and his party as Republicans have the votes to overcome Democratic opposition to a long list of GOP priorities. Trump’s 鈥渙ne big beautiful bill,鈥� an , is a defining measure of his return to the White House. Read .
Here’s the latest:
At some 887 pages, the legislation includes tax breaks, spending cuts, a rollback of solar energy tax credits, new money for national defense and deportations. The bill does not eliminate taxes on Social Security benefits, despite what Trump says.
The bill rolls back past presidential agendas: In many ways, the package is a repudiation of the agendas of the last two Democratic presidents, a chiseling away at the Medicaid expansion from Barack Obama鈥檚 Affordable Care Act, and a pullback of Joe Biden鈥檚 climate change strategies in the Inflation Reduction Act.
Congressional Budget Office review: The nonpartisan CBO said Sunday the bill would pile nearly $3.3 trillion onto the nation鈥檚 debt load from 2025 to 2034, a nearly $1 trillion increase over the House-passed version of the bill. The analysis also found that 11.8 million Americans would become uninsured by 2034 if the bill passed.
With Trump鈥檚 spending and tax cut bill nearing passage, the White House is getting creative in pitching it to Americans who haven鈥檛 been closely following the debate over the legislation.
The White House late Wednesday dropped on social media that includes before and after shots of women who transform flat hair to voluminous bouffants as a narrator ticks off aspects of the bill that she says will make Americans鈥� lives better.
鈥淎re you tired of government promises falling flat? Do you go through an outrageous amount of stress just trying to get by?鈥� the narrator intones as a woman screams in frustration over her bad hair day. 鈥淭hen bump it up with 鈥榦ne big, beautiful bill鈥� and get that relief fast and easy.鈥�
By the end of the short video, the screaming woman and others are sporting new hairdos that are markedly more voluminous.
Republican leadership spent much of the night and early morning persuading a handful of holdouts to support the Senate-approved tax cuts and spending bill. But now, House Speaker Mike Johnson appears to have the votes, and Democrats are standing in the way.
As the House wrapped up its debate over passing Trump鈥檚 agenda, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries used a tool known as the 鈥渕agic minute鈥� that allows leaders unlimited time to speak. He started his address just before 5 a.m. ET. And it鈥檚 still going.
鈥淚鈥檓 going to take my time,鈥� he said, before launching into a speech criticizing Republicans鈥� deference to Trump, reading through personal accounts of people concerned about losing their health care coverage, and recounting American history.
Eventually, Jeffries will end his speech, and Republicans will move to final passage of the bill.
