President Trump's Big, Beautiful Bill Passes Key Committee
Next stop is the House floor.
President Donald Trump’s "big, beautiful bill" may face a House-wide vote as early as Wednesday night, following its approval by a key committee.
The House Rules Committee, which controls most legislation before it reaches the full chamber, convened at 1 a.m. Wednesday to push the expansive bill forward, aligning with Speaker Mike Johnson’s Memorial Day deadline for Senate submission.
The session extended for hours as Democrats accused Republicans of advancing the bill "in the dead of night" and favoring the wealthy at the expense of working-class families.
Democrats prolonged the process with numerous amendments, spanning from early Tuesday into Wednesday.
Republicans countered that the bill supports small businesses, farmers, and low- and middle-income families while curbing waste, fraud, and abuse in government safety nets.
Highlighting the meeting’s importance, Johnson, R-La., met with committee Republicans just before 1 a.m. and again after sunrise.
The committee began with unresolved issues, including blue state Republicans advocating for higher state and local tax (SALT) deduction caps, and conservatives pushing for stricter Medicaid work requirements and a complete repeal of green energy subsidies from former President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act (IRA).
Johnson told Fox News Digital during his initial visit that he was "very close" to reconciling divided House GOP factions.
After the meeting, Johnson indicated the House would proceed with a vote late Wednesday or early Thursday.
However, the bill’s success in the House Rules Committee does not guarantee passage in a full House vote.
Two House Rules Committee members, Reps. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., and Chip Roy, R-Texas, both from the conservative House Freedom Caucus, urged a delay in the House-wide vote on Wednesday.
The White House, meanwhile, pressed these dissenters, demanding a vote "immediately" in an official policy statement endorsing the House GOP bill.
Republicans aim to enact Trump’s policies on tax, immigration, energy, defense, and the national debt through a single, comprehensive bill using the budget reconciliation process.
Budget reconciliation reduces the Senate’s passage threshold from 60 votes to 51, enabling the majority party to bypass the minority—here, Democrats—to pass major legislation related to the federal budget, taxation, or national debt.
House Republicans seek to move Trump’s bill through both the House and Senate by the Fourth of July.