(The Center Square) – Progress on President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” ground to a halt Wednesday in the U.S. House as Republican leaders continue to haggle with fiscal hardliners behind the scenes.
As of early Wednesday evening, four Republicans continue to refrain from voting on an amendment that would allow House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., to delay or reschedule the vote on the bill’s final passage if needed.
If that amendment is approved, the House can vote to begin debate on the Senate-revised budget reconciliation bill, formerly titled the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” Only after the debate period concludes can the chamber vote on final passage.
The multi-trillion dollar megabill implements the bulk of President Donald Trump’s tax, energy, border and defense agenda. Johnson barely passed it in the House with a promise to fiscal hawks that the Senate would pair any additional tax cuts with dollar-for-dollar spending cuts.
But Senate Republicans largely ignored Johnson’s pleas and passed a swath of controversial changes – including permanently extending the 2017 tax cuts rather than adopting the House’s 10-year extension – that skyrocketed the cost of the bill.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the Senate’s version would add at least $3.3 trillion to primary deficits by 2034, a number deemed unacceptable by members of the House Freedom Caucus without corresponding spending cuts.
U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, said House Republicans “don’t need to redo the whole bill” but need to “make some modifications,” including returning it to the House’s purportedly deficit-neutral framework and repealing costly Inflation Reduction Act subsidies that the Senate allowed for.
Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C., voted against the bill in committee Tuesday but hasn’t yet explicitly pledged his opposition on final passage.
“We have this one chance, this one moment, to curb spending,” Norman said Wednesday. “[W]hat I see right now, I don’t like.”
Johnson told reporters late Wednesday afternoon that he is “hopeful we can proceed tonight and get this done.”
