Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) and Brian Fitzpatrick (R-Pa.) were the only two Republicans to buck their party as the House pushed the “big, beautiful bill” through Thursday after more than 24 hours in session.
Massie was one of the earliest GOP voices against the bill and rallied against the measure all week. He had already earned a potential primary challenge backed by President Trump over his opposition to American airstrikes in Iran.
Other GOP lawmakers, many of them members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, initially opposed the bill overnight because of its additions to the deficit.
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But over hours of discussion with Republican leadership and pressure from the White House, many of the holdouts flipped their votes to “yes” on advancing the bill — leaving Fitzpatrick as the lone holdout in his caucus other than Massie.
In a statement after the vote, Fitzpatrick said he could not abide by the Senate’s version of the bill, viewed by many to have even harsher cuts to social services than the version passed by the House that he backed.
“I voted to strengthen Medicaid protections, to permanently extend middle class tax cuts, for enhanced small business tax relief, and for historic investments in our border security and our military,” Fitzpatrick said. “However, it was the Senate’s amendments to Medicaid, in addition to several other Senate provisions, that altered the analysis for our PA-1 community.”
“The original House language was written in a way that protected our community; the Senate amendments fell short of our standard,” he added.
In a post on the social media platform X after the vote, Massie said he was worried about the bill’s contribution to the national debt.
“Although there were some conservative wins in the budget reconciliation bill (OBBBA), I voted No on final passage because it will significantly increase U.S. budget deficits in the near term, negatively impacting all Americans through sustained inflation and high interest rates,” he wrote.
Updated at 3:12 p.m. EDT
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