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Mike Johnson, the speaker of the House of Representatives, signing the domestic policy bill after it passed yesterday.Credit…Eric Lee for The New York Times
In a 218-to-214 vote, the House of Representatives passed a sweeping bill that extends tax cuts and slashes social safety-net programs, capping Republicans’ long effort to deliver President Trump’s domestic agenda by the July 4 deadline he’d set.
Speaker Mike Johnson spent a frenzied day and night toiling to quell resistance in his ranks, which threatened to derail the president’s marquee legislation until the very end. All but two Republicans voted for it, and Democrats uniformly opposed it. Trump plans to sign what he calls his “big, beautiful bill” today.
The legislation is a major political gamble that will leave vulnerable Republicans open to sharp attacks ahead of midterm elections next year. Many economists have estimated that its greatest benefits will go to the wealthiest Americans, who will see the most generous tax cuts. Polls show that the bill is deeply unpopular. Here’s more on the spending cuts.
Details: The bill increases funding for defense and border security and includes substantial cuts to Medicaid, food assistance for the poor and other government aid, and it phases out clean-energy tax credits. The debt limit will also be increased, to $5 trillion.
Analysis: The vote shows how extensive Trump’s control over his party is. “For weeks, lawmakers from across the ideological spectrum had been publicly complaining about various aspects of the bill,” Tyler Pager, our White House correspondent, said. “For some, the cuts were too steep. For others, the cuts were not steep enough. And despite all of that, Trump ratcheted up the pressure — and the charm — to push it across the finish line.”
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