The Republican-majority US House of Representatives on Thursday passed multitrillion dollar tax cut and spending bill,
The bill passed in a 215-214 vote, with all of the chamber’s Democrats voting against the legislation. Two members of Trump’s Republican Party also voted against the bill.
“The House has passed generational, truly nation-shaping legislation,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said.
The vote came after a marathon push that kept lawmakers debating the bill through two successive nights. Johnson had to made tweaks to it to satisfy various factions of his party.
What does the bill contain?
The legislation would fulfill many of Trump’s campaign pledges.
It would extend corporate and individual tax cuts that were enacted during Trump’s first term in office, while slashing welfare spending such as funding for the low-income health insurance program Medicaid.
The bill would also deliver new tax breaks on tips and car loans and boost spending on the military and border enforcement. Furthermore, it would cancel many green-energy incentives passed by
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) predicted it would boost the incomes of the richest 10% while making the bottom 10% poorer, due to cuts to health care support and food aid.
Concerns over ballooning debt
Independent analysts warned it would increase the nation’s debt by as much as $4 trillion (€3.5 trillion) over a decade, sparking investor worries over the mounting debt burden,
The ballooning debt and concerns surrounding it prompted a downgrade of the United States’ top-notch credit rating by Moody’s last week.
Some fiscal hawks within the Republican Party, meanwhile, were unhappy that proposed cuts of more than $700 billion to the Medicaid health insurance program were not deeper.
But Trump’s press secretary, Karoline Leavitt, claimed the bill “does not add to the deficit,” and would actually save $1.6 trillion through spending cuts.
The White House also said the package will spur growth of up to 5.2%, which many economists say is an ambitious projection.
Democrats criticize the measure
Democrats called the bill “devastating” for the middle class.
They pointed to CBO estimates that its cuts to public health insurance for low-income Americans would deprive 8.6 million people of coverage.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called the bill “the largest cut to health care in American history… in order to enact the largest tax breaks for billionaires in American history.”
But Republicans rejected the criticism.
Erin Houchin, a Republican House member, said Americans shouldn’t believe the dire predictions from Democrats about the impact of the bill.
“We can unlock the ‘Golden Age’ of America,” she said, echoing the president’s own words.
The bill will now move to the Senate, where it is likely to undergo changes before it is put to a vote.
Edited by: Kieran Burke
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