WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump is expected to sign his package of tax breaks and spending cuts into law Friday after his cajoling produced almost unanimous Republican support in Congress for the domestic priority that could cement his second-term legacy.
Against odds that at times seemed improbable, Trump achieved his goal of celebrating a historic — and divisive — legislative victory in time for the nation’s birthday. Fighter jets and stealth bombers are to streak the sky over the annual White House Fourth of July picnic where Trump plans to sign the bill.
The legislation, the president said, is “going to make this country into a rocket ship. It’s going to be really great.” Democrats assailed the package as a giveaway to the rich that will rob millions more lower-income people of their health insurance, food assistance and financial stability.
“I never thought that I’d be on the House floor saying that this is a crime scene,” Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York said during a record-breaking speech that delayed the bill’s passage by eight-plus hours. “It’s a crime scene, going after the health, and the safety, and the well-being of the American people.”
The legislation extends Trump’s 2017 multi-trillion dollar tax cuts and cuts Medicaid and food stamps by $1.2 trillion. It provides for a massive increase in immigration enforcement. Congress’ nonpartisan scorekeeper projects that nearly 12 million more people will lose health insurance under the law.
The legislation passed the House on a largely party-line vote Thursday, culminating a months-long push by the GOP to cram most of its legislative priorities into a single budget bill that could be enacted without Senate Democrats being able to block it indefinitely by filibustering.
It passed by a single vote in the Senate, where North Carolina Republican Thom Tillis announced he would not run for reelection after incurring Trump’s wrath in opposing it. Vice President JD Vance had to cast the tie-breaking vote.
In the House, where two Republicans voted against it, one, conservative maverick Tom Massie of Kentucky, has also become a target of Trump’s well-funded political operation.
The legislation amounts to a repudiation of the agendas of the past two Democratic presidents, Barack Obama and Joe Biden, in rolling back Obama’s Medicaid expansion under his signature health law and Biden’s tax credits for renewable energy.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates the package will add $3.3 trillion to the deficit over the decade and 11.8 million more people will go without health coverage.
Trump exulted in his political victory Thursday night in Iowa, where he attended a kickoff of events celebrating the country’s 250th birthday next year.
“I want to thank Republican congressmen and women, because what they did is incredible,” he said. The president complained that Democrats voted against the bill because “they hate Trump — but I hate them, too.”
The package is certain to be a flashpoint in next year’s midterm elections, and Democrats are making ambitious plans for rallies, voter registration drives, attack ads, bus tours and even a multiday vigil, all intended to highlight the most controversial elements.
Upon his return to Washington early Friday, Trump described the package as “very popular,” though polling suggests that public opinion is mixed at best.
For example, a Washington Post/Ipsos poll found that majorities of U.S. adults support increasing the annual child tax credit and eliminating taxes on earnings from tips, and about half support work requirements for some adults who receive Medicaid.
But the poll found majorities oppose reducing federal funding for food assistance to low-income families and spending about $45 billion to build and maintain migrant detention centers. About 60% said it was “unacceptable” that the bill is expected to increase the $36 trillion U.S. debt by more than $3 trillion over the next decade.
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