President Donald Trump insisted that House Republicans were united behind his megabill even as defectors slowly surfaced during a key procedural vote.
The House moved Wednesday night to vote on advancing Trump’s massive domestic policy bill to a debate. If the measure clears the procedural hurdle, it moves closer to final passage. The vote also serves as a litmus test of sorts for House Speaker Mike Johnson to prove that he has the numbers to deliver the president’s signature legislation by the July 4 deadline.
“We had GREAT conversations all day, and the Republican House Majority is UNITED, for the Good of our Country, delivering the Biggest Tax Cuts in History and MASSIVE Growth,” Trump said in a Truth Social post.
“The USA is on track to break every record on GROWTH,” he added. “Go Republicans, beat the Crooked Democrats tonight! PRO-GROWTH Tax Cuts never fail.”
Trump and Johnson spent much of Wednesday working the phones to muster support for the so-called “big, beautiful bill.” Because of razor-thin margins in the House, the GOP can only afford three “no” votes as Democrats are expected to unite along party lines.
Though the House is expected to be in for another all-nighter, there are early signs that the bill is in trouble. Five GOP representatives have already voted “no” on the resolution: Reps. Victoria Spartz of Indiana, Andrew Clyde of Georgia, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania, Keith Self of Philadelphia, and Thomas Massie of Kentucky.
In a lengthy X post, Self explained that he voted against the resolution because “the Senate broke the House framework.” Senators voted 51-50 to pass their version of the bill on Tuesday, with Vance stepping in as the tiebreaker.
I came to Washington to help rein in our national debt.In negotiations with House leadership, commitments were made to ensure the One Big Beautiful Bill would include key provisions, such as: – Matching every $1 of tax cuts with $1 of spending cuts.- Terminating Biden’s…
— Rep. Keith Self (@RepKeithSelf) July 3, 2025
“House leadership wants to cram this broken bill down our throats by rushing it to the floor while in the middle of discussions, completely disregarding their promises,” Self said. “Ultimately, this is an issue of morality. Abiding by our word is the only thing we have; therefore, as the bill currently stands, I voted against the rule.”
Johnson told reporters that he felt “very good” about the outcome even as he worked to flip the Republican “no” votes.
“We feel very good about where we are and we’re moving forward,” he said. “So we’re going to deliver the Big, Beautiful Bill, the president’s America First agenda, and we’re going to do right by the American people. This is going to be a great thing for the country.”
In a later interview with Fox News, Johnson said he and Trump had been speaking to GOP holdouts.
Johnson: Well, I have spoken to all of them and well, three of the four, I’m trying to find the fourth one, pic.twitter.com/AQ1O6j05Uo
— Acyn (@Acyn) July 3, 2025
“I think they’re open for conversation,” he said of the “nay” voters. “Everybody’s here in good faith. Everybody wants to get to yes. Everybody wants to deliver this agenda for the people, and we’re going to give them every opportunity to do that.”
As of late Wednesday night, the procedural vote stood at 217 nays—212 Democrats joined by the five Republicans—and 207 GOP ayes. Eight conservative lawmakers had yet to cast their vote.
Earlier on Wednesday, Tennessee Republican Tim Burchett said he spent two hours at the White House in a meeting with Trump and Vice President JD Vance.
“The president answered all our questions, was very informative,” he said in a video posted on X. “We’ll hopefully get this worked out.”
Lawmakers on both sides of the aisle have raised alarm over the bill’s steep cuts to Medicaid, which could see 11 million Americans lose their health insurance, as well as add $3 trillion to the debt.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries vowed to put up a fight.
“House Republicans are once again trying to pass their dangerous budget in the middle of the night,” he said on X. “We will keep the pressure on. And continue to do all we can to stop these extremists from gutting your healthcare.”
The post Trump Claims United GOP Front as Defectors Threaten Megabill appeared first on The Daily Beast.
