GOP Hardliners Defy Trump, Block 'Big Beautiful Bill'

The House GOP leadership suffered what the Hill describes as a "stunning setback" on Friday when five conservative members of their own party blocked a spending bill crucial to President Trump's legislative agenda. The five Republicans joined all Democrats on the House Budget Committee in voting against the sweeping package of tax cuts and spending reductions—known as the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" in deference to Trump. The five dissenting Republicans want deeper spending cuts.

• House Speaker Mike Johnson had hoped to get the measure out of committee and onto the chamber's floor for a vote next week. Friday's vote is a "significant, but not fatal, setback to the legislation," per the Washington Post. Another committee vote could happen later Friday, or Monday, after more wrangling.

• The dissenting conservatives are holding out for deeper cuts to Medicaid and additional rollbacks of Biden-era green energy tax breaks, per the AP. They argue the current proposal would add too much to the federal debt, now at $36 trillion. Their demands include immediate work requirements for Medicaid, not the delayed start in the bill, and more aggressive measures to trim entitlement programs. "Something needs to change or you're not going to get my support," said GOP Rep. Chip Roy.
• Meanwhile, some Republicans from high-tax states are pushing for a larger increase to the state and local tax (SALT) deduction, which could increase the cost of the package. The current draft would triple the SALT cap to $30,000 for certain filers; New York members are calling for much more.
• At stake is a package that extends the Trump-era tax cuts, adds new breaks (including no tax on tips and some auto loans), and increases the standard deduction and child tax credit for middle earners. It also includes $350 billion for border security and the military, while proposing over $1 trillion in cuts over a decade.
• Earlier Friday, Trump implored the "grandstanders" on the bill to get on board. "MUST UNITE behind, 'THE ONE, BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL!" he wrote on Truth Social. "STOP TALKING, AND GET IT DONE!"

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