The bill would make the 2017 tax cuts permanent and allocate money for border security such as finishing Trump’s wall along the southern border.
WASHINGTON—The House Rules Committee on July 2 advanced the Senate-passed version of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, putting it one step closer to getting it to President Donald Trump’s desk and delivering on his signature legislative agenda.
The tally was 7–6. Reps. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) and Chip Roy (R-Texas) joined all Democrats in voting against reporting it out of the committee. The advancement in the House came hours after the Senate narrowly passed the bill with Vice President JD Vance casting a tie-breaking vote.
Norman told The Epoch Times on July 1, following the Senate passage, that he will vote against the legislation when it is brought before the House on July 2. Norman and other fiscal hawks have called for at least $2 trillion in spending cuts, whereas the bill delivers $1.5 trillion in cuts.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) can only afford to lose three Republicans on party-line votes. In May, the House narrowly passed its version of the bill by a single vote.
During the meeting, the committee’s chairwoman, Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.), praised the bill.
She said the measure includes “tax relief for working families; reducing waste, fraud and abuse in government programs so they remain focused on those who truly need the programs, [and] a historic investment designed to strengthen our armed forces [and] protect our borders and keep Americans safe.”
The committee’s ranking member, Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), criticized the bill.
“A family making less than $50,000 a year? They get less than $1 a day in tax cuts,” he said. “You can’t buy a damn cup of coffee with that. But those making $1 million or more? They’ll get more than $250 a day in tax breaks … that’s how rigged this bill is to benefit the wealthy.”
Senate Democrats put forth dozens of motions and amendments during a more than 24-hour vote-a-rama that began after 9 a.m. ET on June 30.
The bill includes making permanent the 2017 tax cuts; allocating money for border security, such as finishing Trump’s wall along the southern border; $150 billion for the military, and cuts and reforms to Medicaid.
