The legislation extends Trump’s 2017 multi-trillion dollar tax cuts and cuts Medicaid and food stamps by $1.2 trillion.
WASHINGTON — On Friday, President Donald Trump put into effect a series of tax reductions and budget cuts, following his persistent encouragement that secured nearly unanimous backing from Republicans in Congress for this key domestic initiative, one that may solidify his second-term legacy.
Surrounded by Republican lawmakers and his Cabinet members, Trump enacted the extensive legislation worth trillions of dollars outside the White House. He then brought down the gavel presented to him by House Speaker Mike Johnson, which was used during the final passing of the bill on Thursday.
Despite seemingly challenging odds, Trump reached his aim of marking a historic — and contentious — legislative win just in time for the nation’s anniversary. Fighter jets and a stealth bomber soared overhead during the annual Fourth of July celebration at the White House, as Trump and first lady Melania Trump appeared on the White House balcony.
“America’s winning, winning, winning like never before,” Trump said, noting last month’s bombing campaign against Iran’s nuclear program, which he said the flyover was meant to honor. “Promises made, promises kept and we’ve kept them.”
The White House was hung with red, white and blue bunting for the regular Fourth of July festivities. The United States Marine Band played patriotic marches — and, in a typical Trumpian touch, tunes by 1980s pop icons Chaka Khan and Huey Lewis. The two separate flyovers bookended Trump’s appearance and the band playing the national anthem.
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 multitrillion-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 monthslong 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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