All night, House Republicans voted before Dawn on Thursday to advance President Donald Trump’s tax and spending reduction package, recovered after working nearly 24 hours a day trying to persuade GOP leaders a skeptical holdout to send bills to his desk.
The roll call, which began late Wednesday, finally closed almost six hours later. Trump, who previously hosted lawmakers at the White House, was late assaulted. Once Gabel was hit by 219-213, the bill proceeded to final discussions heading into the final vote. This is expected late Thursday morning.
“Our way is to plow it and get it done,” House Speaker Mike Johnson emerged in the middle of the night from a series of closed door meetings. “We will meet the deadline of July 4th.”
The idea of quickly convening for a vote on over 800 pages of building after votes passed the day before in the Senate is a risky gambit and designed to meet Trump’s holiday finish demands. Republicans struggled hard with the bill at almost every stage, often succeeding at the narrowest margin. It’s only one vote. Their slim 220-212 majority has little room for exile.
Several Republicans have balked the Senate version to be required to suck up rubber versions within 24 hours of passage. Many moderate Republicans in competitive districts are opposed to cutting Medicaid Senate bills, but conservatives have accused the law of being strayed from fiscal goals.
“What are Republicans waiting for? What are you trying to prove?” Trump voted after the afternoon. He also warned against political fallout from delays in “Cost of Your Vote!!!”
Johnson and his team fell to convince them that negotiation time was over. They needed assistance from Trump to close the deal, and lawmakers headed to the White House on Wednesday for a two-hour session to speak with the president about their concerns. Trump also called.
“The president’s message was, ‘We’re on the roll,” said Rep. Ralph Norman. “He wants to see this.”
Republicans rely on the holdings of a majority in Congress to push their baggage down a wall of unified democratic opposition. There were no Democrats in the Senate who voted for the bill, so there was no expectation to do so in the House.
“Hell no!” House Democrat leader Hakeem Jeffries said it is adjacent to a fellow Democrat outside the Capitol.
Early warning signs of Republican resistance also left GOP leaders dead in Washington, waiting for lawmakers who had negotiated a holdout with holdout negotiations, which left them dead.
By dusk, pizza and other dinners had arrived at the Capitol, so the next step was uncertain.
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Associated Press authors Mary Claire Jaronick and Matt Brown contributed.
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