(Hill) – Rep. Thomas Massey (r-ky.) and Brian Fitzpatrick (r-pa.) were the only Republicans to defeat their party when the house pushed “big, beautiful bill” until Thursday after more than 24 hours of session.
Massey was one of the earliest GOP voices for the bill, and opposed the measure throughout the week. He had already achieved a major potential challenge for President Trump to support against Iran’s American airstrikes.
Other GOP lawmakers initially opposed the bill overnight as many members of the Conservative Freedom Caucus were added to the deficit.
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But for hours with Republican leadership and pressure from the White House, many of the holdouts have flipped the vote to “yes” for the bill’s advancement.
In a statement after the vote, Fitzpatrick said he could not comply with a version of the Senate bill.
“I voted for greater Medicaid protection, permanently extending middle class tax cuts, strengthening small business tax easing, and for historic investments in border security and military forces,” Fitzpatrick said. “However, what changed the analysis of the PA-1 community was the Senate amendment to Medicaid, in addition to several other Senate regulations.”
“The original house language was written in a way that protects our community. The Senate amendment did not meet our standards,” he added.
The hill reached into Massy’s office.
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