Trump has been urging the Republican-controlled Congress to quickly comply with the Big and Beautiful Act, which in many other provisions expanded tax cuts during his first term while imposing new restrictions on welfare programs.
House Speaker Mike Johnson told Fox News Sunday.
Independent congressional analysts calculate that tax regulations for large taxes will add $4.8 trillion to the federal deficit over the next decade.
To partially offset that, Republicans plan to make major cuts in spending — especially adding new restrictions on Medicaid, which helps provide health insurance for more than 70 million low-income Americans.
According to estimates by the Independent Congressional Budget Office, changes in the policy will cause more than 10 million people to lose coverage of the program. But the sharp division within the party at least threatens to slow down the legislative process. The sharp cuts in the popular plan could hurt the party’s prospects in the November 2026 midterm elections.
However, the Deficit Hawks insisted on the right and right of the party that the expected cuts were not enough.
A handful of Republican lawmakers voted against the bill on Friday, at least temporarily derailing.
“We don’t like smoke and mirrors,” said one of the lawmakers. “We want real cuts.”
Speaker Johnson has been working hard over the weekend to convince layoffs. Republicans have a very slim majority in the House, which means the bill needs almost unanimous support to pass.
“This is the biggest spending reduction in at least three decades, and it may be longer,” he told the FOX plan. “It’s very historical.”
The Budget Committee will continue to debate the bill until later Sunday, hoping to be passed this time.
But even if it passes through the House, it will face challenges in the Senate.
Republicans in the House of Lords (the same narrow majority) demand a major change to the Comprehensive Act – Trump is eager to serve as a signal achievement early in his second term.
