The US House of Representatives on Thursday gave the green light to the ‘big beautiful bill‘, President Donald Trump’s major spending bill, after hours of voting.
The bill had already been approved by the House, the US House of Representatives. Subsequently, the bill also survived a vote in the Senate (the US Senate), but with a number of amendments. As a result, the House now had to reconsider it.
With a majority in the House of Representatives, this would normally be a formality. But a number of Republican representatives opposed the amended bill, partly because analysts say the national debt will eventually rise to $3.3 trillion (equivalent to around €2.8 trillion).
This caused an hours-long impasse. Speaker Mike Johnson did everything he could to get the bill through parliament. He stretched a procedural vote, which normally takes a few minutes, to more than seven hours. This broke the record for the longest vote ever.
In the meantime, hard work was being done behind the scenes to get the Republican faction on the same page. This succeeded in the early hours of Wednesday to Thursday (US time). Shortly after midnight, it became clear that the bill had enough support, a signal that the Republican obstructionists had relented.
Only then did the substantive consideration of the law begin. After hours of deliberation, the bill was passed on Thursday with 218 votes to 214. Only two Republicans voted against the proposal. All members of the Democratic Party voted against the bill. Trump will sign the bill on Friday.
Effects of legislation will only be noticeable years later
The law is considered President Trump’s flagship. Although he can go his own way undisturbed in foreign policy, he needs the support of Congress for domestic legislation. The ‘big beautiful bill’ is his first major package of legislation with a number of major policy changes.
The package contains a large tax cut and tightening of immigration policy. Critics point out that not only will the national debt rise rapidly, but the poorest Americans will also pay for the costs.
In practice, it will take years before all parts of the ‘big beautiful bill’ are implemented. Due to the size of the package and the cumbersome American bureaucracy, most effects will only be noticeable years later.