House Republicans launch an all-nighter to try to pass Trump’s big bill

WASHINGTON (AP) — Moving into an all-night session early Thursday, House Republicans reconvened to push ahead on their multitrillion-dollar tax breaks package, with Speaker Mike Johnson defying the skeptics within his ranks and working to muscle President Donald Trump’s priority bill to passage.

Johnson and his GOP leadership team appeared confident after a lengthy White House meeting with GOP holdouts to salvage the “big, beautiful bill,” even as more Republicans announced their opposition late Wednesday.

“You never know till the final vote tally, but I’m convinced we’re going to pass this bill tonight,” said Johnson, R-La., as the chamber action resumed shortly before midnight.

Throughout the evening the upbeat tone stood at odds with the unwieldy scene at the Capitol. The Rules Committee, which had been grinding through a marathon session, finally wrapped up after its own nearly 22-hour hearing, sending the package ahead on a party-line vote.

Democrats, without the votes to stop Trump’s package, offered countless amendments and impassioned speeches trying to stall progress and capitalize on the GOP disarray. As soon as the House floor reopened, the Democrats forced a vote to adjourn.

“We believe it’s one big, ugly bill that’s going to hurt the American people,” said House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries of New York as he testified before the committee.

“Hurt children, hurt families, hurt veterans, hurt seniors, cut health care, cut nutritional assistance, explode the debt,” he said.

It’s a make-or-break moment for the president and his party in Congress. They have invested much of their political capital during the crucial first few months of Trump’s return to the White House on the sprawling 1,000-page plus package. If the House Republicans fall in line with the president, overcoming unified Democratic objections, the measure would next go to the Senate.

Trump met for a lengthy session with Johnson and the holdouts at the White House, but it was not at all clear what, exactly, was agreed to — or not.

Late in the night, GOP leaders released a 42-page amendment of changes with many of the provisions that had been up for debate — as well as unexpected new ones, including a $12 billion fund for the Department of Homeland Security to reimburse states that help federal officials with deportations and border security.

They also renamed a new children’s savings program after the president, changing it from MAGA accounts — money account for growth and advancement — to simply “Trump” accounts.

One big problem had been the tentative deal with GOP lawmakers from New York and other high-tax states to quadruple the $10,000 deduction for state and local taxes, called SALT, to $40,000 for incomes up to $500,000, which was included in the final product.

But that costly provision, which runs into the hundreds of billions of dollars, alarmed the most conservative Republicans, worried it will add to the nation’s $36 trillion debt.

For every faction of the slim House majority that Johnson appeases, he risks losing others.

Rep. Andy Harris, R-Md., the chairman of the hard-right House Freedom Caucus, said earlier he did not believe the package could pass in a House vote, but “there is a pathway forward that we can see.”

A fresh analysis from the Congressional Budget Office said the tax provisions would increase federal deficits by $3.8 trillion over the decade, while the changes to Medicaid, food stamps and other services would tally $1 trillion in reduced spending. The lowest-income households in the U.S. would see their resources drop, while the highest ones would see a boost, the CBO said.

At its core, the package is centered on extending the tax breaks approved during Trump’s first term in 2017, while adding new ones he campaigned on during his 2024 campaign.

To make up for some of the lost revenue, the Republicans are focused on spending cuts to federal safety net programs and a massive rollback of green energy tax breaks from the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act.

Additionally, the package tacks on $350 billion in new spending, with about $150 billion going to the Pentagon, including for the president’s new “ Golden Dome” defense shield, and the rest for Trump’s mass deportation and border security agenda.

The package title carries Trump’s own words, the “ One Big Beautiful Bill Act.”

As Trump promised voters, the package proposes there would be no taxes on tips for certain workers, including those in some service industries; automobile loan interest; or some overtime pay.

There would be an increase to the standard income tax deduction, to $32,000 for joint filers, and a boost to the child tax credit to $2,500. There would be an enhanced deduction, of $4,000, for older adults of certain income levels, to help defray taxes on Social Security income.

To cut spending, the package would impose new work requirements for many people who receive health care through Medicaid. Able-bodied adults without dependents would need to fulfill 80 hours a month on a job or in other community activities.

Similarly, those who receive food stamps through the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, known as SNAP, would also face new work requirements.

Older Americans up to age 64, rather than 54, who are able-bodied and without dependents would need to work or engage in the community programs for 80 hours a month. Additionally, some parents of children older than 7 years old would need to fulfill the work requirements; under current law, the requirement comes after children are 18.

Republicans said they want to root out waste, fraud and abuse in the federal programs.

Conservatives are insisting on quicker, steeper cuts to federal programs to offset the costs of the trillions of dollars in lost tax revenue.

At the same time, more moderate and centrist lawmakers are wary of the changes to Medicaid that could result in lost health care for their constituents. Others are worried the phaseout of the renewable energy tax breaks will impede businesses using them to invest in green energy projects in many states.

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Associated Press writer Chris Megerian contributed to this report.