Republicans reject Trump tax-cut bill after president calls for unity
Trump’s sweeping tax bill failed to clear a key hurdle, as hardline Republicans wanted deeper cuts to programs like Medicaid.
With President Donald Trump’s legislative agenda in trouble, the White House pivoted over the weekend to selling the bill as a key part of his immigration enforcement efforts.
Trump was dealt a rare setback in Congress on May 16 when five Republicans joined with Democrats on the House Budget Committee in voting against the president’s legislation, which includes tax cuts, immigration enforcement measures and other GOP priorities. Trump has dubbed it the “one big, beautiful bill.”
The GOP lawmakers who oppose the legislation wanted deeper spending cuts. As written, the bill would have added trillions of dollars to the federal government’s $36.2 trillion in debt over the next decade.
Struggling to get the votes to advance the bill, the White House shifted the focus to immigration enforcement measures within the legislation, which are popular within the GOP.
The bill would provide funding to boost Trump’s deportation efforts, the White House noted in a May 17 press release.
“Put simply, The Big Beautiful Bill will empower Big Beautiful Deportations,” the release states.
Trump’s deportation tactics have been controversial. He has relied on an 18th-century wartime law to swiftly remove migrants, drawing complaints and court challenges asserting his administration is depriving people of their right to due process. The case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia, a Maryland man who was wrongly sent to a notorious prison in El Salvador, has attracted considerable attention. However, stronger immigration enforcement is a unifying message for a GOP Congress divided on how to fashion a package of tax and spending cuts.
With lawmakers at odds over how deeply to cut spending, Congressman Nick LaLota, R-New York, declared on May 17 that the legislation had “stalled” and suggested raising revenue by letting tax cuts enacted during Trump’s first administration expire for high earners.
LaLota suggested allowing the tax rate to go from 37% to 39.6% for individuals earning more than $609,350 and married couples earning more than $731,200, saying it “breathes $300 billion of new life into the effort” and is in line with the GOP’s new focus on working-class voters.
“The One Big Beautiful Bill has stalled – and it needs wind in its sails. Allowing the top tax rate to expire… breathes $300 billion of new life into the effort,” LaLota wrote on social media.
Trump has said he wouldn’t mind raising taxes on high earners, but is worried about the politics.
The president has urged Republicans to come together and support his legislation, posting on social media May 16 that “We don’t need ‘GRANDSTANDERS’ in the Republican Party.”
“STOP TALKING, AND GET IT DONE!” Trump added.
GOP lawmakers who voted against Trump’s bill said they hoped to reach a deal with House Speaker Mike Johnson to amend the legislation over the weekend.
Contributing: Reuters