Speaker Mike Johnson delivered a major win for President Donald Trump early on Thursday morning, uniting a deeply divided House GOP to pass a bill that many of them were still pushing fiercely to change.
House Republicans passed President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax and spending cuts package, marking a stunning victory for both Johnson and Trump after the bill appeared doomed just days earlier.
“Sometimes it’s good to be underestimated, isn’t it?” a sleep-deprived Johnson said on the House floor early Thursday, after multiple all-night negotiating sessions with all corners of his conference.
Trump himself played a major role in passing the bill, which contains many of his own campaign trail promises, such as extending his 2017 tax breaks and eliminating taxes on tips and overtime pay. It also devotes billions to border security, allowing for a major crackdown on immigration. In multiple sit-downs with GOP lawmakers this week, Trump made impassioned appeals to members to back his agenda.
How much of the House’s version will survive the Senate GOP is unclear. Republicans in that chamber have signaled they plan to make changes of their own. But they are still under intense pressure to move quickly: Trump and Johnson have told members they want to sign the bill into law by July 4.
And any changes there could upset the careful balance struck by House GOP leaders to pass the bill through its narrow majority. In the end, Johnson only failed to win over three GOP votes.
The vote was 215 to 214. Republican Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Warren Davidson of Ohio voted against the bill, with House Freedom Caucus Chairman Andy Harris of Maryland voting present.
One of the bill’s biggest critics, Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, voted yes.
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