A budget bill, long touted by Donald Trump as the “big, beautiful bill” hit a roadblock on Friday when lawmakers from the president’s own party voted against it in congress.
Five Republicans joined all Democrats in delivering a stunning setback to President Trump’s domestic agenda, demanding deeper budget cuts.
Trump, who has muscled through close votes several times this year, urged lawmakers to unite behind the legislation. “We don’t need ‘GRANDSTANDERS’ in the Republican Party. STOP TALKING, AND GET IT DONE!,” he posted on Truth Social.
The bill’s chances of success are not hopeless, but its failure gives the Trump administration its first legislative bruise of the year.
Support for the bill among Republicans varies. Some hard-liners want to see the budget cuts go further, while other Republicans have expressed concern about cuts to programmes like Medicaid, which their constituents are dependent on.
The five Republicans who voted against the measure in the procedural vote said they would continue to withhold support unless Speaker Mike Johnson agreed to further cut Medicaid, a healthcare programme for lower-income Americans.
They also want Johnson to include a full repeal of green energy tax cuts, implemented by Democrats, in the bill.
“This bill falls profoundly short,” said Texas Republican Chip Roy, who voted against the measure. “It does not do what we say it does with respect to deficits.”
The proposed legislation would extend tax cuts implemented during Trump’s first administration.
While Trump touts the bill’s inclusion of a no tax on tips policy, some critics argue the bill benefits wealthy Americans.
Democrats, who overwhelmingly oppose the bill, have been urging the reconsideration of Medicaid cuts and spending cuts to the Affordable care Act which offers millions of Americans subsidised health insurance.
“No other previous bill, no other previous law, no other previous event caused so many millions of Americans to lose their healthcare. Not even the Great Depression,” Pennsylvania Democrat Brendan Boyle said.
If passed, the tax cuts would cost $3.72 trillion (£2.8t) over ten years, according to congress’s bipartisan Joint Tax Committee.
