WASHINGTON — President Trump fumed on social media as a procedural vote on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act stalled on the floor of the House of Representatives.
“Largest Tax Cuts in History and a Booming Economy vs. Biggest Tax Increase in History, and a Failed Economy. What are the Republicans waiting for???” Trump wrote on Truth Social, just after midnight Thursday.
“What are you trying to prove???” the president continued, his post clearly directed at several congressional Republican holdouts. “MAGA IS NOT HAPPY, AND IT’S COSTING YOU VOTES!!!”
Minutes later, Trump posted: “FOR REPUBLICANS, THIS SHOULD BE AN EASY YES VOTE. RIDICULOUS!!!”
Five GOP House lawmakers – Reps. Keith Self of Texas, Andrew Clyde of Georgia, Victoria Spartz of Indiana, Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Thomas Massie of Kentucky – were nays on the vote to open debate on passing the massive legislative package when the president fired off the post.
Eight Republican members had not yet voted on the procedural measure, including several members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, which has signaled opposition to the changes the Senate made and approved in a 51-50 vote on Trump’s agenda bill Tuesday.
“They’re going to vote for. They’re not opposed to the bill,” House Ways and Means Chairman Jason Smith (R-Mo.) told reporters during the standstill.
“What I would tell my colleagues is, don’t allow perfection to get in the way of greatness – and that is why they will vote for this bill and that is why the president will be signing into law on July 4th,” the congressman added. “Record that, see if I’m right.”
The lack of progress on the so-called “Rules” vote followed a nearly 8-hour-long vote on a different procedural measure that eventually passed.
House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.), who’s been working to get the holdouts onboard, indicated that he’s willing to keep the rules vote open for “as long as it takes.”
“I’ll keep it open as long as it takes to make sure we’ve got everybody here and accounted for and all the questions answered,” Johnson told Fox News host Sean Hannity. “I made that commitment to my members.”
If the rules vote passes, at least one hour of debate would take place on the bill before a final vote is taken on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
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