“DEVASTATING”
Democrats called the Bill “devastating” for the middle class, pointing to CBO estimates that its cuts to public health insurance for low-income Americans would deprive around eight million people of coverage.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries called the Bill “the largest cut to health care in American history … in order to enact the largest tax breaks for billionaires in American history”.
Trump has seen his polling numbers plummet since his White House return, but success in uniting the normally polarised House Republicans underlined his continued sway over the party.
The president had pressured lawmakers to back his signature legislation in a rare Capitol Hill visit on Tuesday after it hit a series of roadblocks pitting conservative fiscal hawks against moderate Republicans.
The hawks were unhappy that cuts shaving US$700 billion from the Medicaid health insurance program did not go deeper – a red line for moderates and possibly for Trump, who told the party in coarse terms not to touch the social safety net.
To appease his right flank, Johnson moved up the enforcement of work requirements for Medicaid recipients by two years to the end of 2026, and agreed to phase out clean energy tax credits earlier.
Meanwhile, a group of moderate northeastern Republicans pushing for huge increases in the state and local tax write-off secured a compromise of a four-fold hike, from US$10,000 to US$40,000.
But the Bill is likely to undergo at least a month of significant rewrites in the Senate, which plans to get the package to Trump’s desk by Jul 4.
Trump’s iron grip in the House does not always extend to the upper chamber, where members only face re-election every six years and are less susceptible to the president’s cajoling.
“In the House, President Trump can threaten a primary,” Wisconsin senator Ron Johnson told Punchbowl News as he railed against cuts he considers too shallow.
“Those guys want to keep their seats, I understand the pressure. He can’t pressure me that way.”
Fellow Senate conservative Rand Paul told the publication: “Once the Republicans vote for this, Republicans are going to own the deficit.”
