Congressional Cowards is a weekly sequence highlighting the worst Donald Trump defenders on Capitol Hill, who refuse to criticize him—irrespective of how disgraceful or lawless his actions.
After weeks of bellyaching that Donald Trump’s “One Huge, Lovely, Invoice” added an excessive amount of to the deficit and did not make sufficient draconian cuts to Medicaid, Home Republicans all caved and voted for the shit sandwich of a finances that rips well being care away from tens of millions of People, will depart tens of millions of low-income households hungry, makes faculty costlier, and cuts clear power investments—all to solely partially pay for tax cuts that profit the richest few.
A number of Republicans within the right-wing Home Freedom Caucus, who hours earlier had panned the laws as a deficit-exploding dud, rotated and voted for the invoice within the early hours of Thursday morning—all as a result of their Pricey Chief threatened them with main challenges in the event that they did not fold, saying voting towards the invoice could be the “ultimate betrayal.”
Home Freedom Caucus members claimed they voted for the laws due to last-minute adjustments GOP management made that slashed Medicaid funding and phased out clear power tax credit extra rapidly. These tax credit have been handed by Democrats within the Inflation Discount Act and have created jobs, a lot of them in states Trump carried in 2024.
“This morning, Members of the House Freedom Caucus delivered the votes necessary to advance President Trump’s agenda after securing significant wins in making the reconciliation bill the most conservative version possible—much more conservative than the original House GOP proposal in January that would have achieved a measly $300 billion in deficit reduction,” the Home Freedom Caucus mentioned in a press release, taking a victory lap for a invoice that can add a minimum of $3.8 trillion to the deficit over the following decade, freaking out bond buyers who not view the US as a secure place to speculate their cash.
No member caved tougher than Rep. Chip Roy of Texas, who for days had been warning of the injury the deficit-increasing laws would do to the financial system, solely to vote for the invoice Thursday morning.
Roy had tanked the invoice in a Home Funds Committee listening to final week, however he voted for the invoice in the long run.
“We moved the needle a lot in the last 72 hours, ” he advised CNBC on Thursday,
Rep. Scott Perry of Pennsylvania had additionally been noncommittal within the days earlier than the vote, arguing the laws added an excessive amount of to the debt.
“I get tired of hearing ‘no one really cares about the debt,'” Perry wrote in a put up on X on Monday. “Yes. Yes they do.”
However you guessed it—Perry caved after the Trump assembly.
“I never said I was a no, but I said I had concerns,” Perry told CNN. “Now that we have the text, we’re going to go through it.”
Rep. Tim Burchett of Tennessee had additionally squawked about not voting for the invoice however in the long run did simply that, telling that he’s sad it will increase the finances,
“I do not like that one bit, however I do not know what the opposite choice is true now,” he whined.
Actually, that’s the excuse different GOP lawmakers made as effectively, together with Rep. Eric Burlison of Missouri, who mentioned the Home Freedom Caucus gave in as a result of that they had no different selection. A lot for sticking to their convictions on the deficit.
“I think that there’s a moment where you just kind of take a collective pause and say we’ve accomplished a lot, and so we just have been—we’ve been heads down in this fight for so long,” Burlison rambled to CNN.
The one Republicans who caught to their convictions have been Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Warren Davidson of Ohio, who each voted no due to the quantity the invoice provides to the deficit. And each might now pay a political worth for that, as White Home press secretary Karoline Leavitt mentioned Thursday that Trump desires to recruit main challengers to oust them from Congress.
The invoice now heads to the Senate, the place hard-line Republicans are voicing related issues concerning the laws’s impression on the federal deficit, whereas others are complaining concerning the invoice’s Medicaid cuts.
They declare they will not cave.
“Within the Home, President Trump can threaten a main. These guys wish to maintain their seats, I perceive the stress. He can’t stress me that approach,” Sen. Ron Johnson of Wisconsin advised Punchbowl Information.
Within the immortal phrases of Marcia Brady: “Certain, Jan.”
