A highly controversial tax cut bill supported by President Trump, delayed for days due to disagreements among Republicans, barely passed a major obstacle Sunday night when it moved forward in the House Budget Committee. This win for Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson came only after intense talks with a group of stubborn conservatives who had initially stopped the bill.
While getting through this committee is a big step, the bill’s future is still unclear because of strong political divisions and worries about its wide-ranging effects. The bill, which seeks to extend Trump’s 2017 tax cuts and includes lowering taxes on tips and overtime pay, is facing strong pushback, mostly from Republicans themselves. Four conservative Republicans on the House Budget Committee, who had earlier voted against the bill, finally let it move forward but only after voicing serious complaints and demanding more changes.
According to Reuters and MSNBC, their main concerns were about not cutting enough from federal spending programs, especially Medicaid and the green energy tax credits pushed by Democrats. These conservatives said the proposed cuts did not do enough to tackle the country’s rising debt, a view shared by Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who played down the importance of a recent Moody’s credit rating drop.
Trump’s tax bill has gone far, but may not make it the whole way through
The Moody’s downgrade, which pointed to the expected rise in national debt, estimated to grow by $3 trillion to $5 trillion over the next ten years, reaching levels above 134% of GDP by 2035, was a key part of the heated debate. That’s not even mentioning the tariffs somehow making up for taxes.
They see the downgrade as a major warning, showing the need for either higher taxes or much bigger spending cuts. The fast pace of the bill’s movement through Congress, with less than 72 hours to debate and consider deep Medicaid cuts that could kick millions off the program, has led to comparisons with past administrations, contrasting it with slower, more careful lawmaking processes from earlier years. Representative Chip Roy said, “we’ve made progress this weekend … but we didn’t get nearly far enough.”
President Trump and the GOP lied to Americans about their "big beautiful bill."
— Sen. Cory Booker (@SenBooker) May 19, 2025
Tax on tips? Still there.
Tax on overtime? Still there.
Tax on Social Security benefits? Still there.
Over and over again, the Trump administration chooses to help the wealthiest Americans instead… pic.twitter.com/LcMSc5zHXt
The bill’s approval by the House Budget Committee sends it to the House Rules Committee, where more changes could happen. Speaker Johnson wants to get the House’s approval before Memorial Day, a tight schedule that has raised concerns about whether there’s enough time to fully review the bill’s wide effects. This rushed approach is very different from past efforts, like the 1986 Reagan tax reform, which involved long hearings and months of talks.
The current speed has drawn criticism, with experts noting cases where House Republicans voted on bills without fully understanding what was in them. The proposed Medicaid cuts are especially controversial. The bill is expected to remove 8.6 million people from the program, a result that moderate Republicans and many Democrats strongly oppose, arguing it unfairly hurts low-income Americans and could cause major job losses in healthcare.
The quick process also raises concerns about not doing enough economic impact studies, similar to what happened with the 2017 tax cuts, which, according to the Congressional Budget Office, ended up increasing the federal deficit by nearly $1.9 trillion.
Making things even more complicated, the bill faces more challenges in the Senate, where some Republican senators have said they plan to make big changes. This isn’t the first time we’ve heard about the cuts on the chopping block. The possibility of more amendments and negotiations, along with the already narrow Republican majority in the House, shows how unstable the bill’s position is.
