The massive tax and spending package that cleared the House on Thursday didn’t just deliver President Donald Trump a big win. It also handed both parties a message for the midterms.
Democrats were united in their opposition to the bill, while Republicans saw two defections: the fiscally conservative Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Pennsylvania Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick, one of three GOP lawmakers whose district backed Kamala Harris in 2024.
“It should never be forgotten that every single House Democrat voted against all of it,” Speaker Mike Johnson said in a statement after the measure’s passage.
House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries didn’t have the votes to scuttle the bill, but he used his 8-hour, 44-minute, 25-second floor speech to highlight its less popular elements, such as cuts to Medicaid and food assistance benefits.
The Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee said it plans to use the bill to hammer Republicans, particularly those hailing from swing districts who’ve expressed concerns that the sweeping measure could lead to the closure of rural hospitals and hurt vulnerable populations. Jeffries name-dropped several of them in his floor remarks, including Reps. David Valadao of California, Mike Lawler of New York and Mariannette Miller-Meeks of Iowa. All ended up voting for the measure.
“This Big, Ugly Bill is a laundry list of Republicans’ betrayal to the American people,’’ DCCC Chair Suzan DelBene said in a statement. “The DCCC will make sure every battleground voter knows how vulnerable House Republicans abandoned them by passing the most unpopular piece of legislation in modern American history, and we’re going to take back the House majority because of it.”
House Republicans are defending a narrow majority heading into next year’s midterm elections, with 63 seats currently rated competitive by Inside Elections with Nathan L. Gonzales. The DCCC listed 35 Republicans on its initial target list.
Valadao, who represents a largely rural district in California’s San Joaquin Valley with a high percentage of Medicaid recipients, said he struggled with his vote on the bill.
“It was not an easy decision for me, but I voted yes on the budget reconciliation bill,” Valadao said in a statement. “Since January when the reconciliation process began, I’ve been a vocal advocate for protecting and preserving Medicaid for the most vulnerable in my district. I know how important the program is for my constituents.”
Valadao, who was among the Republican swing district holdouts who met with Trump in the White House on Wednesday, said he ultimately voted in favor of the measure “because it does preserve the Medicaid program for its intended recipients — children, pregnant women, the disabled, and elderly,” as well as because of its provisions cutting taxes on tips and overtime wages, among others.
“These are real wins that will put more money back in the pockets of hardworking families throughout the Valley,’’ he said.
Valadao’s lone declared Democratic opponent thus far, political science professor and local school board trustee Randy Villegas, slammed the congressman’s vote.
“This vote isn’t just a betrayal – it’s a slap in the face to the very people Valadao was elected to represent,” he said in a statement. “If Valadao has the audacity to ever show his face in this district again, he’s going to have to answer to the people.”
Polls show several parts of the budget bill are unpopular with voters, with support for the overall measure underwater, according to several recent surveys.
Republicans will embark on their own messaging mission, focusing on the bill’s more popular aspects, such as provisions to temporarily eliminate federal taxes on tips and bolster funding for border security.
“Democrats want to maintain the status quo,’’ North Carolina Rep. Richard Hudson, chair of the National Republican Congressional Committee, wrote in an op-ed for Breitbart News. “Republicans want you to keep more of what you earn. That’s the choice. And that’s the message we’ll be driving home across every battleground in America.”
The NRCC named 26 House Democrats to its initial target list, including all 13 minority party lawmakers who hold seats that Trump carried last fall.
Several House Democrats who voted against the measure Thursday are running for open Senate seats, and the campaign arm of the Senate GOP wasted no time going after them Thursday.
Reps. Chris Pappas of New Hampshire, Haley Stevens of Michigan and Angie Craig of Minnesota “just voted for the largest tax hike in American history,” the National Republican Senatorial Committee said on social media.
On Tuesday, three Republican senators joined all members of the Senate Democratic Caucus in voting against the budget reconciliation bill: Kentucky’s Rand Paul, Maine’s Susan Collins and North Carolina’s Thom Tillis.
Tillis’ opposition to the bill drew outrage from Trump, who threatened to back a primary challenge to the second-term senator. In a surprise move, Tillis then announced his retirement, saying leaders who embraced bipartisanship and compromise were becoming an “endangered species” in Washington.
Unlike their House counterparts, Senate Republicans, who hold 53 seats in the chamber, face a more favorable landscape next year. Just two GOP-held seats are currently rated as battlegrounds by Inside Elections – the North Carolina seat Tillis is vacating and Collins’ seat in Maine, where Democrats are yet to land a high-profile challenger.
Andrew Menezes contributed to this report.
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