President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” failed to pass the House Budget Committee on Friday, in what appears to be a massive blow to House GOP leaders’ plans to hold a House-wide vote next week.
Republican Reps. Chip Roy of Texas, Josh Brecheen of Oklahoma, Andrew Clyde of Georgia and Ralph Norman of South Carolina all voted against the legislation.
A fifth House Republican, Rep. Lloyd Smucker of Pennsylvania, also switched his vote from “yes” to “no,” though it was a procedural maneuver that allows him to bring the legislation up again. Smucker told reporters he was “quite confident” in the bill’s success.
House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, said the panel would likely not meet again on Friday, and could reconvene on Monday.
The committee met to mark up and debate the bill, a massive piece of legislation that’s a product of 11 different House committees’ individual efforts to craft policy under their jurisdictions. The result is a wide-ranging bill that advances Trump’s priorities on the border, immigration, taxes, energy, defense and raising the debt limit.
Emotions ran high in the hallway outside the House Budget Committee’s meeting room from the outset, however, giving the media little