【Text by Observers Network, Qi Qian】After a series of twists and turns, the "Big and Beautiful" tax and spending bill pushed by the Trump administration has finally passed a procedural vote in the House of Representatives, officially entering the voting stage. However, as of now, the fate of this bill remains uncertain.
On the morning of July 3 local time, the Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said he expected the House to vote on passing this bill around 8:00 to 8:30 a.m. However, CNN pointed out that it is still unclear when the final vote and passage of the bill will take place.
Now, the Democratic minority leader in the House, Hakeem Jeffries, is still delivering a speech before the formal vote. So far, the speech has lasted more than five hours, far exceeding Johnson's previous expectations. Jeffries said, "I'll take my time; I'm still enjoying the good times here."
CNN also mentioned that if all House members are present for the vote, the bill can afford to lose up to three Republican votes to pass. Before that, the "Big and Beautiful" bill faced obstacles in the House vote, and at one point, five Republicans defected during the vote.
"Trump hardly slept all night"
On the morning of the 3rd, Johnson told reporters that President Trump had hardly slept all night, spending the whole night communicating with lawmakers.
"He has been directly involved as always, which is very important," Johnson said. "Everyone wants to hear his assurance about future development, future plans, and next steps. He has provided tremendous help in this process."
Johnson continued, "I have talked to him several times throughout the day, the night, and this morning. I mean, he was still busy until 1 a.m. today. As far as I know, he may not have gone to sleep yet. He doesn't sleep much. So, you know, he is always directly involved, wanting to know every detail of the game, what's happening, and how he can help."
According to Johnson, the House members will continue to debate, possibly taking two to three hours, and then proceed to the final vote. He said, "I expect us to pass this bill around 8 or 8:30 a.m. today, maybe even earlier."
Photo from video: Johnson answering journalists' questions in the House
However, according to the latest news from CNN, as of 10 a.m. local time on the 3rd, the House had still not started the voting process.
It is known that Jeffries has spoken for more than five hours in the "magic minute" period. The "magic minute" is a tradition that allows the House leadership to give an indefinite speech during parliamentary debates. In 2021, the then-House Republican leader Kevin McCarthy set a record of 8 hours and 32 minutes of speaking time to protest the domestic policy bill of former President Biden.
Jeffries was holding a thick file full of information, sharing stories of Americans who would be affected by changes in medical assistance and other welfare cuts with the legislators present. Jeffries spoke slowly, with long pauses between each word and sentence.
During Jeffries' speech, some Democratic representatives sitting behind him occasionally stood up to applaud. Meanwhile, Republicans sitting on the other side of the chamber were quietly talking or looking at their phones.
"I'm still enjoying the good times here, and we Democrats will continue to take our time," Jeffries joked, saying that as the Democratic leader, he had unlimited speaking time. He criticized the "Big and Beautiful" bill, stating, "Americans shouldn't die because of this cruel bill from the Republicans."
The Guardian reported that after delivering a five-hour speech, Jeffries still showed no sign of stopping. After Jeffries ended his speech, it is expected that Johnson would make a brief statement before the formal vote.
Photo from video: Jeffries says he will take his time after speaking for over five hours
The bill once faced difficulties, and Trump was upset
According to a previous summary by The New York Times, the bill called "Big and Beautiful" (One Big Beautiful Bill) by Trump aims to cut taxes, allocate more funds to military and border security, and pay for part of the costs by cutting medical assistance, food aid, education, and clean energy programs, significantly increasing the number of people without living security and the federal deficit.
The bill would also raise the debt ceiling by $4 trillion (approximately RMB 28.76 trillion), allowing the federal government to continue borrowing to finance its debt. Relevant agencies estimate that this would increase U.S. debt by more than $3.3 trillion over the next 10 years, with the federal debt-to-GDP ratio expected to rise from the current 98% to a record high of 125%.
Recently, the U.S. Senate passed the "Big and Beautiful" bill with a narrow margin of 51 votes for and 50 votes against. Since it had significant modifications compared to the version previously passed by the House, the bill needed to be passed again by the House before being submitted to the President for signing into law.
At 9:30 p.m. on the evening of February 2nd, the House conducted multiple rounds of procedural votes on the "Big and Beautiful" bill.
It is introduced that this was a key threshold for the bill to enter the formal debate and voting procedure. If all procedural votes pass, the House will move to the formal debate and voting phase. According to the current House rules, if more than three Republican members vote against, the bill would not be able to enter the formal debate and voting stage.
However, at midnight on the 3rd, the procedural vote result for the "Big and Beautiful" bill in the House remained at 207 votes for and 217 votes against, with a deadlock. Five Republican members defected, voting against, and another eight Republican members had not yet voted.
On the other hand, President Trump was extremely upset. He posted three messages on the "Truth Social" platform, urging Republicans to "defeat Democrats tonight" and "make America great again"; when the vote got stuck, he urged Republicans to vote quickly and not let the MAGA group get angry; in the early hours, he raged, calling Republicans "absurdly ridiculous".
Photo from Trump's post
Johnson: There might still be some Republicans voting against
According to a report by NBC, seeing this situation, House Republican Speaker Mike Johnson adopted a delaying tactic, announcing an indefinite postponement of the vote while pressuring the defectors to change their minds. However, when Johnson tried to talk to the Republican members one-on-one, the Republican members found that Pennsylvania Republican Representative Fitzpatrick had already left the hall and was not answering his phone.
The report stated that on the evening of February 2nd, Pennsylvania Republican Representative Brian Fitzpatrick cast a "surprising" vote against. Subsequently, some of his Republican colleagues rushed to find him, trying to convince him to change his stance.
But after casting his vote, Fitzpatrick immediately rushed out of the hall, and no one could find him again.
When NBC reporter informed Republican representative Dusty Johnson that Fitzpatrick seemed to have run away, Dusty replied, "That's smart." It is reported that Dusty later tried to call Fitzpatrick but failed.
Photo: The only Republican representative who cast a vote against, Brian Fitzpatrick
According to public information, Fitzpatrick is a centrist from a swing district. His opposition stemmed both from the Medicaid cuts in the Senate version of the "Big and Beautiful" bill and from broader concerns about spending.
Johnson revealed that around 1 a.m. on the morning of the 3rd, Trump called him, saying he could personally call the Republican members who had voted against the bill to try to change their minds. Johnson said, "I said, 'Mr. President, you've done your job, and we will do ours.'"
According to a report by The Hill, Trump called several Republican representatives who had voted against the bill on the early morning of the 3rd.
Finally, on the morning of the 3rd, the "Big and Beautiful" bill passed the procedural vote, officially entering the House voting stage. The final vote count was 219 votes for and 213 votes against, with only the "missing" Fitzpatrick among the Republicans voting against.
On the morning of the 3rd, Johnson admitted that he might lose Fitzpatrick's support vote in the formal voting stage.
"I had a long conversation with him," Johnson told reporters, "Brian is a very excellent and trustworthy friend, and he has confidence in certain provisions of the bill. But he has the right to do so."
When asked whether he thought Fitzpatrick would ultimately vote against the bill, Johnson answered, "He might. We'll see what he does. I'm not sure."
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