By a razor-thin partisan votes the U.S. Congress this week approved President Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Budget Bill,” a sweeping omnibus budget bill for fiscal year 2026.
The bill (H.R. 1, you can read through it here) includes making permanent 2017 tax cuts implemented during Trump’s first term, reduces taxes on tips and overtime and increases spending on defense, border security and energy exploration as well as cutting spending on some entitlements, including Medicaid.
Vice President JD Vance broke a tie in the early hours Tuesday, ensuring final passage by a 51-50 vote that was entirely along partisan lines.
The House vote was 219-214, with Republicans also holding a slim majority. Some GOP members have threatened to stop the legislation as the House faces pressure from the Trump White House to adopt the measure before the July 4 holiday.
Other measures in the bill (quick summary here) would reduce taxes on small business and prevent state regulation of artificial intelligence.
Republican U.S. Rep. Barry Loudermilk, whose 11th District in Georgia includes East Cobb, was an enthusiastic supporter of the bill.
“President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill will deliver historic tax relief for hardworking Americans, and a vote against it is a vote for the largest tax hike in American history,” Loudermilk wrote Tuesday afternoon on his Facebook page.
He laid out a series of “myth vs. fact” talking points, insisting that the bill “delivers the largest middle- and working-class tax cut in U.S. history. This legislation will put more than $10,000 a year back in the pockets of typical hardworking families. This is one of the most pro-growth, pro-worker, pro-family pieces of legislation ever crafted.”
Loudermilk also called the bill “the most pro-American worker bill ever” with the cuts on taxes for tips and overtime, a boon to Trump’s populist base, and denied that it will cut Medicare, close rural hospitals and increase the national deficit.
But the Congressional Budget Office has calculated that $3.3 trillion would be added to the national deficit over the next decade. Some estimates are higher than that.
Among the more outspoken critics of the bill is Democratic U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock of Georgia, who said passage was”a big, ugly betrayal. Republican politicians in Washington just voted to dismantle Obamacare and spike your health insurance bill. They’re taking from you to pay for another tax break for big corporations.”
He complained that his overnight amendment to save “thousands of clean energy jobs in Georgia and across the nation” was blocked by Republicans.
Earlier, Warnock, a former pastor at Ebenezer Baptist Church in Atlanta, took to the Senate well to ask “Sometimes I find myself wondering: Are Washington Republicans with whom I share the same faith reading from the same Bible?”
Democratic U.S. Sen. Jon Ossoff of Georgia said Tuesday afternoon the bill “is a disaster for Georgia,” and that it “guts Medicaid, crushes nursing homes and hospitals” in addition to adding to the debt.
Also opposing the bill is entrepreneur Elon Musk, who supported Trump’s re-election and headed up a federal budget-cutting project before recently leaving.
On the X (formerly Twitter) social platform he owns, Musk said that “every single member of Congress who campaigned on reducing government spending and then immediately voted for the biggest debt increase in history should hang their head in shame!”
He claimed the debt would climb by $5 trillion, and declared that “we live in one-party country—the PORKY PIG PARTY!”
But the White House summarized the Senate vote in stark partisan terms, noting that no Democrats voted for it.
U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent said in a statement that the “Senate vote is a major step forward in enacting President Trump’s agenda to revitalize the American economy and provide certainty to households and businesses alike.
“We encourage House Republicans to act quickly so that we can deliver on President Trump’s promises to power the future of our economy and ensure the United States remains the world’s premier destination for capital and innovation.”
Related:
- Ga. Congressional members issue statements on Iran attacks
- Editor’s Note: An uneventful ‘No Kings’ rally in East Cobb
- Allen takes office as Cobb commission elections certified
- Kemp won’t challenge Ossoff in U.S. Senate race
- MORE: Visit the East Cobb News Politics & Elections Page
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