House Republicans have pushed President Trump’s “one big beautiful bill” to the Senate after late-night negotiations that yielded wins for conservatives. Medicaid work requirements, the State and Local Tax deduction cap, and phase-outs of green energy tax credits were key to winning hardliners’ votes. 

On Thursday morning, the House passed the bill by a margin of 215 to 214, with two Republicans and all Democrats voting no. One GOP member, Congressman Andy Harris, voted present. 

The debate on the House floor grew heated early Thursday morning as the minority leader, Congressman Hakeem Jeffries, spoke for more than 20 minutes. The presiding officer admonished Mr. Jeffries and told him to address his speech to the sitting chairman, though the Brooklyn Democrat had no interest in doing so. 

“I don’t work for you, sir,” Mr. Jeffries shouted back just before 6 a.m., leading his Democratic colleagues to give him a lengthy standing ovation. 

Toward the end of his remarks, Mr. Jeffries claimed that Thursday was the day that Republicans lost the 2026 midterms. Speaker Johnson was seen sitting in the middle of the House floor, rolling his eyes. 

Mr. Johnson had to huddle with conservatives over the course of three days this week to win their votes. Several members of the House Freedom Caucus tell the Sun that both Mr. Johnson and the White House made promises to them that were enough to get them to vote “yes.”

Leaving a meeting of Freedom Caucus lawmakers on Wednesday night, Congressman Andy Biggs — who is the Trump-endorsed candidate for Arizona governor — said he had switched to yes. Congressman Eric Burlison, another conservative, said he was “a lot more certain that we’re on the same page” after leaving that meeting. Congressman Ralph Norman similarly said he was happy about changes that had been made to the bill. 

All three members ended up voting for the bill on Thursday after saying on Wednesday that they could not support it. 

Hours after that Freedom Caucus meeting, an amendment was sent to the House Rules Committee that clarified Mr. Johnson’s changes to the bill. Medicaid work requirements that were originally set to start in 2029 were moved up to 2027. Several tax credits instituted in the Inflation Reduction Act were set to be phased out this year rather than several years from now. 

In an important win for the speaker and New York Republicans, the State and Local Tax deduction cap was raised to $50,000 for both individuals and couples who make less than $500,000, which won over the votes of blue state lawmakers. 

Concerns among conservatives and moderates alike will not abate in the coming weeks, however, as the Senate takes up the legislation. 

Something that could spook fiscal hawks even more than the deficit projections is the bond market. According to analysts, even if interest rates were to fall and remain low for the next 10 years, trillions of dollars would be added to the federal budget deficit before 2034. 

But on Wednesday — the day before the House passed the “one big beautiful bill” — yields unexpectedly shot up. The 20-year Treasury reached 5.1 percent at the end of the day Wednesday, the highest since 2023. The 10-year yield neared 4.6 percent on the same day. Bond markets are seemingly one of few market indicators that are driving administration policy, with Mr. Trump saying that he backed off his “Liberation Day” tariffs last month because bond markets were “getting yippy.”

If the House bill is enacted as written and interest rates stay at 4.5 percent, then Republicans will accelerate the debt crisis. According to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, if interest rates stay steady at 4.5 percent and the “one big beautiful bill” is signed into law as written, the annual interest cost on the nation’s debt will be more than $2 trillion — making it the largest federal expenditure by 2034. 

The biggest problem for House conservatives who wanted steeper cuts in the bill is not their fellow House Republicans nor their Democratic colleagues — it will be Senate Republicans who plan to make major changes to the legislation. 

Congress is going on recess starting Thursday, and will be out of town for its Memorial Day vacation until early June. Senators will have the chance to review the legislation before returning to Washington for their own amendment and debate process, though lawmakers in the upper chamber have already said they cannot vote for the House bill as written. 

Senator Hawley says the legislation must ensure Medicaid is protected, calling the House bill “morally wrong and politically suicidal.” Mr. Moran has also said he cannot support significant cuts to Medicaid, given the effects it would have on rural hospitals in his home state of Kansas. 

Senators Murkowski, Curtis, and Tillis, along with Mr. Moran, have all said that green energy tax credits from the Inflation Reduction Act must be maintained, even though House conservatives pushed for the credits to be phased out within the next two years. 

Mr. Curtis went even further this week, saying that Republicans were not being honest about the deficit and debt effects that this bill will have.