GOP Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania broke with President Donald Trump and the rest of their party on the signature piece of legislation.
President Trump’s big bill passes Senate with help from JD Vance
President Donald Trump’s amended bill was narrowly passed by the Senate, with Vice President JD Vance’s vote breaking the 50-50 tie.
- GOP Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania voted against Trump’s legislative package.
WASHINGTON – Two House Republicans voted against swallowing the Senate’s version of President Donald Trump’s signature legislative package of tax reductions and Medicaid cuts.
The opponents were GOP Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania.
Reporters asked Trump about whether he would seek a primary opponent to challenge Fitzpatrick, as he threatened when Sen. Thom Tillis, R-North Carolina, voted against the bill. But Trump didn’t tip his hand.
“I was disappointed that he did that,” Trump said. “I was disappointed that he voted no.”
The 218-214 vote was another nail-biter of round-the-clock negotiations in the Republican effort to approve Trump’s domestic agenda against the unified opposition of Democrats. The House has 220 Republicans and 212 Democrats, with three vacancies.
The House approved its initial version of the bill on a 215-214 vote in May. After four days of marathon debate and voting, Senate approved its version in a 51-50 vote July 1, with three Republicans voting no and Vice President JD Vance breaking the tie.
On July 3, Fitzpatrick was the only Republican opposed to the rule that set up a straight up-or-down vote on the Senate’s version of the bill. The near unanimity came after Trump hosted skeptical lawmakers at the White House to answer their questions, worked the phones overnight and cheered the vote through social media.
During the earlier House vote in May, five Republicans didn’t vote for the bill.
Massie had already announced his opposition for what he said was too much spending. Trump responded that Massie should be voted out of office.
Rep. Warren Davidson of Ohio also voted against the earlier version of the House bill for increasing the deficit. He said on social media July 2 he would support the Senate version as “the best deal on the table.”
Harris voted present, which would have effectively been an opposition vote if the rest of the lawmakers had tied. He became one of the most vocal opponents to accepting the Senate version.
Reps. David Schweikert of Arizona and Andrew Garbarino of New York missed the vote entirely. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-Louisiana, said Garbarino “fell asleep in the back” after the all-night session and inadvertently missed the vote.
Three vacancies in the House represent seats previously held by Democrats who died: Reps. Gerry Connolly of Virginia, Raul Grijalva of Arizona and Sylvester Turner of Texas.
