House Rules Committee advances Trump megabill as potential GOP revolt looms
The panel adopted the procedural rule in a 7-6 vote, with two Republicans — Reps. Chip Roy (R-Texas) and Ralph Norman (R-S.C.) — siding with Democrats against the measure, showcasing their opposition to the underlying legislation over deficit concerns.
The hearing ran for nearly 12 hours, with Democrats needling Republicans about the bill, GOP lawmakers largely praising the measure and some hardline conservatives criticizing its contents. The panel convened at 1:30 p.m. EDT on Tuesday and gaveled out just after 1 a.m. EDT on Wednesday.
Despite the successful vote, the legislation is far from being out of the woods.
The full chamber must now debate and vote to adopt the procedural rule, which could get dicey as a handful of hardline conservatives vow to oppose the effort. If the rule fails, legislative business in the House would be brought to a standstill, threatening to thwart leadership's goal of sending President Trump the package by July 4, which is Friday.
Republicans can only afford to lose three votes and still clear the procedural hurdle, assuming full attendance and united Democratic opposition. The House is scheduled to convene on Wednesday at 9 a.m. EDT, with debate first, then a vote.
Two of those defectors, however, are already called for: Norman and Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.), the chair of the conservative House Freedom Caucus, say they will vote against the rule on the floor — and Harris said others will join them.
'That's exactly why a group of us are not going to vote to advance the bill until we iron out some of the deficit problems with the bills,' Harris said on Fox News when asked about Elon Musk's criticism of the bill. 'Look, Mr. Musk is right, we cannot sustain these deficits, he understands finances, he understands debts and deficits, and we have to make further progress. And I believe the Freedom Caucus will take the lead in making that further progress.'
'I don't think the votes are there, just like they weren't for the Senate initially until some concessions were made,' he added. 'I believe that the rule vote will not pass tomorrow morning, and then the Speaker's going to have to decide how he gets this back into the House framework.'
Rule votes have historically been routine, mundane occurrences, with the majority party voting in favor of the effort and the minority party voting against it. In recent years, however, those on the right-flank have used the procedure to express displeasure with specific legislation or leadership.
Despite those threats, attendance issues may scuttle the right-flank's plans. A number of members from both parties are having trouble returning to Washington, D.C., amid inclement weather in the D.C.-Maryland-Virginia area. Several lawmakers have said their flights back to the city were canceled.
Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) on Tuesday night said those conditions could influence when the bill comes up for a vote.
'We're having weather delays getting everybody back right now, but assuming we have a full House we'll get it through the Rules Committee in the morning, we'll move that forward to the floor and hopefully we're voting on this by tomorrow or Thursday at latest, depending on the weather and delays and all the rest, that's the wildfire that we can't control,' Johnson said on Fox News' 'Hannity' when asked about timing for the legislation.
Regardless, the megabill's future in the House is on thin ice as a number of Republicans — from hardline conservatives to moderates — stake opposition to the legislation, threatening leadership's goal of enacting the bill by Friday.
Conservatives are upset with the amount of money the bill would add to the deficit, while moderates are concerned about Medicaid cuts and the rollback of green-energy tax credits. The lawmakers prefer the original House bill, which they passed in July, over the Senate bill, which included a number of changes to their initial legislation.
Despite the lingering qualms, Johnson is showing no interest in changing the bill — which would require it to head back to the Senate for a final stamp of approval, a reality that most members have little appetite for.
'We knew we would come to this moment. We knew the Senate would amend the House product. I encouraged them to amend it as lightly as possible. They went a little further than many of us would have preferred, but we have the product now,' Johnson told reporters in the Capitol. 'As the President said, it's his bill. It's not a House bill, it's not a Senate bill, it's the American people's bill. And my objective and my responsibility is to get that bill over the line. So we will do everything possible to do that, and I will work with all of our colleagues.'
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32 minutes ago
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Politico
an hour ago
- Politico
The fireworks begin
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Send Playbookers tips to playbook@ or text us on Signal here. Playbook couldn't happen without our editor Zack Stanton, deputy editor Garrett Ross and Playbook Podcast producer Callan Tansill-Suddath. Correction: Yesterday's Playbook misspelled Mychael Schnell's name.
Newsweek
an hour ago
- Newsweek
Donald Trump Gets Polling Boost From Hispanics
Based on facts, either observed and verified firsthand by the reporter, or reported and verified from knowledgeable sources. Newsweek AI is in beta. Translations may contain inaccuracies—please refer to the original content. President Donald Trump is gaining unexpected ground with Hispanic voters ahead of the 2026 midterms, according to new polling that shows his support ticking up among a group that has traditionally leaned Democratic. The latest YouGov/Yahoo poll, conducted between June 26 and 30 among 1,597 adults, shows that Trump's net approval rating among Hispanic voters stands at -30 points, with 32 percent approving and 62 percent disapproving. That is up from a net approval of -37 points in May, when 26 percent approved and 63 percent disapproved. President Donald Trump at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on July 4. President Donald Trump at Joint Base Andrews in Maryland on July 4. Alex Brandon/AP Why It Matters Since at least the 1960s, Hispanic voters in the U.S. have generally supported Democratic candidates. According to Pew Research Center, about 66 percent of Hispanic voters supported Barack Obama in 2012, and 65 percent supported Hillary Clinton in 2016. In 2020, 63 percent of Hispanic voters supported Joe Biden, according to AP VoteCast. In 2024, Democrats saw their lead among the group cut substantially, with 55 percent supporting Kamala Harris and 43 percent supporting Trump—an 8-point increase from 2020 and the highest percentage for a Republican presidential candidate since such data has been tracked. The recent YouGov/Yahoo poll shows that Trump maintains his support among Hispanic voters. What To Know Trump's gains with Hispanic voters stand in sharp contrast to his slipping support among other key demographic groups. Across most other segments, the president's approval ratings fell in June. The most striking drop was among Black voters, where his net approval plunged from -49 points to -70. Among Gen Z voters, his net rating also deteriorated sharply, falling from -23 points in May to -41 points in June. These trends reflect national polling that shows Trump's overall approval rating hitting an all-time low for his second term. The latest ActiVote survey, conducted June 1 to 30 among 523 adults, found Trump's national approval at 45 percent and disapproval at 52 percent—putting his net approval at -7 points, his worst showing since returning to office. Despite this record low for his second term, Trump's current approval still outpaces his own first-term average, which ActiVote tracked at 41 percent. It also remains slightly higher than former President Joe Biden's full-term average of 41 percent and Biden's final-year average of 40 percent. A separate survey by Targoz Market Research and Overton Insights, conducted June 23 to 26 among 1,200 registered voters, put Trump's net approval even deeper underwater at -11 points—with 43 percent approving and 54 percent disapproving. That's a noticeable drop from a -5 net approval rating in March. Meanwhile, in the YouGov/Yahoo poll, Trump's net approval dropped from -13 points in May—when 41 percent approved and 54 percent disapproved—to -16 points, with 40 percent approving and 56 percent disapproving. A few outliers offer Trump a silver lining. An RMG Research poll from June 18 to 26 showed the president still slightly above water, with a net approval of +4 points (51 percent approve, 47 percent disapprove)—though that, too, was down from +7 previously. Some polls also suggest Trump's approval rating has ticked up slightly after a period of steady decline, underscoring how divided—and volatile—voter sentiment is in his second term. Newsweek's tracker puts Trump's approval at 45 percent, with 51 percent disapproving, giving him a net approval of -6 points. That marks an improvement from the end of last week, when his net approval rating sank to an all-time low of -10 points. The latest Navigator Research poll, conducted June 26 to 30, found Trump at 45 percent approval and 53 percent disapproval—a slight recovery from early June, when he hit a record low for this term at 43 percent approval and 55 percent disapproval. A YouGov/Economist survey from June 27 to 30 showed a modest uptick to 42 percent approval and 53 percent disapproval, up from a low of 40 percent earlier in the month. Poll Date Approve Disapprove Quantus June 30-July 2 47 49 YouGov/Yahoo June 26-30 40 56 ActiVote June 1-30 45 52 Navigator Research June 26-30 45 53 YouGov/Economist June 27-30 42 53 Morning Consult June 27-29 47 50 TIPP Jun 25-27 44 45 RMG Research June 18-26 51 47 The Tyson Group June 25-26 45 51 Targoz June 23-26 43 54 Similarly, Morning Consult's June 27 to 29 poll found 47 percent of respondents approved of Trump's job performance, with 50 percent disapproving—a slight improvement from May's 45 percent approval and 53 percent disapproval. A Marist/NPR/PBS poll conducted June 23 to 25 put Trump's approval at 43 percent and disapproval at 52 percent, a tick up from April's low of 42 percent approval and 53 percent disapproval. Meanwhile, the latest Quantus Insights poll, conducted June 30 to July 2 among 1,000 registered voters, showed Trump's net approval at -2 points, with 47 percent approving and 49 percent disapproving—relatively unchanged from previous Quantus polls. What Happens Next Trump's approval ratings are likely to fluctuate in the coming weeks.
