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The passage of the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” early Thursday morning by the slimmest of margins in the House of Representatives is a clear victory for Donald Trump, but even more so for Speaker Mike Johnson, who managed to buy off both blue-state SALT Republicans and Freedom Caucus fiscal hawks, moving closer to their demands by just enough to thread the needle.
This was by far the biggest challenge Johnson had yet to face, and the question if “Deacon Mike” was up to the challenge was back of mind for many in the GOP conference. Had Johnson failed to deliver, his speakership might not have ended immediately, but he would effectively be a dead man walking – and the next time someone decided to pick a leadership fight, Trump might not have his back.
Instead, the accidental Speaker pulled everyone together, kept the coffee warm and rammed this package through on schedule – by his declared aim of Memorial Day – even with two Republican members exhausted from the marathon sessions apparently sleeping through the final vote.
The only no votes from Johnson’s own caucus came from Kentucky’s Thomas Massie – the firm ideologically libertarian fiscal hawk who was never going to get to yes – and Ohio’s Warren Davidson, who was a somewhat surprising last-minute opponent. Both sounded warnings based on the lack of real enforceable spending cuts and the bond market jitters that led to Moody’s recent downgrade.
Now that the bill heads to the Senate, the question is whether John Thune will be keen on just accepting Johnson’s SALT solution as-is, given his previously expressed doubts about heightening the levels that have red state taxpayers effectively footing the bill for blue state policies. And there could be concerns from moderate Republicans about the levels of Medicaid cuts, which were accelerated to December 2026 to satisfy conservatives in Johnson’s trading sessions.
For Trump and the Republicans for the moment, this is a very big beautiful win. Whether they can sell it to the American people as such will be the test that likely determines the coming midterms, and whether the legislative advancements of Trump’s second presidency turn out to be decidedly abbreviated.
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