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President Donald Trump congratulated House Republicans on Truth Social after the party’s “big, beautiful bill” passed a key committee.
The encouraging words came after the House Budget Committee voted 17-16 to advance the bill late Sunday.
“CONGRATULATIONS REPUBLICANS!!! MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!” Trump wrote.
The bill includes increased spending to protect the border, cuts government waste and would extend Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, among several other actions.
“There’s a lot more work to do, we’ve always acknowledged that towards the end there will be more details to iron out, we have several more to take care of,” House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters following the vote.
Four House Republicans voted “present” on Sunday, shifting their initial opposition to the bill and allowing it to pass. The representatives included Ralph Norman of South Carolina, Chip Roy of Texas, Andrew Clyde of Georgia and Josh Brecheen of Oklahoma.
The House Freedom Caucus, which the four representatives support, released a statement after the committee vote.
“While progress has been made on advancing the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ out of the Budget Committee, it does not yet meet the moment,” the statement read.
“As written, the bill continues increased deficits in the near term with possible savings years down the road that may never materialize. Thanks to discussions over the weekend, the bill will be closer to the budget resolution framework we agreed upon in the House in April, but it fails to actually honor our promise to significantly correct the spending trajectory of the federal government and lead our nation towards a balanced budget,” it continued.
“We are determined and committed to working through the remaining obstacles within this bill, and we stand with our colleagues Reps. Roy, Brecheen, Clyde and Norman in the Budget Committee who voted present to signal the need for further negotiations. We face a serious fiscal crisis, and we must put an end to Washington’s wasteful spending now,” the statement concluded.
House leaders have pushed for a Memorial Day deadline, though ongoing changes will now make meeting the goal challenging for GOP leaders supporting the president’s bill.