Republican ‘rebels‘ stall Trump tax bill

WASHINGTON, United States (AFP) — Donald Trump’s signature tax and spending bill was in limbo early Thursday as Republican leaders in the US Congress scrambled to win over a group of rebels threatening to torpedo the centerpiece of the president’s domestic agenda.

Trump is seeking final approval in the House of Representatives for his Senate-passed “One Big Beautiful Bill” — but faces opposition on all sides of his fractious party over provisions set to balloon the national debt while launching a historic assault on the social safety net.

As midnight struck, House Speaker Mike Johnson was still holding open a key procedural vote — the bill’s last hurdle before it can advance to be considered for final approval — more than two hours after it was first called.

With no clear sign of the stalemate breaking, his lieutenants huddled in tense meetings behind the scenes with the rebels who had either voted no or had yet to come to the House floor.

“We’re going to get there tonight. We’re working on it and very, very positive about our progress,” Johnson told reporters at the Capitol, according to Politico.

Originally approved by the House in May, Trump’s sprawling legislation squeezed through the Senate on Tuesday by a solitary vote but had to return to the lower chamber Wednesday for a rubber stamp of the Senate’s revisions.

The package honors many of Trump’s campaign promises, boosting military spending, funding a mass migrant deportation drive and committing $4.5 trillion to extend his first-term tax relief.

But it is expected to pile an extra $3.4 trillion over a decade onto country’s fast-growing deficits, while forcing through the largest cuts to the Medicaid health insurance program.

While moderates in the House are anxious that the cuts will damage their prospects of reelection, fiscal hawks are chafing over savings that they say fall short of what they were promised.