The Trump administration's horrible and ridiculously-named One Big Beautifully Bill Act has passed in the House of Representatives by the slimmest of margins, 215-214. This means that all the Democrats and a couple of Republicans voted against it, and several clearly didn't vote at all for whatever reason (the House is currently made up of 220 Republicans and 212 Democrats, with 3 seats vacant - why?)
The mega omnibus bill enacts over a trillion dollars in tax cuts, predominantly benefitting higher earners, and introduces various new tax write-offs, but only during the period of Trump's presidency. It puts significantly more money into detention faculties and deportation operations for Trump's anti-immigration agenda. It restricts the ability of federal courts to put restraining order and injunctions on illegal government activities. It slashes Medicaid (which provides healthcare to poor and disabled Americans) and the SNAP program ("food stamps", which help poor people afford groceries). It phases out green energy and EV tax incentives introduced by Joe Biden. And it increases the US governments debt limit, because all those tax cuts will hugely impact the national debt. It may be big, but wow, is it ugly.
The bill only passed in the House at all because of a desperate last-minute high-pressure push by both Trump and House Speaker Mike Johnson, who says he prayed for it. Natch. But it made me wonder what form those last minute negotiations took.
Some of the Republicans who objected to the bill wanted it toned down because of the hit that poorer working people would take, while some wanted it made even more radical, with even bigger cuts to Medicaid, for example. So, how do you corral these disparate and opposing views?
I'm pretty sure it doesn't happen by an earnest discussion of policy issues. I would imagine it involves making deals - quid pro quo - or possibly through veiled or not-so-veiled threats. That seems more like the Trump way.
Trump, of course, is heralding it as a major victory. But surely a true victory would have been a 220-212 vote (in a Congress where votes tend to run completely along party lines, and free thinking is actively discouraged). Even the Rules Committee that put forward the Bill vote barely managed to squeeze it through. In the scheme of things, then, given the way the system works, this is actually very unpopular bill, even among members of Congress.
The bill still has to go before the Senate to be finally passed. It is expected to get a bumpy ride there too, and several changes are expected to be proposed. I'm sure Trump will make sure it gets through, unpopular or not, but just how that happens is not much to do with democracy.
UPDATE
Weeks later, the One Big Beautiful Bill is still not passed, but the GOP has managed, at great pains, to squeeze it through the House and the Senate by the narrowest of margins (the stalemate-breaking vote of the Vice President!), although with amendments to make it more palatable to those Republicans who still cannot stomach it.
Given the amendments, it still has to go back to the House, and maybe back to the Senate again. Its fate hangs precariously in the balance, despite the GOP's theoretical comfortable majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. And the only reason it has got this far is due to what is euphemistically described as "considerable pressure" from Trump on individual members of Congress.
So, essentially, Congress does not want to pass the bill, but Trump is putting on pressure (whatever form that might take) to make sure it passes anyway. This is not how things are supposed to work. What price democracy, then?
UPDATE UPDATE
The bill finally passed in the House of the Representatives by 218-214. In the end, only two Republicans were able to resist the arm-twisting and vote with their consciences. Whatever it is that Trump and Johnson say to the GOP caucus behind closed doors, it certainly works.
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