The Trump administration’s tax reform bill narrowly passed

The Trump administration’s tax reform bill narrowly passed in the House of Representatives on Thursday morning, advancing a trillion-dollar package that would avert a year-end tax increase while deepening America’s debt burden.

The legislation now moves to the Senate, where some Republican lawmakers are demanding significant revisions. Lawmakers plan to vote on the bill no later than August. The package includes raising the U.S. debt ceiling by $4 trillion, adding urgency to its passage as the Treasury Department warns the nation could face default risks as early as August or September without action.

The House vote concluded with 215 in favor, 214 against, and one abstention. The outcome followed an aggressive campaign by Trump, who visited Capitol Hill to rally Republicans, made late-night calls to lawmakers, and summoned holdouts to the Oval Office. His budget office declared that any Republican failing to support the bill would be committing the “ultimate betrayal.”

House Speaker Mike Johnson and his deputies engaged in multiple rounds of negotiations to address demands from high-tax-state lawmakers to raise the cap on state and local tax (SALT) deductions. Hardline conservatives insisted on deeper spending cuts, while Republicans from swing districts expressed caution about reducing Medicaid funding.

As the U.S. economy grapples with the most significant tariff shocks in nearly a century, the tax package aims to shield economic growth from further damage. However, it is expected to swell the deficit by hundreds of billions of dollars annually.