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Many Republicans had harshly criticized President Trump’s marquee bill extending tax cuts and slashing social safety net programs — almost right up until the moment they voted for it.
July 3, 2025Updated 4:10 p.m. ET
In the days leading up to House passage of Republicans’ sweeping policy bill carrying President Trump’s agenda, members of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus were unsparing in their criticism of the measure.
“That’s not fiscal responsibility. It’s not what we agreed to,” lawmakers in the caucus said in a statement after the Senate passed its version earlier this week with several major changes. “Republicans,” they added, “must do better.”
Representative Chip Roy, Republican of Texas and one of the most vocal fiscal hawks in Congress, fired off a series of posts outlining what he said were the seemingly endless list of problems with the bill.
“Increases deficits and violates the terms of the budget deal,” he wrote.
Representative Keith Self of Texas called it “morally and fiscally bankrupt.”
In the end, all of them voted for the bill, after an hourslong revolt that stretched from Wednesday night into early Thursday morning and ground the House floor to a halt. The legislation was unchanged, and while those who switched their positions to embrace it alluded to deals they had cut with Mr. Trump to address their concerns, it was not clear what, if any, commitments had been made or whether any would be fulfilled.
Representative Andy Harris of Maryland, the chairman of the Freedom Caucus, said that he and other conservative holdouts were swayed after discussions with Mr. Trump about “executive actions” and other steps he and his administration could take to change the way the law would be implemented.
