Keystone-SDA
Donald Trump won the first major legislative victory for his second mandate on Thursday after the adoption in forceps by the US Congress of a large budgetary bill which acts in tax cuts and cuts in the social protection of the Americans.
(Keystone-ATS) After the Senate, which had approved it narrowly on Tuesday, the House of Representatives adopted this 869-page text definitively, baptized “great and beautiful law” by the president himself, during a very tight vote Thursday, preceded by multiple pressures and negotiations.
“Victory,” reacted the White House immediately in a message on X. Donald Trump will promulgate this text, a keystone of his economic program on Friday, the day of the American national holiday.
“This text brings together all the policies on which the president campaigned and for which the Americans voted on November 5,” Karoline Leavitt, spokesperson for the White House, told “a bridge towards the golden age of America. »»
This “One Big Beautiful Bill” provides for the extension of colossal tax credits adopted during the first mandate of the Republican, the elimination of taxation on tips, a flagship promise of its campaign, as well as additional billions of dollars for defense and the fight against immigration.
To partially compensate for the digging of the deficit, the Republicans have adopted immense cuts in Medicaid, a public health insurance program on which millions of Americans depend on low incomes.
A drastic reduction in the country’s main food aid program is also planned, as well as the abolition of numerous tax incentives for renewable energies adopted under Joe Biden.
This
To denounce this “repugnant monstrosity” which “will make ordinary Americans suffer”, the leader of elected democrats Hakeem Jeffries delivered a speech of almost nine hours – a record in the House of Representatives – in order to postpone the final vote as much as possible.
Once the ballot won by 218 votes against 214, parliamentarians chanted “USA, USA, USA! In the hemicycle.
Only two elected officials of the conservative majority finally voted “against”, the result of the maximum pressure exerted by the leaders of the Republican Party and by Donald Trump himself to obtain this victory.
On Wednesday evening, he raised his tone and expressed his Truth Social network with his impatience. “What are the Republicans waiting for?” He had launched.
The head of state spoke on the phone to recalcitrant elected officials from his camp until late at night to convince them, according to the head of the House of Representatives, Republican Mike Johnson.
Initially scheduled for Wednesday, the final vote did not take place until Thursday in early afternoon in Washington. The presidential party could not afford more than three defections in its own camp.
The expected explosion of the public deficit made the adoption of the law difficult for many Republicans attached to a serious budgetary
The Congress’s Budget Office, responsible for non -supported the impact of public finance bills, estimated Tuesday that the text would increase debt by more than $ 3400 billion by 2034.
“Cruel” law
“I came to Washington to help brake our national debt,” said Keith Self, an elected representative in the House by expressing his opposition to the text – before finally getting into the rank and voting “yes”.
The text had been adopted in the Senate, on Tuesday, after 26 hours of votes on dozens of amendments.
The democrats, minority in the two chambers of the congress, could only delay the adoption of the law.
“17 million people have just lost their health insurance,” said the California Governor of California, Gavin Newsom, who asserts himself as a major opposition figure in Donald Trump.
Former Democratic President Joe Biden denounced a law “not only irresponsible but cruel”, citing “the major tax cuts for billionaires. »»
