The U.S. House on Thursday passed a sprawling tax breaks and spending cuts package as Republicans delivered President Donald Trump’s signature second-term domestic policy bill to his desk before the GOP’s self imposed July 4 headline.
After Republicans marshaled a few of their own skeptical lawmakers and a delay that included an eight-hour speech by Democratic leader Rep. Hakeem Jeffries, the bill passed 218-214, with two Republicans joining all Democrats in opposition.
Rep. Glenn Thompson, R-Howard Township, voted in favor, as he did with the original version in May. The nine-term congressman from Centre County called the bill “a game-changer” in a statement after the vote.
“This historic legislation delivers the largest tax cut in American history, providing direct relief to working families and boosting take-home pay,” Thompson said. “It slashes wasteful Washington spending, eliminates red tape and makes major investments in border security, energy independence and national defense. It is the codification of President Trump’s campaign promises.”
Pennsylvania’s Republican U.S. Senator David McCormick voted in favor of the bill in the Senate earlier this week, while Democratic Senator John Fetterman voted no.
The nearly 900-page, so-called “big, beautiful bill” makes permanent the tax breaks from Trump’s first term and temporarily adds new tax deductions on tips, overtime and auto loans, as well as for older adults who earn less than $75,000 a year. It includes wide spending cuts, new military spending, more than $350 billion Trump’s deportation and national security agenda.
Longtime GOP priorities like cuts to Medicaid and and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program for people living below the poverty line will, in part, offset lost revenue and new spending. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that under the bill 11.8 million more Americans would become uninsured by 2034 and 3 million more would not qualify for SNAP benefits.
The legislation is project to cut $186 billion in federal spending from SNAP over the next decade, according to the CBO. More than one-third of those savings come from expanded work requirements for SNAP participants, which the CBO assumes would force some people off the rolls. Another third comes by shifting costs to states, which administer SNAP.
Pennsylvania is expected to need at least $125 million more in next year’s budget to keep benefits in tact for the 2 million residents who receive SNAP, and in the worst-case scenario, the number could be as high as $800 million, Spotlight PA reported.
Speaking at Wasson Farm near State College on Thursday, Pennsylvania Secretary of Agriculture Russell Redding was among several state officials to warn SNAP cuts would have consequences for not only recipients, but farmers and retailers. He said the bill represents a “fundamental change” in policy linking food production and assistance.
“There are consequences. This is not going to end well,” Redding said. “As a state from a budget standpoint, from a larger society in terms of extend implications of our decisions and lack of access for folks who need it to nutrition and health care, it’s not going to end well. It’s not going to end well for the farmers and food systems, for the dockworkers, for the grocery workers, for the processors, the food banks. Nobody wins in this decision.”
In Centre County, 8,669 people are enrolled in SNAP, about 5.7% of the county’s population, according to the state agriculture department. Throughout Thompson’s rural, 18-county 15th congressional district, Gov. Josh Shapiro’s administration projects that 6,825 residents stand to lose SNAP benefits and 15,215 to lose Medicaid coverage under the bill.
“Everybody thinks this is an urban issue,” Redding said. “This is a Pennsylvania issue.”
State Rep. Paul Takac, D-College Township, called the safety net cuts “a betrayal of working class people, seniors, kids, our disabled neighbors… our farmers and our rural communities.”
“This bill is a rushed and flawed product, with just enough pork, exceptions and hidey-holes to satisfy or strong-arm senators and congresspeople who know how much this will hurt the average American, or should,” Takac said.
Thompson, who chairs the House Agriculture Committee, which is responsible for SNAP and other food assistance policy, made assurances publicly and privately that the benefits would not be cut, Takac said. He questioned how Thompson and others would “square their statements and assurances” with their votes on the bill.
Responding to criticisms from Shapiro on Wednesday, Thompson blamed the governor’s administration for “mismanagement” of the SNAP program. He wrote that the state’s “error rates,” which measure overpayment or underpayment of benefits, have been “consistently high” and that Shapiro showed a “preference for dependency over dignity.”
Following the vote on Thursday, Thompson called the bill’s passage “a victory for rural America, making the largest investment in agriculture in decades, restoring integrity to SNAP, and saving millions of family farms from the death tax.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
