(The Center Square) – Texas’ two Republican U.S. senators, who voted for the “Big Beautiful Bill,” are praising its passage. Some Texas House Republicans have expressed concerns after key provisions were gutted by the Senate, including Medicaid and Social Security reforms.
U.S. Sen. John Cornyn said the bill “puts Texans first by avoiding massive tax increases on hardworking families,” making historic investments in border security, including reimbursing Texas for border security operations, The Center Square reported.
Sen. Ted Cruz said it includes language he authored creating universal school choice, using taxpayer funds to invest in savings accounts for children and banning taxes on tips. The bill “delivered on our promise to the American people to cut taxes, create jobs, support working Americans, and tranformationally invest in our children,” he said.
It “prevents a more-than $3,000 tax hike on the average Texas family; protects more than half a million Texas jobs from being lost; ensures more than 3.7 million Texas households’ child tax credit is not cut in half; shields more than two million Texas small business owners from a massive tax hike; and makes sure more than 12 million Texas families’ standard deduction is not cut in half,” Cornyn said.
After more than 26 hours of debate, the U.S. Senate passed it on Tuesday with Vice President JD Vance casting the tie-breaking vote.
Multiple House Republicans have expressed disgust after an unelected Senate parliamentarian, Elizabeth MacDonough, disqualified more than a dozen provisions in the bill they supported. She single-handedly eliminated House provisions restricting Medicaid spending, imposing penalties for disclosing taxpayer information, banning student aid and other financial assistance for illegal foreign nationals, and prohibiting Social Security money from being used to fund transgender procedures, a provision authored by U.S. Rep. Dan Crenshaw, who represents the Houston area.
“She needs to be fired,” Crenshaw said, for “not applying the rules of reconciliation properly.” He and others have called on Senate Majority Leader John Thune to fire her, which he didn’t do. Crenshaw says firing her isn’t a partisan issue but “about rule of law.”
MacDonough killed Crenshaw’s provision, which “clearly has a budgetary impact,” he said, and would save taxpayers $2.5 billion, he said.
After MacDonough gutted a provision prohibiting illegal foreign nationals from receiving Medicaid, U.S. Rep. Wesley Hunt called on the Department of Homeland Security to deport an estimated 1.4 million noncitizens currently receiving Medicaid. He requested DHS “to find and remove the illegal aliens accessing benefits. If the Senate won’t do their job, DHS MUST,” he said.
U.S. Rep. Chip Roy said on Tuesday he opposes the Senate bill because it “continues Medicare for illegals. It allows Obamacare subsidies to fund transgender surgeries. It will add trillions of deficit spending in the first 4 years…this is not what … I signed up for.”
He also said that proponents of the bill claim fiscal watchdogs are misleading Americans about deficits because they include taxes, but math doesn’t support the claim, pointing to a chart from the Economic Policy Innovation Center.
He also said bill proponents “don’t want to talk about the fact the bill a) funds illegal aliens on Medicaid & funds transgender surgeries, b) only repeals half the Green New Scam, and c) is a big giveaway to blue states (SALT/AMT cost is high) and pork to special interests in Alaska! (Among other things).”
Roy had earlier warned that he wouldn’t support the bill if it didn’t eliminate green energy subsidies that are hurting the Texas energy industry.
He also said Senate Republicans have the majority and could easily support House provisions in the bill but used the parliamentarian as an excuse not to pass them. “The truth is, there are multiple Senators happy to let the parliamentarian act as a foil to preserve the status quo. That’s not leadership, that’s service to the swamp,” he said.
Roy has also railed against the Senate SALT provision, saying, “”Why the hell should I subsidize their [blue states] stupid decisions for their expensive taxes? Why should my constituents have to do that?”
The House bill increased the state and local tax (SALT) deduction cap, which the Senate drastically altered, making it “dead on arrival” for several House members, The Center Square reported.
U.S. Rep. Michael Cloud said House members were concerned the Senate bill “doesn’t look as close to the House bill as we had hoped but we all look forward to getting the bill done by July 4.”
