Inside Trump’s push to pass the 'big, beautiful bill'

With the signature policy bill of President Trump’s second term hanging in the balance this week, the president and his allies got to work, using a mixture of vinegar and honey to win over skeptics and ensure its final passage.

It was a week of late night meetings and phone calls, stern posts on social media and cordial discussions at the White House as Trump and top advisers sought to win over skeptics of the "one big, beautiful bill." 

Sources close to the White House argued Trump’s dominance within the Republican Party and the political risks of drawing his ire loomed large as the administration corralled votes. But they also pointed to assurances the White House made to lawmakers to win their support as a sign that it was not just threats that got enough Republicans to “yes.”

Trump is expected to sign the legislation Friday after it passed the Senate on Tuesday and the House on Thursday as both chambers embarked on marathon rounds of voting procedure, including pulling several all-nighters.

“The president’s focus on relationships carried us through in kind of a cascade here when it came to be crunch time and the president was asking people to take tough votes, to come together, to unify,” a senior Trump White House official told reporters Thursday. 

“I've lost count of the number of meetings the president’s had. I mean, putting the president on speaker to groups of members,” the official added. “I mean, really, he's the omnipresent force behind this legislation.”

Trump himself appeared to acknowledge his grip on the party had grown since he first took office in 2017, something that served him well during perilous moments of negotiations.

"I think I have more power now," Trump told reporters on Thursday. 

The bill took an exceptionally arduous path through both chambers. The House passed its initial version of the bill in May but once it got to the Senate, lawmakers there embarked on significant haggling and hand-wringing of Republicans who took issue with Medicaid cuts and what it meant for the national debt. The upper chamber spent the entire past weekend working to get the measure through before it eventually passed Tuesday. 

The process even saw one high profile Republican, Sen. Thom Tillis (N.C.), announce he wouldn’t seek reelection after expressing opposition to the bill, showcasing once again Trump’s decadelong power over the party. 

White House officials also pointed to Vice President Vance as a key player in wrangling the necessary votes in the Senate, where Vance served for two years before being elected vice president.

Vance attended GOP conference lunches for weeks leading up to the final votes, answering questions and defending the legislation. The vice president spent hours in the Senate this week leading up to the final vote, and he met with Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-Alaska), a key swing vote, before she ultimately backed the bill in what she later described as an “agonizing” decision.

After its narrow passage in the Senate, it was back to the House, where White House officials pushed a handful of GOP conservatives and moderate lawmakers to get behind the measure.

Trump and Vance hosted conservative House Republicans at the White House on Wednesday for a conversation that appeared to ease concerns among some.

Rep. Tim Burchett (R-Tenn.) after the meeting described Trump as “wonderful as always." He continued, "Informative, funny, told me he liked seeing me on TV, which is kind of cool.”

Rep. Ralph Norman (R-S.C.), a member of the House Freedom Caucus who had indicated previously he would vote against the bill, said he was persuaded to vote in favor after getting assurances from the president that certain issues would be dealt with through executive action.

White House officials on Thursday did not address any specific executive action that was promised. In terms of assurances, the officials said the administration worked with lawmakers to answer questions about the implementation of Medicaid changes and how it would affect their districts. 

Still, the bill was in a precarious state after several House Republicans had either voted against adopting the rule on the bill, a necessary procedural step before a full vote, or withheld their votes.

As Trump and his team worked behind the scenes, prominent MAGA World figures went public with their calls for Republicans to fall in line.

“If you vote with the Democrats, you’re not voting with the Republicans. Buckle the f‑‑‑ up. It’s a binary choice,” longtime Trump adviser Jason Miller posted late Wednesday night on social platform X.

The Hill reported that Trump spoke with a handful of Republican holdouts around 1 a.m. EDT Thursday as House GOP leaders were whipping votes to overcome a final procedural hurdle.

“His numbers are stronger than ever before with the Republican base. Republican voters are happier with him now than ever before,” one Trump ally told The Hill. “Essentially, if you kind of screw with him, you’ve got a 95 percent chance of getting thrown in the blender.”

Reps. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), Victoria Spartz (R-Ind.) and Burchett all voted to advance the legislation. By the time the House adopted the rule around 3 a.m. Thursday in a 219-213 vote, its final passage was something of a foregone conclusion. 

But not before Democrats would stall the next step. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) held the House floor for more than eight hours starting early Thursday morning to excoriate the the bill, breaking the record for the longest speech on the floor.

The final vote eventually took place Thursday afternoon, with the legislation passing in a 218-214 vote. Two Republicans voted against it.

“Congrats to everyone. At times I even doubted we’d get it done by July 4!” Vance posted on X after the House vote. “But now we’ve delivered big tax cuts and the resources necessary to secure the border. Promises made, promises kept!”

The bill will likely be the signature piece of legislation of Trump’s second term, especially if Republicans do not retain control of both chambers of Congress in next year’s midterms.

The bill will extend the tax cuts Trump signed into law in 2017, plus add temporary tax cuts on tipped and overtime wages. It will provide additional funding for border security, allowing the administration to press forward with aggressive deportations and crack down on those crossing the southern border.

But the legislation also makes cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program as a way to offset some of the spending. Those changes, which will take effect in the coming years, have caused consternation among some Republicans and have been the focus of outrage from many Democrats who warn it will cost millions of Americans health insurance and lead to the closures of some rural hospitals.

Polling ahead of the bill’s passage also showed the public appeared skeptical of the massive piece of legislation. A Quinnipiac University poll released last week found 55 percent of voters opposed the bill. A Fox News poll published Monday showed 59 percent opposed the bill.

White House officials argued the bill would age well with voters as they learned more about what’s in it.

“As the public learns about the pieces of the legislation and the Republican Party educates the voters on what is actually in the bill, you will see an overwhelming political boon for Republicans,” a senior White House official said. “And you will see Democrats have just taken a very toxic vote.”

Updated 5:27 p.m.