All six of the delegation’s House Republicans voted to pass the initial version of the bill in May, and they largely expressed support for Johnson as he sought deeper cuts to federal spending as the Senate debated the measure.
MADISON, Wis. — A Thursday report from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel highlighted how Wisconsin’s Republican congressional delegation helped pass the Big Ugly Bill, which cuts health care funding and food assistance programs while giving billionaires tax cuts and adding trillions of dollars to the deficit. Despite 1.3 million Wisconsinites relying on Medicaid, and 700,000 relying on SNAP, the state’s US House Republican representatives all praised the bill, and even cheered for Ron Johnson’s efforts to make it more damaging in the Senate version.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel:Wisconsin’s House Republicans Help Push Donald Trump’s Spending Bill To Final Passage
By: Lawrence Andrea
Key Points Below:
- Wisconsin’s House Republicans on Thursday helped push through President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax and spending bill, sending the measure to the president’s desk after an all-night session and ahead of their self-imposed Independence Day deadline.
- The final version of the president’s “big, beautiful bill” is projected to add hundreds of billions of dollars more to the federal deficit than what the House originally passed in May and included steeper cuts to Medicaid under changes made in the Senate.
- Wisconsin state lawmakers and Gov. Tony Evers quickly passed and signed the state budget just hours earlier to secure additional Medicaid funding before the federal bill’s enactment.
- Trump’s bill ultimately passed the House on a 218-214 vote, with two Republicans joining Democrats in opposition. A faction of disgruntled House conservatives delayed advancing the bill for hours, in part over concerns about the legislation’s impact on the deficit, before eventually falling into line.
- Wisconsin’s delegation praised the measure for advancing Trump’s signature domestic policy and spending priorities
- “This is a big step forward on delivering President Trump’s agenda, a big step forward for the American people,” said U.S. Rep. Bryan Steil, noting the bill boosts border and military funding. “Couldn’t be more excited to be here, again, early morning, late in the evening — whatever it is to get this bill across the line.”
- “This bill will put more money back in YOUR pockets,” freshman U.S. Rep. Tony Wied posted on X before the vote.
- The megabill would extend Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, cut other taxes and increase spending on the military and border security. It slashes billions of dollars from social safety-net programs like Medicaid and food assistance initiatives in an attempt to offset the tax cuts. Nonpartisan estimates, though, project the measure would add about $3.3 trillion to the nation’s $36.2 trillion debt.
- Wisconsin officials have estimated tens of thousands of Wisconsinites could lose Medicaid coverage under a version of the legislation previously passed by the House, and the state could have to take on hundreds of millions of dollars in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program benefits under policies that shift costs usually covered by the federal government to the states.
- The House vote came just two days after the Senate narrowly passed the measure. Wisconsin Republican Sen. Ron Johnson, who had been one of the most vocal opponents of the legislation over its impact on the national debt, ultimately voted for the bill.
- “The One Big, Beautiful Bill puts President Trump’s America First agenda front and center and delivers real results for working Americans,” Rep. Scott Fitzgerald said over the weekend, noting among other things that the legislation ended taxes on tips and overtime for workers and increased funding for securing the border.
- Rep. Derrick Van Orden told reporters in the U.S. Capitol that he wasn’t happy with everything in the bill sent over from the Senate but said: “There’s a difference between compromise and capitulation. We’re not capitulating. We’re compromising. That’s how this government is structured.”
- Among Van Orden’s apparent concerns was a provision capping the Medicaid provider tax that lets states collect additional federal Medicaid funding. He warned Wisconsin officials the provision would cause the state to miss out on Medicaid funding unless they finished the state budget before Trump signed his bill into law, though Van Orden still planned to support the bill.
- When reporters in the Capitol suggested Republicans were voting for the legislation at Trump’s command, Van Orden responded: “The president of the United States didn’t give us an assignment. We’re not a bunch of little bitches around here, OK? I’m a member of Congress. I represent almost 800,000 Wisconsinites. Is that clear? So we work together. That’s how the government is supposed to function.”
- Democrats have widely panned the bill as cutting health care and food assistance programs to benefit the rich. Nonpartisan analyses of the legislation show Trump’s tax cuts would benefit wealthy people more than those with lower incomes.
- The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the current version of Trump’s bill would result in 11.8 million more uninsured people in 2034 than the version initially passed in the House in May.
- Elon Musk, the billionaire tech leader who funded Trump’s return to the White House but has since had a falling out with the president, has also said he’d oppose any Republican who voted for the measure.
- Van Orden, Wisconsin’s most vulnerable House member who previously received a campaign donation from Musk, fired back at the world’s richest man.
- “Apparently, this means you are finding a primary opponent for me,” Van Orden wrote. He included a link for a potential opponent to register as a candidate.
- Still, Wisconsin’s House Republicans largely refrained from publicly criticizing the bill.
- Asked a day before the vote about the Senate-passed measure’s cap on the Medicaid provider tax, which will result in deeper cuts to the program, Rep. Glenn Grothman responded: “Well, people are living with it, and I’ll talk to my friends about what we’re going to try to negotiate on that.”
- He delivered a different message, however, just moments after the vote.
- “We promised to fight for you, and we delivered,” Grothman said.
