President Donald Trump’s big tax breaks bill passed the House Budget Committee on Sunday after it failed on Friday.
Georgia’s 9th District U.S. Representative Andrew Clyde is on the budget committee and originally voted “no” on Friday before changing to a “present” vote to allow its passage as talks continue.
“Friday was a vote where we said ‘hey, there needs to be more work on this before we can move this bill out of budget committee,’” Clyde said on WDUN’s “The Martha Zoller Show.”
Clyde said they worked “very diligently” through Friday night, all day Saturday, and through Sunday.
In a statement to AccessWDUN on Saturday, Clyde said he was staying in Washington through the weekend to “continue negotiating in good faith.”
The bill includes more than $5-trillion in tax cuts according to the Associated Press with costs partially offset by spending cuts.
The individual income tax cuts passed in Trump’s first term were included as well as no tax on tips, overtime, and interest on auto loans.
The breaks were offset by rolling back the clean energy tax credits during Joe Biden’s presidency, less spending on Medicaid, and requiring states to shoulder more of the cost for the Supplemental Nutrition and Assistance Program, or SNAP.
“We’re making progress, but there’s still more important work to be done to ensure we successfully enact President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill in a fiscally responsible way,” the statement read.
Five Republicans joined Democrats Friday in voting “no,” but one flipped to “yes” with Clyde and three other Republicans voting “present” to pass the bill out of the Budget Committee 17-16 by Sunday.
“There’s still some significant concerns with this bill, and we’re going to continue working to make sure that those concerns are addressed as much as possible,” Clyde said.
Clyde said he wants to protect Medicaid for the most vulnerable, but wanted work requirements to the government-funded health care which were ultimately included. He did add the requirements would not take effect until 2029.
“We are not cutting Medicare or Medicaid,” Clyde said. “We want to strengthen Medicaid by saying to those who can work ‘all right, you need to work,’” Clyde said.
The bill also includes $46.5-billion to continue construction of Trump’s wall on the U.S.-Mexico border and more spending for 3,000 new Border Patrol agents and 5,000 new customs officers. All told, the overarching plan is to remove 1 million immigrants annually.
$330-billion could also be cut due to a revamping of the student loan program.
The bill will go to the House Committee on Rules, with Clyde saying he believes it will get to the floor by Memorial Day where Republicans have a slim majority. If passed, it would then go to the Senate.
