Washington, D.C. | By John L. Micek, Masslive
The top budget-writer for U.S. House Democrats says he’s spotted a weakness in Republican support for President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill.”
And he’s going to exploit it.
“They’re wobbly on this stuff,” U.S. Rep. Richard Neal, the top Democrat on the House Ways and Means Committee, told the online news outlet Semafor on Monday.
“They’re very uncertain of where they’re headed. And they know the political consequences, because I talked to a couple of them already,” Neal, D-1st District, told Semafor.
Republicans who control the U.S. House moved the massive tax-cut and border security bill out of committee during a rare Sunday night session.
It came after GOP hardliners had blocked the bill just two days earlier, NPR reported.
Republicans are looking to advance the tax portion of the bill on Tuesday, according to Semafor. Neal, of Springfield, told the outlet that he plans to make that as hard as he can for GOP lawmakers.
He’ll do that by marshaling fellow Democrats to point out that the bill doesn’t include higher-tax rates for wealthier Americans and venture capitalists — which President Donald Trump supports — and its impact on the federal deficit, according to Semafor.
The bottom line for Democrats? The bill lifts the wealthy and not the middle- and low-income earners who make up Trump’s base.
And it goes after cherished social programs such as SNAP and Medicaid.
“We could reach a deal with them on probably 98% of all this,” Neal told Semafor “We just object to the idea that the rich aren’t paying more.”
Trump, meanwhile, is in “constant touch” with U.S. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., but has not yet begun whipping the Republican votes he needs to get the bill onto his desk, Politico reported Monday.
Neal’s fellow Democrats, including House Minority Whip Katherine Clark, D-5th District, have taken to social media to remind voters back home that the GOP bill would shred the social safety net.
“They’re fighting over how many Americans to rip health care and food away from,” Clark posted to X last week when Republicans deadlocked.
On Monday, Clark shared a headline from The Hill, a publication that covers Congress, revealing that the bill would add $3.7 trillion to the deficit.
“Leaving this here,” she wrote.
On the other side of Capitol Hill, U.S. Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass., took Republicans to task for the procedural tactics they’re using to advance the legislation.
“Republicans are scheduling votes in the DEAD OF NIGHT on Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill,’” Warren posted to X on Monday. “They advanced their bill last night at 10:30PM.”
The Cambridge Democrat included a screenshot of the next scheduled vote on the bill.
“The next vote is scheduled for 1AM on Wednesday. Why hide? Maybe because this bill rips away health care from babies, new moms, and seniors,” she said.
