2 lone Republicans vote against Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' as it heads to president's desk

President Donald Trump s agenda appeared on life encouragement as defectors in the House GOP for a time appeared ready to torpedo it But in the end only two Republicans voted against the bill and it's now heading to the president's desk Reps Thomas Massie R-Ky and Brian Fitzpatrick R-Pa were the sole defectors against Trump s big beautiful bill House Speaker Mike Johnson R-La could only afford to lose three Republicans given that no Democrat was willing to cross the aisle to endorsement the trillion megabill CONGRESS SENDING TRUMP'S 'BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL' TO HIS DESK AFTER DRAMATIC ALL-NIGHT HOUSE VOTEWhile he did vote to help the procedural hurdle to get the bill on the floor Massie s decision to vote against the bill was seemingly predetermined He has continually argued that the colossal tax margin defense and potency package would add trillions to the nation s debt and do little to veritably curb Washington s spending addiction And he was not among the plenty of conservatives who Trump and Republican leadership tried to pressure throughout the day on Wednesday nor as the floor stayed open into early Thursday afternoon Trump reaches out every day on Twitter reaching out with a million dollars of ads in my district with a picture of me and the Ayatollah Massie disclosed So that's the only sort of reaching out I've seen so far TRUMP CALLS OUT REPUBLICAN HOLDOUTS AS HOUSE PROCEDURAL VOTE ON MEGABILL REMAINS OPEN COSTING YOU VOTES While Trump did not directly single him out the president did call on holdout Republicans to stop holding the bill hostage late Wednesday night and declared on Truth Social that MAGA IS NOT HAPPY AND IT'S COSTING YOU VOTES Trump had previously threatened Massie with a primary challenger as he did with Sen Thom Tillis R-N C before his retirement announcement for defecting against the bill But senior White House personnel reported reporters on a call just after the bill passed that the president had not threatened a primary against lawmakers to earn their vote and that lawmakers well understand the President's political power and ultimately they want his political power to be used for their benefit TRUMP'S 'BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL' STALLS IN HOUSE AMID CONSERVATIVE MUTINY THREATSFitzpatrick had raised concerns about changes the Senate GOP had made to Medicaid reforms in the bill but had not publicly staked a position until the procedural vote He was the only no vote on the rule and that resistance carried into the final vote that ultimately saw House Republicans largely unify and pass the legislative behemoth Fitzpatrick declared in a comment just minutes before the bill passed that he had voted to strengthen Medicaid protections to permanently extend middle class tax cuts for enhanced small business tax relief and for historic investments in our boundary prevention and our military but that the Senate s tweaks soured him to the bill However it was the Senate s amendments to Medicaid in addition to several other Senate provisions that altered the analysis for our PA- group he mentioned The original House language was written in a way that protected our district the Senate amendments fell short of our standard I believe in and will inevitably fight for policies that are thoughtful compassionate and good for our region he continued It is this standard that will unfailingly guide my legislative decisions