WASHINGTON – The U.S. House of Representatives passed President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” Thursday, in time for his July 4 deadline.
The budget bill passed 218-214, with Reps. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and Brian Fitzpatrick, R-Pa., being the only Republicans to vote against the legislation.
The vote followed an almost nine-hour, record-breaking speech from Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries in a final attempt to oppose the GOP megabill that features extreme tax cuts and defunded government aid programs. Jeffries surpassed former California Rep. Kevin McCarthy’s record from 2021, who spoke for about 8½ hours in opposition to Democrats’ $2 trillion Build Back Better plan.
The Senate passed its version of the budget bill on Tuesday with a tiebreaking vote from Vice President JD Vance, and a quick turnaround from the House will bring the bill to Trump’s desk at 5 p.m. ET.
Containing nearly $4.5 trillion in tax cuts over the next decade, the legislation will gut funding for Medicaid, food assistance and clean energy programs. It will also add $3.3 trillion to the national debt.
“It’s a form of fiscal madness, and I think it’s cruel,” Sen. John Hickenlooper, D-Colo, said in a news conference Wednesday.
The Senate version of the bill contains revisions to the previous House version, which was passed last month, including steeper cuts to Medicaid – almost $1 trillion.
Hickenlooper said rural hospitals, with a higher dependence on public funding and a smaller patient base, are most likely to be impacted.
Nearly one in three residents in Colorado’s 3rd Congressional District is covered by Medicaid.
Six hospitals in Colorado could be at high risk for closure, including Southwest Memorial Hospital in Cortez. This year, Southwest Health System expects that 24% of the total cash it will collect will come from Medicaid, said CEO Joe Theine.
Along with primary care and emergency services, Southwest Memorial provides services that Coloradans would otherwise have to travel hours to receive, such as outpatient rehabilitation, infusion therapy and more.
“Seniors, many of whom rely on Medicaid to pay for their long-term care, nursing homes, etc., are going to be left out in the cold,” Hickenlooper said.
Not just those on Medicaid will suffer. Cutting funding for Medicaid shifts costs to uncompensated care, forcing other health care providers to increase their rates, as well. Over 200,000 Coloradans could be at risk of losing their health care.
The budget bill will also make sweeping funding cuts to affordable clean energy investments and food assistance programs such as SNAP.
Hickenlooper said electricity costs will spike, and millions of jobs will be lost nationwide if funding is reduced for the Inflation Reduction Act’s clean energy incentives.
Both Hickenlooper and Colorado Sen. Michael Bennet voted against the Republican-backed megabill. CD-3 Rep. Jeff Hurd joined 15 other representatives in signing a letter to the Senate leadership last week expressing concern about further cuts to Medicaid, but voted “yes” in the final passage.
“House Republicans – including our colleagues from Colorado – didn’t need to do this,” Hickenlooper wrote in a statement. “Excessive tax cuts for the wealthy few are NOT worth mortgaging our future economy, sacrificing health care for 17 million Americans, and forfeiting our clean energy dominance.
Richa Sharma is an intern for The Durango Herald and The Journal in Cortez and a student at American University in Washington, D.C. She can be reached at rsharma@durangoherald.com.
