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Investing.com - House Republicans have inched closer to finalizing and approving the Senate’s changes to U.S. President Donald Trump’s signature policy bill, as the clock ticks down towards a self-imposed Fourth of July deadline to pass the massive legislation.
In a 219-213 vote in the early-morning hours on Thursday, the House of Representatives voted to bring the bill up for debate. After this process, the House is likely to vote on its final passage.
The tally suggested that Republicans in the lower chamber, led by Speaker Mike Johnson (R.-Louisiana), had made progress in winning over party holdouts who had flagged worries over the laundry list of measures, which would, among a host of reforms, extend Trump’s 2017 tax reductions and create new tax breaks while boosting spending on defense and border security.
Johnson has said he expects the final vote could now come around 08:00 ET (12:00 GMT), or sooner. He added that Trump had been on the phone with recalcitrant Republicans, calling his input "very, very helpful." Trump, for his part, has urged Republicans to move quickly in a series of social media posts, arguing that "this should be an easy vote."
Securing enough intraparty support for the bill remains crucial for Republicans, given the GOP’s narrow majorities in Congress and united Democratic opposition.
But some conservative lawmakers have voiced fears that the bill would expand the nation’s already-ballooning debt pile and raised concerns over its proposed cuts to Medicaid, a federal program for low-income Americans.
Proponents of the bill, however, have defended the bill as a way to boost refunds for many taxpayers.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has projected that the bill could add more than $3 trillion to the nation’s $36.2 trillion debt load.