Last Thursday morning — after working throughout the night, House Republicans passed President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill with my support.
The process to get our budget reconciliation bill across the finish line wasn’t easy. Legislating is messy — especially when tackling everything from tax cuts to spending cuts. Yet we accomplished our goal of advancing President Trump’s agenda.
As you may know, I’ve worked tirelessly to include as many America First priorities in this bill as possible. So, I’d like to explain my role in this process, as well as what’s included in the House-passed legislation.
Over the past few weeks, House Committees have debated and amended portions of the bill under their jurisdiction. For example, the House Ways & Means Committee handled provisions related to tax cuts, while the House Homeland Security Committee worked on border security funding.
After these committees finished their work, the various sections were compiled into one bill and brought before the House Budget Committee. Notably, the Budget Committee cannot make substantive changes to the bill, but rather packages together and approves the legislation to move forward in the process.
As a member of the House Budget Committee, I joined three of my conservative colleagues in initially voting against moving the bill forward during our markup on May 16th because several key wins were left on the table when the other eleven committees crafted the original legislation. In other words, I wanted to improve the One Big Beautiful Bill for the American people.
I stayed in Washington that weekend to negotiate in good faith with both the White House and House Republican Leadership. We made progress, but there was still important work to be done to strengthen the bill. Therefore, I voted “present” during the second House Budget Committee markup on May 18th. My “present” vote was an effort to advance President Trump’s agenda, while signaling we needed to continue our negotiations in order to deliver a better product.
Throughout last week, I worked diligently to do just that. After all, budget reconciliation provides Congress a rare, filibuster-proof opportunity to deliver on our promises to the American people — including historic tax cuts to hardworking Americans, spending cuts, border security funding, job creation, and massive deregulation.
After additional productive negotiations, my conservative colleagues and I moved this legislation in a better direction.
For example, we moved work requirements for able-bodied adults on Medicaid up to at least December 2026 (from the previous and unserious start in 2029). We also secured new incentives for non-Medicaid expansion states (such as Georgia) and made progress in ending Green New Scam subsidies.
One of my key priorities throughout this process has been restoring our constitutional Second Amendment rights, which have been subjected to unconstitutional infringements for the last 90 years under the draconian National Firearms Act. The original bill text only removed the $200 transfer tax for suppressors. Now, the bill eliminates both the transfer and making tax for suppressors, as well as the registration. This is a massive 2A victory — one that takes important steps toward restoring our constitutional freedoms.
Unfortunately, the bill does not eliminate the taxation and registration of short-barreled firearms. Yet I’m not giving up. Next, the legislation will move to the Senate, providing opportunities for additional positive changes. I’ll be working closely with Senate Republicans to add this provision, and I encourage folks to stay engaged on this matter as the budget reconciliation process moves forward.
Admittedly, the bill really still needs more improvements, especially with regard to ending waste, fraud, and abuse in Medicaid, as well as reducing deficit spending. Yet I’m encouraged that we’ve strengthened and advanced the One Big Beautiful Bill, and I look forward to working toward getting this historic legislation to President Trump’s desk.
Rest assured, we will finish what we started: Delivering major wins for the American people.
