Mike Johnson’s Blood Sacrifice

Trump Mike Johnson
As the Senate moves toward its self-imposed deadline to pass its own version by July 4, there is growing anxiety and frustration in the House over what condition the Big Beautiful Bill will be in when it returns to them. Photo: Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images
Abby Livingston
June 9, 2025

“A big beautiful bust” is how not one, but two grumpy Republican sources described Trump’s landmark tax and spending bill to me, separately and unsolicited, on Monday morning. The current legislation, after all, would be offset in part by cutting Medicaid, while adding an estimated $3 trillion to the deficit. After the bill passed the House by a single vote, more than one Republican publicly admitted that they hadn’t read it, which some G.O.P. sources told me was a preferable explanation to endorsing some of its more unsavory provisions. Worse, Senate Republicans are now working to rewrite large chunks of the bill, potentially rendering moot the political capital burned by House members who took uncomfortable votes to get it across the line. Oh, and Elon Musk called the bill a “disgusting abomination.”