‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ passes House, bringing deep cuts to health coverage, food assistance for Texans

Despite Republican holdouts and publicly declared misgivings, President Donald Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” passed the U.S. House Thursday, delivering what advocates warn will be devastating blows to Medicaid and food assistance for Texas’ most vulnerable residents.

The final vote came down to 218-214, with just two GOP lawmakers breaking rank to vote with Democrats against the measure — Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Rep. Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania. The Congressional Budget Office estimates the package will add $3.3 trillion to the national deficit over the next 10 years due to massive tax cuts for the wealthy and corporations, which aren’t fully covered by the measure’s deep cuts to social safety net spending.

The bill — which now awaits the president’s signature — slashes close to a $1 trillion from Medicaid and will result in as many as 17 million more Americans becoming uninsured by 2034, according some analyses.

“In our home state of Texas, it’s an estimated 1.6 million people that are projected to lose health care coverage,” U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-San Antonio, said in an Instagram video Thursday morning. 
The reconciliation measure includes work requirements to qualify for Medicaid, though nearly two-thirds of recipients from ages 19 to 64 already work, according to a study by KFF. Many of the remaining people on the program have either had qualifying caregiver responsibilities or are too infirm to obtain a job, the report shows.

The bill also cuts $186 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly known as “food stamps” and shifts much of the cost onto states.

Celia Cole, CEO of Feeding Texas, a group representing Lone Star State food banks, said the legislation represents “the largest rollback of food assistance in U.S. history.” The consequences will be “profound and devastating,” she warned.

“SNAP is a lifeline for millions of Texans, especially during times of crisis,” Cole said in an emailed statement. “The program works because it’s federally funded and responsive to fluctuations in the economy. Offloading benefit costs to states would undermine SNAP’s ability to respond to economic downturns and natural disasters — precisely when families need help the most, and state coffers are most depleted.”

While cutting these safety nets, the bill delivers $100 billion to fund U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) operations, detention facilities and border enforcement in an effort to expand Trump’s mass deportation efforts. In fact, a total of $350 billion is allocated for national security, the Associated Press reports, including a $175 billion “golden dome” missile defense system.

Some ultra-conservative House Republicans, including San Antonio-Austin U.S. Rep. Chip Roy, publicly signaled their displeasure with the bill because it would further balloon the deficit. However, they ended up voting for it anyway.
“These folks, some of them wanted to vote no on the bill, but they’re scared of Donald Trump and what he can do to their career in Congress,” Castro said in Thursday’s video message. “And so they had a choice to make — they were either going to have to vote to save their own job in politics or do the right thing by their constituents and vote against this bill.”

Castro accused Trump of making last-minute calls to pressure holdout Republicans with a combination of threats and sweetheart deals.

“They basically cut backroom deals to get them to vote for this bill,” Castro added. “I don’t know what they were promised. … A lot of things get traded around here.”

He continued: “I think that’s part of the reason that people hate politics. Because politicians put themselves above the people they represent.”

In attempting to delay a final vote — a maneuver known as the “magic minute” that’s reserved for party leaders — House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries broke the record of the longest floor speech in House history. He began the speech at 4:43 a.m. and finished at 1:37 p.m., holding the floor for nearly nine hours. Even so, he only delayed the inevitable. 
Democratic Congressman Greg Casar, whose district includes parts of San Antonio and Austin, said Republicans betrayed the working class voters they won over last election by passing the bill, the largest upward transfer of wealth in U.S. history.

“This bill is a betrayal of working Americans. So that billionaires can buy bigger yachts, millions of working people will be unable to afford to go to the doctor, put food on the table or keep the lights on,” Casar said in an emailed statement.  “For years, Washington Republicans have talked a big game about becoming the party of working people. This vote should be the final nail in the coffin of that idea.”

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This article appears in Jun 26 – Jul 9, 2025.