COLUMBUS, Ohio (WCMH) — An Ohio Republican was one of only two who voted against President Donald Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” containing legislative priorities, which passed early Thursday in a 215-214 vote.
Rep. Warren Davidson, who represents Butler and Hamilton counties in southwest Ohio, joined Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Kentucky) in opposing the bill. All Democrats voted against the bill. Rep. Andy Harris (R-Maryland) voted “present.”
“While I love many things in the bill, promising someone else will cut spending in the future does not cut spending,” Davidson wrote in a social media post. “Deficits do matter and this bill grows them now. The only Congress we can control is the one we’re in. Consequently, I cannot support this big deficit plan. NO.”
Central to the package is the GOP’s commitment to extending some $4.5 trillion in tax breaks they engineered during Trump’s first term in 2017, while temporarily adding new ones he campaigned on during in 2024, including no taxes on tips, overtime pay, car loan interest and others.
To make up for some of the lost tax revenue, the Republicans focused on changes to Medicaid and the food stamps program, largely by imposing work requirements on many of those receiving benefits. There’s also a massive rollback of green energy tax breaks from the Biden-era Inflation Reduction Act.
In his post, Davidson, who last week introduced a bill asking the National Institute of Health to study “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” shared an infographic that shows the bill’s effect on the deficit.
All told, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates 8.6 million fewer people would have health care coverage and 3 million less people a month would have SNAP food stamps benefits with the proposed changes.
The CBO said the tax provisions would increase federal deficits by $3.8 trillion over the decade, while the changes to Medicaid, food stamps and other services would tally $1 trillion in reduced spending. The lowest-income households in the U.S. would see their resources drop, while the highest ones would see a boost, it said.
In “the dark of night they want to pass this GOP tax scam,” said Rep. Pete Aguilar, D-Calif.
Other Democrats called it a “big, bad bill” or a “big, broken promise.”
The Associated Press contributed to this report.