BBB finally gets over the finish line

I was wrong... I never thought Speaker Johnson (R-LA) would be able to get the House on the same page to get this bill passed, but it turns out he did it.

Or, more correctly, the resistance by the Freedom Caucus was nothing but grandstanding because they all folded to support the bill, with only two Republicans voting against the legislation when it was floored on Thursday.

It did not come without drama, however, as Minority Leader Jeffries (D-N.Y.) literally put people to sleep for hours with a speech to delay voting.

Stalling

When the House got the bill, it looked like it had no chance of passing.

We knew Rep. Massie (R-KY) was a no, and Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) had been talking a tough game right up until it came time to vote for the bill.

He prefaced the vote by saying the changes made by the Senate were not so bad, this after a week of whining about how they took a bad bill and made it even worse.

Roy had stated, "We were not happy with what the Senate produced. We thought there was a path forward as of late last week, even though I had concerns in public about them. But then they jammed it through at the last minute in a way that, you know, we're not overly excited about.”

The Stunt

As Minority Leader, Jeffries has the right to speak until he can speak no more, and that is what he did just before Johnson was making his move to send the bill to the floor for a vote.

Jeffries showed up just before 5:00 a.m. local time, armed with several binders that were filled with a speech he planned to give.

The speech fell flat, with the most viral moments of the speech being Democrats falling asleep directly behind Jeffries, with party members removing the guilty party and putting a more energetic Democrat in the camera lens.

It was all for naught, however, as the bill was eventually put on the floor, with only two of the more than 20 Republicans who vowed to block the bill voting “no.”

It’s Passed

The two “no” votes came from Rep. Massie (R-KY) and Rep. Fitzpatrick (R-PA), but Roy and the rest of his buddies in the Freedom Caucus caved, just as they always do, proving that their objections to the bill were nothing more than publicity stunts.

Trump played a big part in getting the bill passed, reportedly working the phone lines all night long to get detractors on board, with Johnson stating, "The President is very engaged. He was very helpful in the process. He helped answer questions and articulate his vision and what this bill will mean for the country, and his agenda, and how urgent it is for us to get it done.”

House Majority Leader Steve Scalise (R-LA) explained why so many folded at the last second, stating, "They recognized this is the vote that's before us and it's not going to change. There are other things we can do down the road, and we want to do. But we've got to get this bill done first.”

Trump owns this bill now, as does every person who voted in favor of it. As I have stated all along, there are a lot of good parts to this bill, but there are parts that I simply cannot live with, and I surely will not support something I believe will have our debt over $40 trillion by the time Trump leaves office. Now, I was wrong about the bill being on Trump’s desk by Independence Day, so let’s hope I am just as wrong about the implications of this bill regarding our nation’s debt. We can check that on January 20, 2029. I am honestly happy for Trump because he said he needed this bill to make his presidency a success, and he has it. Now let's see what he does with it.