The sprawling legislation carrying President Trump’s domestic agenda squeaked through the House with one vote to spare, but some Republicans now say they didn’t realize what they voted for.
By Michael Gold
Reporting from the Capitol
June 3, 2025
When Republicans muscled their sweeping domestic policy bill through the House by a single vote after an overnight debate, they breathed a sigh of relief, enjoyed a celebratory moment at sunrise and then retreated to their districts for a weeklong recess.
Not even two weeks later, the victory has, for some, given way to regret.
It turns out that the sprawling legislation to advance tax and spending cuts and to cement much of President Trump’s domestic agenda included a raft of provisions that drew little notice or debate on the House floor. And now, Republicans who rallied behind the bill are claiming buyer’s remorse about measures they swear they did not know were included.
Last week, Representative Mike Flood of Nebraska admitted during a town hall meeting in his district that he did not know that the bill would limit judges’ power to hold people in contempt for violating court orders. He would not have voted for the measure, he said, if he had realized.
And as lawmakers returned to Washington on Tuesday after their weeklong break, Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia said that she had been unaware that the mega-bill she voted for would block states from regulating artificial intelligence for a decade.
“Full transparency, I did not know about this section,” Ms. Greene posted on social media, calling it a violation of states’ rights and adding that she “would have voted NO if I had known this was in there.”
The remorseful statements highlighted the realities of legislating in the modern age. Members of Congress, divided bitterly along partisan lines and often working against self-imposed political deadlines, have become accustomed to having their leaders throw together huge pieces of legislation at the very last moment — and often do not read the entirety of the bill they are voting on, if they read any of it at all. At the same time, the polarization of Congress means that few pieces of legislation make it to the floor or to enactment — and the few “must pass” bills that do are almost always stuffed full of unrelated policy measures that would otherwise have little hope of passing on their own.
In the case of the 1,037-page bill the G.O.P. is calling the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, Republicans barely cobbled together the votes to pass it after a protracted fight within their ranks and significant pressure from Mr. Trump to advance some of his top domestic priorities.
As a number of disparate factions threatened to withhold their support, the focus remained on Mr. Trump’s key agenda items: extending tax cuts, boosting defense and immigration spending and rolling back Biden-era climate initiatives.
The effort ended with a sprint to the finish line as Speaker Mike Johnson tried to meet a self-imposed Memorial Day deadline for passing the bill. The final version was not completed and moved to the floor until 10:40 p.m. the evening before it passed, giving lawmakers eight hours overnight to read it and decide how they would vote. By then, it was clear that nearly every Republican was going to toe the party line and vote “yes.”
With the legislative battle in the rearview mirror and the measure in the hands of the Senate, House Republicans can now turn to a politically expedient excuse that they often used to defend their votes on giant spending bills with small objectionable provisions: that the bill was simply too big.
Ms. Greene said she was not sure whether other colleagues had similar concerns about provisions in the bill that they might not have been aware of.
“You know, it’s hard to read over 1,000 pages when things keep changing up to the last minute before we voted on it,” she said.
Their criticism was echoed in part by Elon Musk, a staunch Trump supporter who just last week left his role leading the Department of Government Efficiency. On Tuesday, he unloaded on the sprawling measure, which he described as “massive, outrageous, pork-filled” and “a disgusting abomination.”
“Shame on those who voted for it,” Mr. Musk wrote. “You know you did wrong. You know it.”
Both Ms. Greene and Mr. Flood have urged Republican senators to strike the provisions that they are concerned about. That may well happen, since both could run afoul of the special rules that Republicans are using to push the legislation through the Senate on a simple-majority vote, shielding it from a filibuster and Democratic opposition. Such bills must comply with strict rules that require that all of their components have a direct effect on federal revenues.
Still, Democrats swiftly criticized Ms. Greene and Mr. Flood for failing to properly examine legislation that both of them had backed and at various points championed.
“PRO TIP: It’s helpful to read stuff before voting on it.” Representative Ted Lieu of California said, responding to Ms. Greene’s post.
And throughout the debate on the bill, Democrats repeatedly voiced their objections to the language that would bar states from setting their own regulations on artificial intelligence.
“I even brought this provision up during the debate,” Representative Brendan Boyle, a Pennsylvania Democrat, wrote on social media. “I welcome those on the other side to join me in opposition to it.”
The language that Mr. Flood said he opposed, which could potentially shield Mr. Trump and members of his administration from being held in contempt for disobeying court orders, was part of a larger push by Republicans to address injunctions that have blocked the president’s executive actions.