内容摘要：with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

with The Conversation US, with funding from Lilly Endowment Inc. The AP is solely responsible for this content.

On the one hand, the conservative leader of the Freedom Caucus derides the newas a “joke” that do not go far enough at cost-cutting. Meanwhile, a handful of GOP lawmakers from New York and other high-tax states are refusing to support the measure unless changes are made to give deeper state and local tax deductions,

for their constituents back home.“To say we have a gulf is an understatement,” said Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, a leader of the conservative wing.Roy said there is “a significant number of us who could not bless this product” in its current form.

Nevertheless, momentum is building toward an end-of-the-week inflection point to stitch together the sprawling package Friday at the Budget Committee. That means combining hundreds of pages of bill text covering $5 trillion in tax breaks and at least $1.5 trillion in spending reductions on Medicaid, food stamps andto deliver Trump’s second-term legislative priority.

The Capitol is seen in Washington, March 25, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)

The Capitol is seen in Washington, March 25, 2025. (AP Photo/J. Scott Applewhite, File)“We are helping people,” he said. For an able-bodied man to work, “it’s good for his own personal dignity. It’s good for his purpose. It’s a win-win-win.”

The debates in Congress come during a time of great soul-searching in the United States and the world. People are divided as ever, politically and economically, yet also yearning for a sense of community and togetherness that seems to be slipping further out of reach.House Democrats, who have fought Johnson and his party every step of the way in opposing what they call the “big, ugly bill,” were not about to cede any moral ground to Republicans or to Trump.

“This is the United States of America — the wealthiest country in the history of the world. It is indecent to rip food out of the mouths of children and everyday Americans,”said during his own lengthy floor speech ahead of the vote.