One Big Beautiful win

Once upon a time, there was a tiny GOP majority. Each time a piece of legislation was mentioned, the pundits hinted that it might not happen because of the slim GOP majority. The pundits didn't mention the Democrats' intransigence towards good legislation. Pundits laughed at the thought of passing the Trump agenda in a single bill. Don't look now but Donald Trump's bill passed the eHouse early this morning.

CNN, aka the ESPN of news reporting, is reporting "Speaker Mike Johnson delivered a major win for President Donald Trump early on Thursday morning, uniting a deeply divided House GOP to pass a bill that many of them were still pushing fiercely to change. House Republicans passed President Donald Trump’s sweeping tax and spending cuts package, marking a stunning victory for both Johnson and Trump after the bill appeared doomed just days earlier."

All it took was the world's nicest guy (Speaker Johnson) and the world's best closer (Donald J. Trump, aka Orange Man Bad) to close the deal. The next thing you know, the impossible bill that was on life support is heading to the Senate for its approval. Somewhere in NYC, Larry Kudlow is smiling. Somewhere else in NYC, Hakeem Jeffries is throwing a hissy fit. At the White House or Mar-a-Lago, Donald Trump is saying 'I told you so.'

“Sometimes it’s good to be underestimated, isn’t it?” a sleep-deprived Johnson said on the House floor early Thursday, after multiple all-night negotiating sessions with all corners of his conference.

Trump himself played a major role in passing the bill, which contains many of his own campaign trail promises, such as extending his 2017 tax breaks and eliminating taxes on tips and overtime pay. It also devotes billions to border security, allowing for a major crackdown on immigration. In multiple sit-downs with GOP lawmakers this week, Trump made impassioned appeals to members to back his agenda.

This bill has come a long way. Initially, the Senate insisted on this being split apart. Larry Kudlow pushed against that. Frequently, he shamed senators into the one big beautiful bill. Later, Trump stepped in and declared that the bill wouldn't be split. After that, splitting the bill talk ended. The vote was slim (215-214) but it's heading to the Senate:

It isn't time for celebrating yet but this is a big victory. The CBS reporter said this gives the bill momentum but, if it does, it's minimal momentum. Still, when the margins are this thin, any momentum is welcome.