While you slept, the US House finished a 1,000-page bill that will impact NC
Happy Memorial Day! It’s Danielle Battaglia, back with today’s Under the Dome!
I want to use today’s newsletter as a peek behind the curtain on what’s happened with President Donald Trump and Congress over the past week.
As all politicians do, Trump made many campaign promises to the American people. Now Trump is working with House Republicans to codify many of those promises into law.
You’ve heard about this throughout the past few months. It’s called the reconciliation process, or as Republicans have named the actual legislation: the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.”
And you’ve heard the panic about what could be in it:
- Cuts to Medicaid?
- Medicare?
- The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program?
- State and local taxes known as SALT?
The list goes on and on.
So why didn’t I start reporting on the actual text of the bill until it passed the House on Thursday? Because we didn’t have it. Literally.
Each of the House’s committees were assigned to find cuts to their budgets over the past few months. Once they did, they sent it to the Committee on House Rules to debate before it hit the floor.
Rep. Virginia Foxx, a Republican from Banner Elk, began the Rules committee meeting at 1 a.m. Wednesday, and reporters and House members were told to stand by for a potential vote throughout the day. We were also told that the bill could and would change as the committee worked their way through it. Not only that, it could change after it left Rules, which is the last stop before it reaches the House floor.
You have never seen a quieter press gallery than Wednesday as reporters were either waiting to be able to tell readers what was in the final version, or milling around trying to find out when the bill would move.
And Foxx led a marathon 19-hour meeting.
Normally I’m more active in giving you updates about these negotiations because North Carolina was home to former Rep. Patrick McHenry, who was always working behind the scenes with the speaker to get Republicans on the same page, or former Rep. Dan Bishop, working with the far-right House Freedom Caucus making demands of the speaker.
But our current members stayed close to their parties on this vote.
That doesn’t mean those arguments you’re used to me writing about weren’t happening. The House Freedom Caucus, the SALT Caucus and other factions of House Republicans were making demands of Trump and Speaker Mike Johnson.
To get this bill over the finish line, Trump himself was having to whip votes. He visited the Capitol on Tuesday. He hauled members of the House Freedom Caucus into his office at the White House on Wednesday. He even got Congress to name some of the provisions in the bill after him.
It wasn’t until Wednesday night that the final version of the bill came out.
And now I’m poring through it to see the impacts to North Carolina on topics like Medicaid and SNAP.
I’ll keep you posted.
But know that it is destined to change again as the Senate revamps it. They plan to finish their work on it by Independence Day.
And then it will go back to the House.
Other stories we’re working on:
▪ A federal investigation into toxic chemicals at Poe Hall on N.C. State’s campus has resumed. The news comes after cuts to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services’ workforce had forced the feds to stop work on the campus. Korie Dean has more.
▪ RTI International, a research nonprofit in Durham, announced more layoffs due to changes made by the Trump administration, Brian Gordon reports.
▪ I wrote about nurses around the country sounding the alarm about an executive order signed by Trump and proposed cuts to the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the impact that will have on their patients.
▪ Former President Joe Biden announced he has Stage 4 prostate cancer. I compiled a list of places around the Triangle where you can go to get screened.
▪ Former Vice President Mike Pence was in North Carolina last week criticizing Trump’s tariffs. Kyle Ingram reported on the roundtable held by the John Locke Foundation where Pence appeared.
That’s it for now. Be kind to each other. And check back tomorrow for the Under the Dome podcast newsletter.
And if you have any feedback or tips for this new edition of the newsletter feel free to reach out to me directly at dbattaglia@mcclatchydc.com.
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