Trump and Johnson deliver One Big Beautiful Bill in historic legislative victory

They did it again.

After a 72-hour marathon of wrangling votes to keep the GOP caucus in line, Speaker Mike Johnson and President Donald Trump worked together to pass the “One Big Beautiful Bill.”

It’s a major, historic hurdle that will be the defining legislative product of President Trump’s second term.

From the outset, the political class in Washington scoffed and mocked Johnson’s commitment to deliver the bill by Memorial Day weekend. Almost daily, the beltway media declared the timeframe unworkable – and Speaker Johnson’s coalition too fragile – to meet such an ambitious deadline.

MIKE JOHNSON, PRESIDENT TRUMP GET ‘BIG, BEAUTIFUL’ WIN AS BUDGET PASSES HOUSE

Certainly, past efforts to advance marquee legislation like this have not moved this quickly so early in a presidency. Former President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act didn’t clear Congress until deep into his second year. The Affordable Care Act was signed 14 months into President Obama’s term. Even the 2017 Trump tax cuts came together in late December.

But President Trump and Speaker Johnson are a formidable team. More than a year ago, Speaker Johnson was confident that Trump would return to the White House and Republicans would retake control of Congress. So, Johnson started planning. He was wisely preparing for unified government to unlock the reconciliation process – a budgetary maneuver that allows major fiscal legislation to pass the Senate with a simple majority vote.

President Donald Trump and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., talk with reporters after a House Republican Conference meeting on the budget reconciliation bill in the U.S. Capitol on Tuesday, May 20, 2025.  (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)

Johnson’s planning paid off big time. He moved swiftly to stand up working groups and frontload the legislative process more than six months before the election. This allowed him and House Republicans to hit the ground running at the onset of the 119th Congress. Thursday’s successful vote was a testament to Johnson’s foresight and his fortitude.

Of course, President Trump’s involvement was critical for ultimate success. The president made repeated overtures to ideological hardliners and centrist holdouts. Blue state moderates pushed to secure a deal on state and local tax deductions (SALT) among other things, while the House Freedom Caucus sought assurances on deficit reductions. President Trump hosted multiple, hours-long meetings at the White House. And in the sprint to the finish line, the President made a rare trip to Capitol Hill ahead of the vote. This was a gesture of goodwill to signal his support, and of course, to hold the fence-sitters’ feet to the fire. 

All that was critical to the bill’s passage. President Trump and Speaker Johnson managed to keep this historically small and unruly GOP conference on track. They deftly managed conflicting concerns from within the party. The saber-rattling lasted up to the final hours. In the end, Trump and Johnson never blinked.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) speaks at a press conference with other members of House Republican leadership in Washington, DC on May 6, 2025. ( Nathan Posner/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Johnson is, in many ways, the ideal complement to Trump’s tough approach to dealmaking. President Trump thrives on confrontation, and Johnson is methodical and reflective. The affable, young Speaker is thoughtful and pensive. He genuinely cares for and is interested in the concerns of his colleagues. These traits are rooted in his deep Christian faith.

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They’re the exact traits that have earned him a reservoir of goodwill across the GOP conference that many of his predecessors never enjoyed. This helps him wield the gavel under one of the slimmest majorities in American history. 

As Rep. Richard Hudson put it after the vote: “He’s different than any speaker I have worked with. I knew Boehner. I knew Paul Ryan. There is genuineness… There is a humbleness. It just comes through.”

This goodwill has translated into a string of legislative victories. Under Speaker Johnson’s leadership, House Republicans have logged win after win on key pieces of legislation — from the National Security Supplemental ,to successive government funding bills, to the high-stakes House Budget resolution that set the stage for the Big Beautiful Bill. In more than 28 non-party-line votes in the House, he’s suffered only three defections. This is a truly remarkable feat in today’s House GOP.

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President Trump has dominated the national political scene for over a decade. Johnson is – and will continue to be – the President’s strongest ally in Congress. Together, they are America’s most formidable team. 

Republicans still have a lot of work to do to get the “One Big Beautiful Bill” signed into law. The Senate will no doubt further test Johnson’s speakership. 

But this week proves Johnson is the man for the moment. This week proved he is one of the most effective speakers in American history.

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