Missouri Republican representatives praise passage of ‘big, beautiful bill’
Matthew Sanders
COLUMBIA, Mo. (KMIZ)
Missouri’s House members split down party lines in their votes on the “one big, beautiful bill” Thursday, with Republicans praising President Donald Trump’s signature piece of legislation.
The bill includes budget cuts to Medicaid and food programs while also cutting taxes and boosting spending for defense and border security. The House passed it 218-214 after Democrat Hakeem Jeffries held the floor for more than eight hours to delay the vote.
Rep. Mark Alford (R-Raytown), who represents a large chunk of Mid-Missouri in the Fourth Congressional District, called the vote “a watershed moment.”
“This critical legislation delivers on our mandate by enacting the America First agenda,” Alford wrote in a statement posted on social media. He went on to praise the legislation’s tax cut.
Rep. Bob Onder (R-Augusta), whose Third District also covers part of Mid-Missouri, focused on the tax cuts.
“Without this bill, Americans would have faced the largest tax increase in history,” Onder wrote. “We simply couldn’t let that happen.”
Rep. Sam Graves (R-Tarkio) focused on transportation in his statement on the bill’s approval.
“As Chairman of the Transportation and Infrastructure Committee, I’m proud that we were able to include major investments in the U.S. Coast Guard to strengthen our border and national security,” Graves wrote. “It will also jumpstart the process of modernizing our nation’s aging air traffic control system and hiring more air traffic controllers to keep the flying public safe. This bill makes good on President Trump’s America First agenda and I look forward to seeing it signed into law.”
Graves’ Sixth Congressional District covers northern Missouri.
Rep. Eric Burlison (R-Springfield) said that he and other conservatives “secured numerous guarantees to ensure fiscal sanity” ahead of the vote.
Rep. Jason Smith (R-Salem) spoke on the floor after Jeffries in his role as Ways and Means chair. Smith called Democratic claims that the bill would kick millions off their health care coverage “hogwash.”
Missouri’s two Democrats, Emanuel Cleaver of Kansas City and Wesley Bell of St. Louis, opposed the bill, with Cleaver labeling it the “Big Ugly Bill” and a “moral monstrosity” in social media posts.
Cleaver said the Congressional Budget Office estimates the bill will take health care coverage from 17 million Americans, including 265,000 Missourians, and take food assistance from 5 million families.
Bell called Thursday’s action “one of the darkest votes in modern American history.”
Trump has said he plans to sign the legislation on Independence Day.