A Democratic member of the House of Representatives is using an ongoing delay on a procedural vote for H.R. 1 — President Donald Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" — to scorch his Republican colleagues for acting as the president's toadies.
In a lengthy rant posted to his official Bluesky account on Wednesday, Rep. Sean Casten (D-Ill.) noted that as of 4:30 PM Eastern Time, the vote on an amendment to H.R. 1 by Rep. Virginia Foxx (R-N.C.) was still frozen at 214-212 in favor, with votes from 6 members still pending. Casten reminded his followers that members were asked to return from their districts for the scheduled July 4 recess in order to vote on the bill, with many members arriving "really late last night."
The Illinois Democrat opined that the bill should be "an easy no vote" given that it is expected to "kick 17 million people off their health insurance, force lots of kids, seniors and veterans to go hungry AND is really unpopular." However, he acknowledged that because "Trump wants it" on his desk by July 4, his GOP colleagues will likely relent and pass the bill because "if Daddy wants something, Republicans will do it."
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Casten observed that several members of the far-right House Freedom Caucus circulated a memo outlining the reasons they were against the Senate version of the bill (which Trump wants passed through the House as-is in order to be signed by July 4), which could jeopardize its passage. And he went on to say that a "functioning House leadership team" would meet with those members, make any necessary changes, and send the bill back to the Senate in order to get enough Republicans on board to ensure its final passage.
"But Mike Johnson does not run a functional House leadership team," Casten wrote. "He does what Daddy says and Daddy said pass it before July 4."
According to Casten, Republicans already have enough votes to pass Foxx's amendment to H.R. 1, but not enough to pass a separate rule "which would then trigger an hour of debate and a vote on final passage." He then lamented that he and over 434 other members of the House "moved schedules, cancelled constituent meetings and all the other things we had planned at home over the holiday week to travel to DC, so we could sit around and wait for [Republicans] to see if they will choose patriotism or fealty to Trump this week."
"The bigger question for the House GOP: why the hell do you want this job?" He wrote. "Congress is a coequal branch. Your decisions affect every American. If you think that you should only do what Trump wants regardless of the ask and even if your constituents don't like it you aren't a representative. And you certainly aren't a leader. You're just an interchangeable, disposable rubber stamp. This job, and this country is too important for people of such low personal ambition."
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Click here to read Casten's full Bluesky thread in its entirety.