DMV leaders have mixed reactions to Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ passing House

WASHINGTON (DC News Now) — The House of Representatives passed President Donald Trump’s massive tax and spending bill in a 218-214 vote that drew mixed reactions among leaders from the D.C. area.

Some praised the core of Trump’s domestic policy agenda — while others sounded off alarm bells for its impacts on Medicaid.

Here’s what local leaders had to say.

Maryland

Rep. Jamie Raskin (Md.-08) called the bill a “dangerous Medicaid-cutting, job-killing, debt-exploding tax scheme.”

“As Independence Day approaches, Trump and his foot soldiers have just passed a law that threatens the lives and liberties of Americans and our pursuit of happiness. This monstrous bill will strip nearly 246,000 Marylanders of the health insurance they need to live with basic security and dignity,” he said in a statement, in part. “Democracies use government as an instrument for the common good,” he continued. “Using a tax bill to destroy and deny health care for 17 million of our people, to take food from the mouths of the hungry, to make poor and middle-class Americans hand over their hard-earned money to billionaires and big corporations—that has nothing to do with democracy. It is a sign of political authoritarianism and violence against the social contract.”

In a similar sentiment, Maryland Democratic Party Chair Steuart Pittman stated, in part:

It is cruel and sick to describe as “beautiful” the taking of healthcare services from millions of Americans, the taking of food from millions of children, and the taking of housing assistance from families as prices soar. This bill will also blow a hole in state and local budgets, putting public safety and other government services at risk. When you add to that the fact that this is the largest wealth transfer from poor to rich in history, while ballooning our deficit, it makes the whole exercise a full assault on our state and our nation.
Steuart Pittman, Maryland Democratic Party Chair

Virginia

Democratic Virginia Sens. Tim Kaine and Mark Warner slammed the House’s passage of the bill, a similar sentiment to the one they expressed earlier this week following the Senate’s passage. They stated:

With today’s vote, Donald Trump and congressional Republicans are one step closer to passing their bill to explode the debt and kill tens of thousands of jobs and rip health care and nutrition assistance away from hundreds of thousands of people in Virginia alone. Our constituents deserve better than a Congress and President willing to sell out America’s well-being and future to give the ultra-wealthy a tax handout. The consequences of this legislation will be stark—and Americans will know who is to blame.
Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine (D-Va.)

Gov. Glenn Youngkin, on the other hand, congratulated the president, House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune on the passage.

In a post on social media, he wrote, “The Promises Made, Promises Kept President. Lower taxes for families and small businesses, a secure border, American energy dominance, and rocket fuel for our economy.”