Inside the Last-Minute Fight to Pass the ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’

Florida Republican Rep. Randy Fine is a bit tired after the multi-day battle to pass the “big, beautiful” budget reconciliation bill through the House of Representatives, but he thinks it was worth the all-nighters.

“Snoozing on my couch isn’t my idea of a good time. But you know what, whatever we’ve got to do to get the president’s agenda done,” the freshman representative told The Daily Signal shortly before the bill’s passage.

The House of Representative took up the 10-year fiscal bill immediately after its tiebreaking passage through the Senate, with the House Committee on Rules drafting a rule Tuesday shortly afterward to bring it to the floor. 

Leadership was working into the wee hours of Thursday morning to get holdouts to approve the rule to bring the bill to the floor.

Fine told The Daily Signal he is not sure what the purpose of these delays was.

“I don’t know what they got out of it. And maybe that’s been reported, and I haven’t seen it, but I always believe you have to put the team first,” he said.

“I’m on the Republican team. I’m on the Trump team. And I’m also cognizant about how my actions affect my colleagues. I don’t know what they got out of behaving the way they did.”

Fine says he is happy with the final product, even though he is not under any illusions that it is perfect.

“I think like anything that is big, there are going to be things in it you like, and there are going to be things in it that you don’t,” he said.

“And frankly, I wish we had a lot more spending cuts. I believe the greatest existential threat to the United States is our debt and our deficit, and this bill doesn’t solve that problem.”

Still, he advises avoiding the idea that the bill—which funds border security while extending tax cuts and restructuring benefits programs—ought to solve all of America’s problems.

“The bill doesn’t have to solve every problem. I look at the country as being on the one-yard line with 99 yards to go to save America. And I believe this bill takes us from the one-yard line to the 11-yard line, and then we continue to fight forward. I think we’re moving in the right direction and that’s why I’m excited to support the bill,” he said.

Fine spoke to The Daily Signal as House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., was approaching the 7-hour mark in his record-breaking filibuster speech before the House of Representatives.

“I think the self-promotion is kind of gross,” said Fine. “He’s keeping people from getting home for the Fourth of July, all for nothing. It’s not as though if he talks two more hours, he’s going to convince anyone to change their vote.”

Fine additionally pushed back on Jeffries and other Democrats’ arguments that the bill is a tax break for the rich.

“I actually am one of those [wealthy] people because I had a fairly successful life before Congress,” he said. “My taxes aren’t going to go down if this bill passes. What will happen is they won’t go up. And I think raising taxes that dramatically would have a disastrous effect on the economy.”

He added, “There are new tax cuts in the bill, but they’re not for rich people. Rich people don’t work for tips. Rich people don’t work for overtime.”

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