Republicans Just Voted to Do Immoral and Irreparable Harm to the United States

Politics / Republicans Just Voted to Do Immoral and Irreparable Harm to the United States The GOP chose to betray both morality and economic common sense by approving Trump’s one big, ugly bill.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, R-La., surrounded by Republican members of Congress, signs President Donald Trump’s signature bill of tax breaks and spending cuts, Thursday, July 3, 2025, at the Capitol in Washington. (Julia Demaree Nikhinson / AP)

During the tortured final congressional debate before the US House of Representatives approved the legislative monstrosity that Donald Trump dubbed “the one big, beautiful bill”—and that detractors have more accurately described as “the one big ugly bill”—US Representative Don Beyer delivered a moment of moral clarity.

“From the Gospel of Matthew,” began the Virginia Democrat, who read aloud from the floor of the House:

I was thirsty, and you gave me drink. I was a stranger, and you took me in. I was naked, and you clothed me. I was sick, and you visited me. I was in prison, and you came unto me. Inasmuch as you have done it unto one of the least of my brothers, you have done it unto me.

When he had finished the biblical reading, Beyer said, “Mr. Speaker, the bill before us takes food and drink from the mouths of the poor. It takes healthcare from the sick. A vote for this bill betrays these Gospel teachings, and in our hearts all of us know it.”

Beyer was right. Every member of Congress, be they liberal or conservative, Democratic or Republican, knew that the bill, which was ultimately approved on Thursday by a 218-214 vote, was written in a way that would: