‘Promises made, promises kept,’ says Trump as he signs tax, spending cut bill at White House July 4 picnic
President Donald Trump signed his package of tax breaks and spending cuts into law on Friday in front of ‘Fourth of July’ picnickers after his cajoling produced almost unanimous Republican support in Congress for the domestic priority that could cement his second-term legacy.
Flanked by Republican legislators and members of his Cabinet, Trump signed the multitrillion-dollar legislation at a desk on the White House driveway, then banged down a gavel gifted to him by House Speaker Mike Johnson that was used during the bill’s final passage on Thursday.
Against odds that at times seemed improbable, Trump achieved his goal of celebrating a historic — and divisive — legislative victory in time for the nation’s birthday, which also was his self-imposed deadline for Congress to send the legislation to his desk. Fighter jets and stealth bombers streaked through the sky over the annual White House Fourth of July picnic.
“America’s winning, winning, winning like never before,” Trump said, noting last month’s bombing campaign against Iran’s nuclear programme, which he said the flyover was meant to honour. “Promises made, promises kept, and we’ve kept them.” The White House was hung with red, white and blue bunting for the Independence Day festivities. The US Marine Band played patriotic marches — and, in a typical Trumpian touch, tunes by 1980s pop icons Chaka Khan and Huey Lewis. There were three separate flyovers.
Trump spoke for a relatively brief 22 minutes before signing the bill, but was clearly energised as the legislation’s passage topped a recent winning streak for his administration. That included the Iran campaign and a series of US Supreme Court ruling he’s fought for.
The budget legislation is the president’s highest-profile win yet. It includes key campaign pledges like no tax on tips or Social Security income. Trump, who spent an unusual amount of time thanking individual Republican lawmakers who shepherded the measure through Congress, contended “our country is going to be a rocket ship, economically,” because of the legislation.
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Big cuts to Medicaid and food stamps
Critics assailed the package as a giveaway to the rich that will rob millions more lower-income people of their health insurance, food assistance and financial stability.
“Today, Donald Trump signed into law the worst job-killing bill in American history. It will rip health care from 17 million workers to pay for massive tax giveaways to the wealthy and big corporations, amounting to the country’s largest money grab from the working class to the ultra-rich,” AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said in a statement.
“Every member of Congress who voted for this devastating bill picked the pockets of working people to hand billionaires a USD 5 trillion gift.”
The legislation extends Trump’s 2017 multitrillion-dollar tax cuts and cuts Medicaid and food stamps by USD 1.2 trillion. It provides for a massive increase in immigration enforcement. Congress’ nonpartisan scorekeeper projects that nearly 12 million more people will lose health insurance under the law.
World