Why I Voted Yes on the One Big Beautiful Bill
Writing to Henry Knox in 1795 as he faced the intense national debate over the Jay Treaty, George Washington described his lack of perfect wisdom: “I have found no better guide hitherto than upright intentions, and close investigation.” Not claiming to be an infallible man, Washington relied upon his honest convictions and a close examination of the facts to guide him through difficult decisions.
The cornerstone of upright intentions is truth.
Oklahomans rightly expect their representatives to embody upright intentions, be guided by the truth, and diligently represent them. That’s why, after a week of tough negotiations, I changed my vote on the One Big Beautiful Bill—in good conscience first voting “no” in committee, then “present” in committee to allow it to pass, and finally a “yes” on the floor after the bill was improved. I want you to know why.
When the bill first came before the House Budget Committee on May 16th, I closely examined the text as drafted by other House members, and found it didn’t deliver on several key conservative promises in keeping with President Trump’s commitments on ending the Green New Scam and meeting our Budget Committee blueprint for fiscal discipline.
After consulting Alex Epstein—author of the book Fossil Future—and other energy experts, it was apparent that the bill failed to do a true repeal of the Green New Scam’s wind and solar tax credits. Instead of terminating these subsidies this Congress, the bill relied on future Congresses to adhere to “phaseouts” starting in 2029. The promise to start phasing out wind and solar subsidies after President Trump’s term ended was a recipe for lobbyists to circumnavigate him.
Energy security is national security, and my conservative colleagues and I were deeply concerned that the bill did not provide a pathway to end solar and wind subsidies that prop up Chinese industries at the expense of Oklahoma’s oil and gas jobs. Oklahoma is America’s 5th largest natural gas producer, and our nation’s economy depends on energy independence—not reliance on China. Currently, China dominates the global solar supply chain and is subsidized by American dollars, as solar accounts for 61% of all new electricity generated in the United States in the last few years.
Even worse, if these subsidies are allowed to continue, we risk our electric grid becoming entirely dependent on subsidized, unreliable energy that is linked to communist China—making our grid vulnerable to CCP attacks. As reported nationally this week, Chinese tech is being found embedded in solar components connected to our grid.
Since 1999, there have been at least ten times that Congress has promised to end the type of tax subsidies that wind and solar now enjoy, yet each time, they’ve kicked the can down the road. In order to ensure these tax credits end, it was vital that the timeline be kept within President Trump’s term—where he would ensure the Green New Scam would end and not let lobbyists overpower Republican promises to do so.
As Patrick Henry said, "I have but one lamp by which my feet are guided, and that is the lamp of experience.” Experience would tell us—as history often repeats itself—that Congress will delay on this promise yet again without President Trump to hold them accountable. I could not advance a bill that enabled this in good conscience.
I was also gravely concerned by the lack of meaningful Medicaid reform in the bill. The old bill delayed work requirements for able-bodied citizens until 2029—a timeline that did a disservice to millions of hardworking Americans. Our no vote in committee was to address the things we knew did not align with conservative principles.
These provisions were a result of liberal ideologies, retained by some in the Republican House of Representatives, who allowed these to remain in the One Big Beautiful Bill prior to it coming to our committee. These ideologies are NOT in line with the mandate President Trump was given by the American people, and he was NOT the one who put them in the bill.
My colleagues and I worked through the weekend, negotiating with House leadership and the White House to fix these flaws. When the revised framework came up on the evening of Sunday, May 18th, I voted “present”—not to dodge responsibility, but to honor the progress made while signaling that more work was needed. This was the first time I’ve ever voted present, and I did not do so lightly. I wanted to recognize the headway we had made in negotiations with the White House and the Speaker, relative to wind and solar tax credit reform and work requirements.
I believe in the Scripture in Matthew 5:37 which says, “Let your yes be yes, and your no be no.” In this situation, I couldn’t be a “yes,” because there were still things that had to be negotiated relative to the math working out, like SALT from the New Yorkers’ request and a hanging CBO score on the unintended consequences of Medicaid expansion.
I didn’t want to vote “no,” either, because it would kill the bill. So the four of us voted “present,” knowing it would allow the bill to move forward, with Leadership fully knowing we would continue negotiations so that I could get to a “yes” vote on the floor. This was fully explained to Leadership and the White House and we all agreed to do this before the present vote was cast.
After days of working with President Trump and the White House team, Speaker Mike Johnson, and other members of House Leadership, we made significant steps to move this legislation more in line with President Trump’s agenda so that we have the tools we need to keep his promises to the American people.
On Monday afternoon, May 19th, I learned that transgender surgeries for adults as paid for by Medicaid was another problem that needed to be addressed in the bill. I brought this up to the Speaker Monday evening, and based on his response, it was the first he had heard of it remaining a part of the bill. I then began working with him to remove this, letting him know it was an issue for me when it went to the floor.
Over the next couple of days, between discussions with the White House and the Speaker, we got all of this ironed out. The numbers worked out—in keeping with our budget blueprint to ensure deficit neutrality, so that we could operate in truth—and I got to a “YES.”
The final bill obtains a true repeal of Green New Scam wind and solar subsidies for new projects starting 60 days after the bill is signed into law. It moves Medicaid work requirements up to 2026, restoring the dignity of work in America. And it prohibits taxpayer funds via Medicaid paying for transgender surgeries for adults.
And again, the math works now—in keeping with our Budget Committee’s blueprint regarding CBO scores on savings in tandem with growth expectations as tied to President Trump’s first term. These important revisions clarified my decision to finally support the bill and were in line with what I know is truthful, of both my convictions and yours. I was able to have upright intentions after close examination.
In addition to all these other things we’ve worked on, some additional victories in the bill include:
- Preventing a 24% tax hike on the average eastern Oklahoman;
- Investing a historic $81 billion in Border Security to build the wall, increase the number of border patrol agents, and acquire technologies to prevent the flow of illicit drugs like fentanyl into our country;
- Including the REINS Act, which prevents bureaucrats from issuing costly rules that will increase inflation and harm our economy (which I had the honor of adding to the bill in the Budget Committee);
- Removing suppressors from the National Firearm Registry, restoring the right of law-abiding Americans to bear arms;
- Providing tax relief for our great seniors;
- Implementing a tax on remittances to ensure money earned in the United States goes to supporting American businesses and communities;
- Expediting permitting to promote American energy dominance;
- Requiring an accelerated audit of the Department of Defense
In my discussions with the Budget Committee, their score—based upon the work of Rep. Chip Roy , Rep. Ralph Norman, Rep. Andrew Clyde, and myself to negotiate these changes—would save between $100-130 billion dollars in savings over the next 10 years. Additionally, we also legitimized the previous savings that the CBO had scored relative to ending the Green New Scam, whereas before it was calculated on what was never going to happen, based on history.
The final product is not complete as this bill now heads to the Senate. My hope is that all the good we did will hold solid moving forward. I stayed prayerful throughout this entire process, analyzing motives and truth.
I want to thank President Trump and his team and Speaker Johnson for giving us the runway to strengthen conservative commitments in the One Big Beautiful Bill. And I am even more grateful for your trust as I continue to represent your values and, to the best of my ability, uphold the convictions we as Oklahomans hold dear.
How refreshing, love it! Thank you for the well needed information. And you and the others you mentioned are doing exactly what we voted for.
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