A procedural roll call that started late Wednesday night was held open into Thursday morning as several Republicans refused to give their votes. With few to spare from their slim majority, the outcome was in jeopardy. House Speaker Mike Johnson had recalled lawmakers to Washington, eager to seize on the momentum of the bill’s passage the day before in the Senate, and he vowed to press ahead.

“Our way is to plow through and get it done,” Johnson said, emerging in the middle of the night from a series of closed-door meetings. He expected votes later Thursday morning. “We will meet our July 4th deadline.”

But as voting stalled Trump, who hosted lawmakers Wednesday at the White House and spoke with some by phone, lashed out in a midnight post: “What are the Republicans waiting for??? What are you trying to prove???” He also warned starkly of political fallout from the delay “COSTING YOU VOTES!!!”

The idea of quickly convening to for a vote on the more than 800-page bill was a risky gambit, one designed to meet Trump’s demand for a holiday finish. Republicans have struggled mightily with the bill nearly every step of the way, often succeeding by the narrowest of margins — just one vote. Their slim 220-212 majority leaves little room for defections.

Several Republicans are balking at being asked to rubber-stamp the Senate version less than 24 hours after passage. A number of moderate Republicans from competitive districts have objected to the Senate bill’s cuts to Medicaid, while conservatives have lambasted the legislation as straying from their fiscal goals.

It falls to Johnson and his team to convince them that the time for negotiations is over. They will need assistance from Trump to close the deal, and lawmakers headed to the White House for a two-hour session Wednesday to talk to the president about their concerns.

“The president’s message was, ‘We’re on a roll,’” said Rep. Ralph Norman, R-S.C. “He wants to see this.”

Republicans are relying on their majority hold of Congress to push the package over a wall of unified Democratic opposition. No Democrats voted for bill in the Senate and none were expected to do so in the House.

“Hell no!” said House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries, flanked by fellow Democrats outside the Capitol.

In an early warning sign of Republican resistance, a resolution setting up terms for debating Trump’s bill barely cleared the House Rules Committee on Wednesday morning. As soon as it came to the full House, it stalled out as GOP leadership waited for lawmakers who were delayed coming back to Washington and conducted closed-door negotiations with holdouts.

By nightfall, as pizzas and other dinners were arriving at the Capitol, the next steps were uncertain.

Trump pushes Republicans to do ‘the right thing’

The bill would extend and make permanent various individual and business tax breaks from Trump’s first term, plus temporarily add new ones he promised during the 2024 campaign. This includes allowing workers to deduct tips and overtime pay, and a $6,000 deduction for most older adults earning less than $75,000 a year. In all, the legislation contains about $4.5 trillion in tax cuts over 10 years.

The bill also provides about $350 billion for defense and Trump’s immigration crackdown. Republicans partially pay for it all through less spending on Medicaid and food assistance. The Congressional Budget Office projects the bill will add about $3.3 trillion to the federal debt over the coming decade.

The House passed its version of the bill in May by a single vote, despite worries about spending cuts and the overall price tag. Now it’s being asked to give final passage to a version that, in many respects, exacerbates those concerns. The Senate bill’s projected impact on the nation’s debt, for example, is significantly higher.

“Lets go Republicans and everyone else,” Trump said in a late evening post.

The high price of opposing Trump’s bill

Johnson is intent on meeting Trump’s timeline and betting that hesitant Republicans won’t cross the president because of the heavy political price they would have to pay.

They need only look to Sen. Thom Tillis, R-N.C., who announced his intention to vote against the legislation over the weekend. Soon, the president was calling for a primary challenger to the senator and criticizing him on social media. Tillis quickly announced he would not seek a third term.

One House Republican who has staked out opposition to the bill, Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, is being targeted by Trump’s well-funded political operation.

Democrats target vulnerable Republicans to join them in opposition

Flanked by nearly every member of his caucus, Democratic Leader Jeffries of New York delivered a pointed message: With all Democrats voting “no,” they only need to flip four Republicans to prevent the bill from passing.

Jeffries invoked the “courage” of the late Sen. John McCain giving a thumbs-down to the GOP effort to “repeal and replace” the Affordable Care Act, and singled out Republicans from districts expected to be highly competitive in 2026, including two from Pennsylvania.

“Why would Rob Bresnahan vote for this bill? Why would Scott Perry vote for this bill?” Jeffries asked.

Democrats have described the bill in dire terms, warning that Medicaid cuts would result in lives lost and food stamp cuts would be “literally ripping the food out of the mouths of children, veterans and seniors,” Jeffries said Monday.

Republicans say they are trying to right-size the safety net programs for the population they were initially designed to serve, mainly pregnant women, the disabled and children, and root out what they describe as waste, fraud and abuse.

The package includes new 80-hour-a-month work requirements for many adults receiving Medicaid and applies existing work requirements in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, to more beneficiaries. States will also pick up more of the cost for food benefits.

The driving force behind the bill, however, is the tax cuts. Many expire at the end of this year if Congress doesn’t act.

The Tax Policy Center, which provides nonpartisan analysis of tax and budget policy, projected the bill would result next year in a $150 tax break for the lowest quintile of Americans, a $1,750 tax cut for the middle quintile and a $10,950 tax cut for the top quintile. That’s compared with what they would face if the 2017 tax cuts expired.

Yesterday (July 1), Warner Music Group and private investment giant Bain Capital unveiled their plans for a $1.2 billion music rights-buying joint venture.

MBW reported that roughly half of the $1.2 billion would be made up of debt, half with cash, with equal liability on both sides of the JV.

Now we know the finer details of the arrangement between WMG and Bain, courtesy of a fresh SEC filing.

The joint venture was formally established on June 29, 2025, through agreements between a WMG subsidiary called WMG BC Holdco and a Bain Capital subsidiary called BCSS W JV Investments (B), L.P (BainCo).

This duo have formed a joint entity called “Beethoven JV 1 LLC” (WMBC) as their 50/50 partnership vehicle.

According to the SEC filing, the partnership’s $1 billion-plus war chest is broken down as $500 million in equity capital split equally between the partners (which obviously equals each party investing $250 million apiece).

The fund also includes “approximately $500 million in initial warehouse debt commitments” secured directly by WMBC’s music catalog assets, with the ability to “increase the size of the [debt] facility to $700 million,” bringing the total to $1.2 billion.

Interestingly, the SEC filing reveals that JV is designed as the first of potentially multiple joint ventures.

According to the filing, “the JV Agreement contemplates the formation of additional 50/50 WMGCo/BainCo JVs,” suggesting Warner and Bain could launch additional acquisition vehicles.

Each partner has also granted the joint venture a “right of first opportunity” on any catalog acquisitions they’re considering that meet specified financial criteria.

WMG and Bain Capital said in their official announcement on Tuesday (July 1) that they will source and acquire the catalogs together, while WMG will manage all aspects of marketing, distribution, and administration.

As we pointed out yesterday, the funds might be deployed swiftly: Warner and Bain are understoof to be mulling the acquisition of the Red Hot Chili Peppers’ recorded music catalog for around $350 million.

WMG and Bain Capital said that they’d be targeting “legendary” music catalogs across both recorded music and music publishing.

“Augmenting our deep expertise and global infrastructure with Bain Capital’s financial prowess and belief in music will make us the destination of choice for preeminent catalogs.”

Robert Kyncl, WMG (via statement issued July 1)

In a statement issued on Tuesday, Warner Music Group CEO Robert Kyncl said: “Iconic artists and songwriters choose WMG to grow their legacies and introduce their art to new generations through impactful and innovative campaigns.”

He added: “Augmenting our deep expertise and global infrastructure with Bain Capital’s financial prowess and belief in music will make us the destination of choice for preeminent catalogs.”

Meanwhile, as reported in a separate story on Tuesday, Warner announced what it refers to as “a strategic restructuring plan… designed to free up funds to invest in music and to accelerate the Company’s long-term growth”.

In a note to staff sent on Tuesday and obtained by MBW, Warner Music Group CEO Robert Kyncl referred to it as the “remaining steps in our plan to help future-proof the company”.

WMG says in its SEC filing that it “expects the Plan to generate pre-tax cost savings of approximately $300 million on an annualized run-rate basis by the end of fiscal year 2027 and expects the majority of the cost savings under the Plan to be accretive to Adjusted OIBDA”.

Just over half of that annual $300 million cost-cutting target ($170 million) will be achieved via headcount reductions at WMG, said the company.

A further $30 million of savings will be achieved by reducing costs (like admin and real estate expenses) directly related to the headcount reductions. The rest of the cost-cutting will target SG&A expenses.

In its SEC filing, Warner said it expects this plan to be “fully implemented by the end of calendar year 2026”.Music Business Worldwide

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Donald Trump struggled to crush a late rebellion in the House of Representatives from Republican critics of his flagship tax and spending bill, as the US president made a final push to get it passed by July 4.

On Thursday, the president lashed out on Truth Social at the Republican holdouts, as a procedural vote to advance the bill to a final vote in the lower chamber of Congress was on track to fail.

“Largest Tax Cuts in History and a Booming Economy vs. Biggest Tax Increase in History, and a Failed Economy. What are the Republicans waiting for??? What are you trying to prove??? MAGA IS NOT HAPPY, AND IT’S COSTING YOU VOTES!!!,” Trump said.

With a narrow majority in the House, Republicans can only afford to lose three votes on the bill.

On Wednesday, Trump met privately at the White House with Republican dissidents to prevent them from torpedoing his “big beautiful bill”.

Since then five Republicans opposed advancing the bill, enough to stop it from moving forward, in a key procedural vote. The final tally has been kept open as Trump, House Speaker Mike Johnson and other party leaders hope to flip the votes from those Republicans.

Several conservative and centrist Republican lawmakers have raised concerns about the legislation that was approved by the Senate this week.

Some are unhappy that the bill — which implements a big chunk of Trump’s domestic agenda — does not go far enough to rein in the US debt, or roll back clean energy subsidies. Others are worried about cuts to healthcare programmes.

Still, it is unclear how long the rebellion will last, since many conservative hardliners have a history of buckling to the will of the White House and congressional leaders.

One group of conservatives including Tennessee’s Tim Burchett emerged from the White House upbeat following a “very productive” two-hour meeting with Trump and his vice-president JD Vance on Wednesday.

“The president was wonderful, as always,” Burchett said in a video posted to his social media accounts. “We will hopefully get this worked out and do some great things for this country.”

The “big, beautiful bill” extends vast tax cuts from Trump’s first administration, paid for in part by steep cuts to Medicaid, the public health insurance scheme for low-income and disabled Americans, and other social welfare programmes.

The bill would also roll back Joe Biden-era tax credits for clean energy, while scaling up investment in the military and border protection.

A version of the sweeping legislation was narrowly passed in the Senate after three Republicans sided with Democrats against the bill, forcing Vance to cast a tiebreaking vote.

That sent the legislation back to the House, which must approve the bill before Trump signs it into law. An earlier version of the legislation passed the House by a single vote in May.

“The Senate bill moved way far away from the House bill,” Andy Harris, a Maryland Republican who chairs the influential House Freedom Caucus, told CNBC. “We should take the time to get this right.”

Fiscally conservative lawmakers, including many Freedom Caucus members, object to the cost of the legislation, which the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office says will add $3.4tn to the deficit over the next decade. The group has circulated a three-page memo detailing what it described as “failures” of the Senate bill.

More moderate members have argued that the cuts to Medicaid, which would strip an estimated 12mn people of their health insurance, are too steep.

The White House has dismissed the CBO’s projections and argued that the bill would more than pay for itself in the long term by generating stronger economic growth.