Estimated read time: 3-4 minutes
- Utah Rep. Blake Moore was caught napping during a 15-hour House budget hearing early Wednesday.
- Moore laughed off the incident, noting colleagues also napped off-camera.
- The hearing focused on renewing Trump's tax cuts as congressional Republicans seek to approve the president's "one, big beautiful bill."
SALT LAKE CITY — Utah Rep. Blake Moore is all smiles after television cameras captured him napping in his chair during a marathon House budget hearing early Wednesday — after all, who wouldn't doze off after debating tax policy for 15 hours?
The House Ways and Means Committee met through all hours of the night beginning Tuesday, as Republicans advanced pieces of President Donald Trump's plan to renew tax cuts as part of this year's budget talks. The debate stretched into the early hours of Wednesday morning and just before 5 a.m. ET, when it was Moore's turn to vote, the cameras panned over to find the Utah Republican sound asleep in his chair.
A pair of representatives could be seen laughing in the row behind Moore as his name was called twice, before Rep. Michelle Fischbach, R-Minnesota, gently nudged him awake. Moore laughed, cast a "no" vote on a Democratic amendment to the legislation then took a bow.
"My wife was giving me a hard time," Moore told KSL.com later Wednesday after video of his nap was shared widely on social media, racking up hundreds of thousands of views. "She's like: 'I don't know what the big deal is. He does this every Sunday at church.'"
It's 4:57am ET ... there's another vote during the House Ways and Means markup ... and they have to wake Rep. Blake Moore pic.twitter.com/Z2XlhiMtve
— Howard Mortman (@HowardMortman) May 14, 2025
Representatives are no strangers to long nights and late hours, but Moore said Wednesday's hearing was the first "all-nighter" he's pulled in Congress. And after about 15 hours of debate, Moore said he wasn't the only representative napping.
"All my other colleagues were in the back room dozing off; they just were smart enough not to do it on camera," he said.
The debate on Trump's "one, big beautiful bill" on budgets and tax cuts is more important than his beauty sleep, Moore said, adding that he is well-versed on the bill itself after working for over a year on the policies, which he says will support business growth and personal well-being through tax relief.
Trump's tax cuts from 2017 expire at the end of this fiscal year, "so if we don't get this piece of legislation done, all that comes back in and you're dealing with a much lower child tax credit and significantly higher taxes across the board for American families and American workers."
Republicans are still working to find a balance on tax deductions for Americans in states with high tax rates, but Moore sounded hopeful the bill will eventually clear the House and Senate.
"There's no guarantees in this world until this thing is signed by the president," he said. "Until then, this ain't over and we've got a lot of work to do just to make sure we get it there, but it's all on the right track right now."
What may not be on the right track for now is Moore's sleep schedule, though the congressman said he was able to get a couple of extra hours of shut-eye after the hearing wrapped up.
"My colleagues are giving me a hard time," he said. "And you know, (there's) a lot of things to be known for in this place. This is maybe not the best, but it sure isn't the worst, so we'll take it."
