President Donald Trump’s 940-page “Big, Beautiful Bill” of tax breaks and drastic reductions in healthcare and food programs are now the subject of discussion in the US Senate.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) announced that the bill would add an estimated $3.3 trillion to US debt over the course of ten years during the all-night session on Sunday.
Additionally, according to the bill, 11.8 million more Americans would become uninsured by 2034.
Republican leaders are resolute to meet Trump’s July 4 deadline, which is the nation’s Independence Day.
But they only managed to pass a procedural vote on Saturday night with barely enough support. It took the support of Vice President JD Vance and phone calls from Trump to keep the legislation on track after a few Republican holdouts rebuffed it.
After Trump threatened to support a primary challenger in retaliation for his “no” vote, Republican Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina announced he would not run for president.
With its drastic reductions in Medicaid, which provides health coverage to low-income people, Tillis claimed he couldn’t support the bill.
Trump praised Tillis’ decision to not run for office by saying in a TruthSocial post, “Great News! Senator “Thom Tillis won’t be running for reelection.”
Other Senate Republicans are urging steeper spending cuts, particularly in healthcare, despite Trump’s own unanticipated warning.
The US president remarked, “REMEMBER, you still need to get reelected,” while addressing “all cost-cutting Republicans.” Avoid becoming too crazy! We’ll add up everything, doubling the number of times, and growing faster than ever.
Overall, the Senate bill includes about $4 trillion in tax cuts, making permanent Trump’s 2017 rates, which would expire if Congress failed to pass, and adding the new ones he campaigned on, including no tips taxes.
By imposing work requirements and making sign-up eligibility more stringent, the Senate package would reverse billions in green energy tax credits that Democrats fear will largely wipe out wind and solar investments nationwide.
Additionally, the bill would fund border and national security with a $ 350 billion infusion, some of which would be funded by new immigration fees.
After earlier requesting that the entire draft of the legislation be read on the Senate floor, which required roughly 16 hours, Democratic Senators who are all opposed to the bill continued to try to halt its passage.
Democrats will continue to “shine a light” on the bill in the coming days, according to Minority Senate leader Chuck Schumer, who claimed Republicans were trying to rush through it before Americans were aware of its contents.
He claimed that some Republicans are trying to pass a bill quickly but they did so under the guise of secrecy and behind closed doors.
According to Schumer, the most recent version of the bill includes changes like “even worse” cuts to clean energy, which would cause Americans to “kill 900, 000 good paying jobs in clean energy” and “even worse” cuts to clean energy.
It is “the most dangerous piece of legislation in our country’s modern history,” according to independent Senator Bernie Sanders.
“We don’t have enough money to provide for hungry children.” He claimed that there is not enough money to provide for the people who need the health care they require. However, there will be a 15% increase in the military industrial complex, or $150 billion.
Tillis’s decision to withdraw from the race show how swayed by Trump’s cult of personality the Republican Party is, he added.
The marathon congressional session this weekend has been focused solely on the legislation. The Senate will hold a “vote-a-rama” session following the discussion before approving the bill.
The bill’s completion date was set for Monday, according to lawmakers.
The House would have to hear the bill back if the Senate were to pass it.
Legislators are being called on by Speaker Mike Johnson to travel back to Washington, DC, this week.
According to Al Jazeera’s Mike Hanna, who is based in Washington, DC, the bill will face “a lengthy process” with “a lot of discussion, debate lying ahead.”
Trump and his supporters “remain confident that it will fulfill many of the promises he made during his campaign,” he said.
Democrats point out that both corporations and the wealthy are beneficiaries of the significant tax relief. They also reaffirm their conviction that the majority of these tax breaks for the wealthy are being largely offset by significant reductions in social welfare programs like food stamps, he said.
The money’s going as well is another factor that will have an impact on Americans. The military’s funding has significantly increased. The funding for those organizations fighting immigration is significantly increased.
The bill includes up to “$45 billion” to build new immigration detention facilities, including family detention facilities, according to the American Immigration Council. As the Trump administration calls for 3, 000 daily immigration arrests, the “Alligator Alcatraz” detention facility in the Florida Everglades is scheduled to open on Tuesday this week.
Republicans appear unafraid despite the opposition.
Republican Senator Katie Britt, a senator from Alabama, stated on Sunday during CNN’s State of the Union that “we are going to make sure hardworking people can keep more of their money.”
The budget committee’s head, Senator Lindsey Graham, made the promise to do everything in her power to bring the bill to Trump’s desk.
