Following extensive negotiations and a marathon vote on amendments, the US Senate narrowly passed President Donald Trump’s massive tax and spending bill on Tuesday.
The bill, which still faces a challenging path to final approval in the House of Representatives, would impose deep cuts to popular health and nutrition programmes, among other measures, while offering $4.5 trillion in tax reductions.
After nearly 48 hours of debate and amendment tussles, the measure was approved.
What information is necessary here:
What is Trump’s ‘ Big, Beautiful Bill’?
The bill combines spending increases on defense and border security, tax cuts, and social safety net reductions into one sweeping package.
The bill’s main objective is to extend Trump’s proposed tax cuts, which are scheduled to expire in 2025. It would make most of these tax breaks permanent, while also boosting spending on border security, the military and energy projects.
Cutting programs in healthcare and food contributes to the bill’s funding.
Trump’s measure, according to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, will cause the US debt to rise by $3.3 trillion over the next ten years. The US government currently owes its lenders $36.2 trillion.
The bill’s key components include:
Tax reductions
In 2017, Trump signed the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which lowered taxes and increased the standard deduction for all taxpayers, but it primarily benefitted higher-income earners.
The new bill would make those tax breaks permanent, but they are scheduled to expire this year. Additionally, it adds some additional costs that he had promised during the campaign.
There is a change to the US tax code called the SALT deduction (State and Local Taxes). This enables taxpayers to include certain state and local taxes (such as income and property taxes) on their federal tax returns.
People can only deduct up to $10,000 of these taxes at the moment. The new bill would raise that cap from $10, 000 to $40, 000 for five years.
Taxpayers would also be able to deduct interest on loans used to purchase US-made cars as well as tips and overtime earned.
About $4.5 trillion in tax cuts are included in the legislation.
Children
If the bill does not become law, the child tax credit – which is now $2, 000 per child each year – will fall to $1, 000, starting in 2026.
The credit would increase to $ 2,200 if the Senate’s most recent version of the legislation were to be approved.
Border wall and security
The bill sets aside about $350bn for Trump’s border and national security plans. Among these are:
- $46 billion is being spent on the border wall between Mexico and the US.
- $45bn to fund 100, 000 beds in migrant detention centres
- In order to carry out Trump’s largest mass deportation effort in US history, he plans to employ an additional 10,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents by 2029.
Medicaid and other programs are being cut.
To help offset the cost of the tax cuts and new spending, Republicans plan to scale back Medicaid and food assistance programmes for low-income families.
They claim that their goal is to redirect these safety net initiatives toward the groups that were intended to be helped, most notably pregnant women, people with disabilities, and children, while also reducing what they refer to as waste and abuse.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Medicaid assist people in getting groceries while the Medicaid program assists people who are poor and those who have disabilities.
Currently, more than 71 million people depend on Medicaid, and 40 million receive benefits through SNAP. If the bill becomes law, it would leave an additional 11.8 million Americans without health insurance by 2034, according to the Congressional Budget Office.
Tax breaks for clean energy
Republicans are pushing to significantly scale back tax incentives that support clean energy projects powered by renewables like solar and wind. The Inflation Reduction Act, a landmark 2022 law signed by former president Joe Biden that sought to combat climate change and lower healthcare costs, was a key component of the bill.
If the bill is passed in its current form, rather than at the end of 2032, the tax break for those who purchase new or used electric vehicles would expire on September 30th of this year.
Debt limit
The proposed legislation would increase the debt ceiling by $5 trillion, surpassing the $ 4 trillion figure set forth in the House’s May version.
Who benefits the most?
According to Yale University’s Budget Lab, wealthier taxpayers are likely to gain more from this bill than lower-income Americans.
According to them, incomes in the lowest income group will decrease by 2.5 percent, primarily as a result of SNAP and Medicaid cuts, while incomes in the highest earners will increase by 2.2 percent.
Which senators abstained from the bill’s vote?
Republican Senator Susan Collins of Maine opposed due to deep Medicaid cuts affecting low-income families and rural healthcare.
Concerns about Medicaid cuts were raised by Republican Senator Thom Tillis in North Carolina. Trump has threatened to support a Republican challenger to Tillis, so Tillis has made it clear that he won’t run for president again.
Republican Kentucky senator Rand Paul criticized the bill as having “no” because it would significantly worsen the national deficit.
Every member of the Democratic caucus, a total of 47 senators, also voted against the bill.
In the Senate, who was the bill’s supporter?
The remaining Republicans cast a vote in favor, with Vice President JD Vance casting the decisive vote, which saw the bill pass 51–50.
Trump has set a July 4 deadline to pass the bill through Congress, but conceded on Tuesday that it would be “very hard to do” by that date, since the House now needs to vote on it. Due to the Senate’s amendments, the House must revisit the bill after it was passed in May.
Among the notable Senators who backers are:
Senator Lisa Murkowski (representative of Alaska): Her backing was secured after Republicans agreed to Alaska-specific provisions, including delayed nutrition cuts and a new rural health fund, making her vote pivotal.
She told an NBC News reporter, “I have an obligation to the people of the state of Alaska, and I live up to that obligation every day.”
Senators Cynthia Lummis of Wyoming, Ron Johnson of Wisconsin, and Rick Scott of Florida, Mike Lee of Utah, and Ron Johnson of Wisconsin: These fiscally conservative senators shifted from hesitant to support the bill after it was amended.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune led the push to pass the legislation.
What has the public and lawmakers said?
It was hailed as a historic accomplishment by the majority of the Republican lawmakers.
Trump also expressed delight.
After receiving the news from a reporter, Trump said, “Wow, music to my ears.” Because I know this is prime time, he continued, “I was also wondering how we’re doing.
Thune said after the vote: “In the end, we got the job done, and we’re delighted to be able to be partners with President Trump and his agenda”.
Democrats opposed it, calling it a victory for climate change, food aid, and healthcare for the wealthy.
In a floor speech following the vote, Democrat Chuck Schumer said, “Our Republican colleagues will be forever affected by today’s vote.”
“Republicans covered this chamber in shame”, he added.
More than 145 organizations, including the US Chamber of Commerce, led a coalition of more than 145 organizations in favor of the bill, arguing that it would “foster job creation, higher wages, and investor capital investment.”
They applauded funding for border security and permanent tax cuts.
However, healthcare and hospital associations have warned that millions could lose coverage, driving up emergency and unpaid care costs. Environmental advocacy organizations have also voiced strong opposition.
The bill is also losing support among the general public.
“Initially,]Trump] had more than 50 percent of the support. Politicians are aware that under 50%, according to Al Jazeera’s Alan Fisher, a reporter from Washington, DC.
They are aware that Medicaid may be reduced as a result. They are aware, even though Donald Trump had promised to protect it, that this could cut nutritional programmes, particularly for poorer families in the United States.
“And although they will receive tax cuts, they have a lot of the time been persuaded by the Democratic argument that billionaires will do much better than the average American people, and that is what has altered the opinion polls,” he continued.
What follows?
The process begins with the House Rules Committee, which will meet to mark up the bill and decide how debate and consideration will proceed on the House floor.
The House floor will be notified of the rule-passing bill after it passes the Rules Committee for discussion and a vote, possibly on Wednesday morning.
The bill could be changed and sent back to the Senate for another vote if the House of Representatives rejects the Senate’s version.
Alternatively, both chambers could appoint members to a conference committee to work out a compromise.
