Congress has passed President Donald Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill,’ a landmark piece of tax cuts and spending legislation containing many of the Republican’s campaign promises.
Dubbed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, the $3.3 trillion measure took an all-encompassing, multi-year effort from Republicans in Congress to pass.
‘I think I have more power now,’ Trump said following the bill’s passage. ‘More gravitas, more power.’
‘Biggest tax cut in history, great for security, great on the southern border…It’s the biggest bill ever signed of its kind,’ Trump continued.
He also made a point to heap praise on Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Majority Leader John Thune for shepherding the measure through Congress despite nagging GOP pushback from conservatives and moderates.
After passing the House after hours of high-pressure negotiations with hold-out members, it will now head to the White House for Trump’s signature.
The president will hold a signing ceremony for his bill on Independence Day between military flyovers, including the B-2 bombers recently deployed to Iran, Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt told reporters Thursday.
The behemoth, nearly 900-page legislative package extends the president’s 2017 tax cuts and further eliminates taxes on tips and overtime – a marquee promise that the president pledged repeatedly on the campaign trail.
It doubles the child tax credit and includes a popular $1,000 ‘Trump investment account’ – formerly known as MAGA accounts – for newborn babies.
Also included in the measure are steep cuts to Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and renewable energy programs expanded by former President Joe Biden.
‘We are delivering on our promise to make America great again,’ Speaker Mike Johnson declared on the floor just before the passing vote. Only two Republicans voted against the measure, Reps. Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania.
Speaker Mike Johnson gavels down the passing vote for President Donald Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’
The GOP leader was seen celebrating with members and taking photos shortly after the vote
Johnson and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-Ga., celebrate the bill’s passage
The tax cuts alone will cost $4.5 trillion over the next ten years, according to projections from the Congressional Budget Office. To offset the massive price tag Republicans included $1.2 trillion in spending cuts, mainly trimming Medicaid, the health care program for the poor and disabled.
However, the measure stirred much controversy within GOP ranks and even drew the ire of billionaire Elon Musk for its massive spending, which he likened to ‘political suicide.’
Though that did not sway Trump and the White House from celebrating the measure.
‘President Trump’s One Big, Beautiful Bill delivers on the commonsense agenda that nearly 80 million Americans voted for – the largest middle-class tax cut in history, permanent border security, massive military funding, and restoring fiscal sanity,’ Leavitt said in a statement following the successful vote.
‘The pro-growth policies within this historic legislation are going to fuel an economic boom like we’ve never seen before. President Trump looks forward to signing the One Big, Beautiful Bill into law to officially usher in the Golden Age of America.’
Trump wrote on Truth Social before the vote: ‘The USA is on track to break every record on growth. Go Republicans, beat the Crooked Democrats tonight! Pro-growth tax cuts never fail.’
‘We had great conversations all day, and the Republican House Majority is united, for the good of our country, delivering the biggest tax cuts in history and massive growth.’
Using a parliamentary tactic called reconciliation, the tax and spending bill had to align the House and Senate Republicans on a single framework so they could avoid the typical 60-vote threshold needed in the upper chamber.
Though no Democratic support was needed to push the bill through to completion, the process was still marred with controversies and hiccups as moderate and right-wing GOP lawmakers argued over the overall price tag and a handful of controversial provisions.
Billionaire Elon Musk railed publicly against the bill, claiming the massive amount of spending allocated by the bill will send the U.S. into ‘debt slavery.’ He also claimed he would start a new political party if it passes
President Donald Trump’s domestic policy agenda passed through Congress. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act will now head to the president’s desk so he can sign it into law
Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., celebrated the passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act after working on it for over 15 months
Fraught negotiations between conservatives
Moderates argued that spending cuts could endanger their reelection while conservative members railed against what they saw as runaway spending inside the OBBB.
The Senate narrowly passed its version of the bill 51 – 50 on Tuesday. The vote was so close that Vice President JD Vance had to come in and break the tie, casting the final vote to get the bill out of the Senate and back to the House.
The House’s version of the bill passed in late May, also with just a one-vote margin.
If more than four Republicans voted against the bill, it would have failed.
Fraught negotiations between the House and Senate also endangered the final result since the House’s original version of the bill was widely seen as more conservative than the Senate’s copy, which was eventually swallowed by the House members.
But just barely, a procedural vote setting up the final passage broke a record for the longest vote in House history, clocking in over 7 hours and 20 minutes.
Putting up a fight until the end, conservative members of the House Freedom Caucus (HFC) held out on supporting the bill until they made their concerns known to GOP leadership and the White House.
HFC member Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, said as late as Wednesday evening that he was a ‘no’ on the bill because it increases the deficit and does not fully repeal Biden-era renewable energy subsidies.
‘We need to understand exactly, exactly how this stuff will get implemented because I need these subsidies to end because they are damaging Texas’s grid,’ Roy said before the final vote.
HFC Chairman Andy Harris, R-Md., also said on Wednesday afternoon he was still a ‘no’ on the bill and that he wanted the Senate to come back into town so that changes could be made to the bill before the Friday deadline.
Rep. Chip Roy, R-Texas, told reporters he was skeptical of the bill as late as Wednesday evening
HFC Chairman Andy Harris was also a ‘no’ until the last minute. He was concerned about the fiscal impact of the multi-trillion-dollar bill
Moderate Republicans also put up a fight against the tax and spending bill.
A group of centrist GOP members went to the White House on Wednesday morning to discuss the bill with the president.
At the top of their minds were the deep Medicaid cuts, while others were concerned with state and local tax (SALT) provisions – a popular policy among Republicans in high-tax blue states.
Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., firmly said he will vote against the bill all along over his concern for the ballooning national debt and deficit.
Taking matters into his own hands, Trump was reportedly calling GOP dissidents to get them to buy into the OBBB throughout the process.
‘He’s been working the phones pretty consistently over the last several days, and members have been calling him as well,’ an administration official told Politico. ‘He’s going to get it over the finish line.’
Ultimately, Trump and the GOP leadership’s efforts paid off, and with time to spare before the 4th of July deadline.
Speaker Mike Johnson has said Trump was instrumental to getting the OBBB passed. Above Johnson is shown with his wife, Kelly, and the president
Democrats’ delay tactics
While Republicans worked to gather the votes necessary for final passage of the massive Trump-backed bill Wednesday night and into Thursday morning, Democrats, led by House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, deployed delay tactics.
The New York Democrat took to the floor just before 5:00 am ET to begin an arduous, record-breaking 8-hour and roughly 45-minute speech about the dangers presented by the GOP legislation.
‘I feel the obligation Mr. Speaker to stand on this House floor and take my sweet time,’ the Democrat leader proclaimed well into his remarks.
His speech began with stories of Americans who could be impacted by the Trump bill’s cuts to Medicaid and social programs.
The New Yorker was still droning on while several of his fellow Democrats could be seen behind him with eyes closed and heads folded down.
Despite his enthusiasm for hampering the GOP’s plans, his colleagues seemed less excited. In fact, many appeared to be asleep.
But that did not deter him from breaking former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy’s record for the longest floor speech around 1:30 pm ET.
Shortly after the Democrat leader finished, Speaker Mike Johnson took to the floor to read off the highlights of what is contained in the mega-bill.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries, D-N.Y., delivers a record-breaking speech in opposition to President Donald Trump’s massive tax-cut and spending bill, ahead of a vote on final passage of the legislation in the House on Thursday
What’s in the ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’
The president noted on Tuesday how there’s ‘something for everyone’ in the multi-trillion-dollar bill.
One of the primary functions of the bill is to extend Trump’s 2017 tax cuts that would have expired at the end of this year. In total, the tax cut extension is estimated to cost $4 trillion from the loss of tax revenue collected by the federal government.
It also exempts pay from overtime and tips from being hit by federal income taxes – a fulfillment of one of the president’s most ambitious campaign promises. It also allows individuals to deduct up to $10,000 of auto loan interest for vehicles made in the U.S.
In addition, the bill allows individuals in high-tax states to deduct up to $40,000 per year for half a decade in state and local taxes (SALT) from their federal taxes – a top priority for conservatives in blue states.
The big bill also increases the annual child tax credit to $2,200 and creates ‘Trump investment accounts,’ which will see the U.S. investing $1,000 into accounts for babies born after 2024.
Border security efforts will also be getting a major cash infusion estimated to be around $150 billion for increased immigration enforcement. It includes $46 billion for Customs and Border Patrol to build border wall and enhanced security measures and around $30 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Another roughly $150 billion in the bill will be provided to the military to create Trump’s ‘Golden Dome’ missile defense system, increase U.S. ship-building capacity and to fund nuclear deterrence programs.
To pay for all of this, Republicans had to cut major spending initiatives like Medicaid, SNAP and green energy initiatives.
The Senate’s bill has work requirements for both Medicaid and SNAP recipients, along with other cuts, which are expected to save over $1 trillion in spending in the coming years.
Green energy subsidies passed under former President Joe Biden in his signature Inflation Reduction Act are also rolled back under the new bill – a move that is expected to save close to half a trillion dollars in obligated spending.
