Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ passes Senate: What’s in it, ...?
The measure was approved after almost 48 hours of reading, debate and voting on various amendments.
US Senate passes Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’, sends it to House
The United States Senate narrowly passed President Donald Trump’s massive tax and spending bill on Tuesday, following intense negotiations and a marathon voting session on amendments.
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.
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The measure was approved after almost 48 hours of debate and amendment battles.
Here is what you need to know:
What is Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’?
The bill is a piece of legislation that combines tax cuts, spending hikes on defence and border security, and cuts to social safety nets into one giant package.
The main goal of the bill is to extend Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, which are set to expire at the end of 2025. It would make most of these tax breaks permanent, while also boosting spending on border security, the military and energy projects.
The bill is partly funded by cutting healthcare and food programmes.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates Trump’s measure will increase the US debt by $3.3 trillion over the next 10 years. The US government currently owes its lenders $36.2 trillion.
The key aspects of the bill include:
Tax cuts
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.
Those tax breaks are set to expire this year, but the new bill would make them permanent. It also adds some more cuts he promised during his campaign.
There is a change to the US tax code called the SALT deduction (State and Local Taxes). This lets taxpayers deduct certain state and local taxes (like income or property taxes) on their federal tax return.
Currently, people can only deduct up to $10,000 of these taxes. The new bill would raise that cap from $10,000 to $40,000 for five years.
Taxpayers would also be allowed to deduct income earned from tips and overtime, as well as interest paid on loans for buying cars made in the US.
The legislation contains about $4.5 trillion in tax cuts.
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.
But if the Senate’s current version of the bill is approved, the credit would rise to $2,200.
Border wall and security
The bill sets aside about $350bn for Trump’s border and national security plans. This includes:
- $46bn for the US-Mexico border wall
- $45bn to fund 100,000 beds in migrant detention centres
- Billions more to hire an extra 10,000 Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents by 2029 as part of Trump’s plan to carry out the largest mass deportation effort in US history.
Cuts to Medicaid and other programmes
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 say their goal is to refocus these safety net programmes on the groups they were originally meant to help, primarily pregnant women, people with disabilities and children – while also reducing what they call waste and abuse.
Medicaid helps Americans who are poor and those with disabilities, while the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) helps people afford groceries.
Currently, more than 71 million people depend on Medicaid, and 40 million receive benefits through SNAP. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the bill would leave an additional 11.8 million Americans without health insurance by 2034 if it becomes law.
Clean energy tax cuts
Republicans are pushing to significantly scale back tax incentives that support clean energy projects powered by renewables like solar and wind. These tax breaks were a key part of former President Joe Biden’s landmark 2022 law, the Inflation Reduction Act, which aimed to tackle climate change and reduce healthcare costs.
A tax break for people who buy new or used electric vehicles would expire on September 30 this year if the bill passes in its current form, instead of at the end of 2032 under current law.
Debt limit
The legislation would raise the debt ceiling by $5 trillion, going beyond the $4 trillion outlined in the version passed by the House in May.
Who benefits most?
According to Yale University’s Budget Lab, wealthier taxpayers are likely to gain more from this bill than lower-income Americans.
They estimate that people in the lowest income bracket will see their incomes drop by 2.5 percent, mainly because of cuts to SNAP and Medicaid, while the highest earners will see their incomes rise by 2.2 percent.
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