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 programs, among other measures, while offering $4.5 trillion in tax reductions.
The bill, known as Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’, combines tax cuts, spending increases 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 programs.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that Trump’s measure will increase the US debt by $3.3 trillion over the next 10 years. The key aspects of the bill include tax cuts, children, border wall and security, cuts to Medicaid and other programs, clean energy tax cuts, and raising the debt ceiling.
Wealthier taxpayers are likely to benefit more from this bill than lower-income Americans, according to Yale University’s Budget Lab. Public opinion on the bill is in decline, as politicians are aware of the potential cuts to Medicaid and nutritional programs.
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. After passing through the Rules Committee, the bill will move to the House floor for debate and a vote potentially as soon as Wednesday morning. If the House of Representatives does not accept the Senate’s version of the bill, it could make changes and send it back to the Senate for another vote. Alternatively, both chambers could appoint members to a conference committee to work out a compromise. Once both the House and Senate agree on the final text, and it is passed in both chambers of Congress, the bill would go to Trump to be signed into law.
Source: https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2025/7/2/trumps-big-beautiful-bill-passes-senate-whats-in-it-who-voted-how?traffic_source=rss
