Senate Republicans passed their version of the megabill funding President Donald Trump’s agenda on Tuesday, overcoming concerns from all corners of their caucus in the process. Senators spent all day and night Monday on the floor, finalizing the grab bag of MAGA demands and fiscal conservative policies while attempting to assuage moderate GOP members. In the end, the bill passed 50-50, with three Republicans and all Democrats voting against final passage and Vice President JD Vance breaking the tie.
If enacted, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which gives to the rich and takes from the poor, will be one of the most awfully lopsided bills in history in that regard. According to the most recent Congressional Budget Office analysis, the bill as written would add $3.3 trillion to the federal debt over the next 10 years. Much of that cost would go toward permanently extending Trump’s 2017 tax cuts for the wealthy.
To pay for (some of) that spending, Republicans have opted to target major social safety net programs. That includes slashing access to Medicaid, placing some of the burden of food assistance funding on the states for the first time and massively paring down investments in clean energy despite the many popular projects underway in their own states. Crucially, almost 12 million people are expected to lose their health insurance should the bill become law, according to the CBO, and though they’re already suffering, rural hospitals, in particular, are projected to face a massive amount of increased financial strain as a result.
Other big-ticket items include an enormous boost to Trump’s mass deportation program, a surge in defense spending and a string of tax cuts Trump promised that are only due to last through his term.
Senate Republicans have insisted the bill is much cheaper than in the CBO’s estimates, vastly overestimating the economic growth it will produce and using a novel (read: bonkers) new baseline to determine the overall price. Republican senators used Monday’s first vote to officially pretend the tax cuts in the bill cost nothing. From there, the Senate spent Monday in the amendment consideration session known as “vote-a-rama,” a grueling marathon that rarely happens during daylight hours. In the process, Republicans shot down dozens of attempts from Democrats to alter the bill or send parts of it to committee for further study via a "motion to commit."
The bill goes back to the House now, where it will face skepticism from fiscal hawks who want more spending cuts and moderates worried about the changes to Medicaid. Trump has said repeatedly that he wants the completed bill for his signature by Friday. The looming July Fourth recess will be an incentive for Republican lawmakers to finish the rush job they’ve started. Given the divisions still being smoothed over on the Hill, though, what that final bill will look like is up in the air.
