Senators this morning began a marathon vote series dubbed a “vote-a-rama” to pass their version of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, with the vote expected to go late into the day, possibly wrapping up sometime on Tuesday.
The legislation results from weeks of intra-party and bicameral negotiations among House and Senate Republicans and would implement sweeping changes to U.S. policy and funding over a 10-year window to carry out President Donald Trump’s agenda.
Trump hopes for final passage of the bill by July 4. The Senate earlier approved advancing the legislation in a 51–49 vote.
The vote series on the mammoth bill, clocking in at over 940 pages, comes after a 16-hour reading of the package beginning-to-end on the Senate floor as requested by Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.).
The Congressional Budget Office projected in updated estimates released on June 27 that the reconciliation budget bill will increase the deficit by around $3.25 trillion.
Here are the main components of the bill.
The centerpiece of the legislation is its extension of the tax cuts initially included in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017 during Trump’s first term in office. It will prevent marginal rate increases of between 3 and 4 percent at the end of 2025.
The bill would also boost the Child Tax Credit from $2,000 to $2,200, as well as extend the credit permanently.
The legislation implements some pared-down versions of Trump’s core campaign promises on tax policy, reducing taxes on tips, overtime pay, and car loans but with limits compared to the House version.
Instead of Trump’s “no taxes on Social Security,” the bill would allow seniors to deduct $6,000 of their Social Security income, with that amount being reduced or cut entirely depending on overall income.
Several clean energy tax credits included in the Inflation Reduction Act are being cut, beginning as early as this year.
The legislation would dedicate $150 billion towards immigration enforcement in line with some of the core promises Trump made on the campaign trail.
That includes nearly $30 billion for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the agency largely responsible for carrying out Trump’s mass deportation operation, alongside $13.5 billion in grants for state and local governments who assist with the effort. The bill allocates $45 billion for detention of illegal immigrants.
Another $46.5 billion is dedicated for the construction of a border wall along the U.S.–Mexico border.
The bill would appropriate $157 billion towards defense.
The bill seeks to reduce Medicaid spending by imposing an 80-hour monthly work requirement for able-bodied adults to receive the program.
It also reduces the state “provider tax”—which allows states to claim more federal Medicaid funding—from 6 percent to 3.5 percent in states that expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. Ten states that didn’t expand their programs will see no changes.
To offset fears that these changes would harm rural hospitals, the bill allocates $25 billion to support such sites.
The bill would, for the first time, require states to contribute to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) payments, commonly known as food stamps. The amount would be variable based on a state’s payment error rate but would fall between 5 and 15 percent.
It would also increase states’ share of administrative costs to 75 percent, up from their current 50 percent rate.
The bill would increase the U.S. debt ceiling by $5 trillion. This provision is one of the most pressing items in the bill as the Treasury approaches a default sometime in the coming months.
One of the most divisive issues in crafting the bill has been the State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction, which was capped at $10,000 in the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act of 2017. The Senate bill will increase that cap to $40,000 annually, increasing by 1 percent for five years instead of the 10 years initially sought by its supporters as a compromise. Beginning 2030, the cap will return to $10,000.
The Senate’s nonpartisan referee, parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough, ruled against many provisions ineligible for passage under the filibuster-proof process in earlier Senate committee drafts of the legislation. Had they not been cut, Republicans would need 60 votes to pass the reconciliation bill.
Those provisions included one empowering states to enforce immigration law, multiple provisions relating to the federal workforce, and a provision financially rewarding cost-cutting measures by agencies.
Sen. Mike Lee’s (R-Utah) proposal to sell off federal lands, which caused a firestorm of controversy online, was also left out.
Another proposal to cut the $200 excise tax, and regulations on silencers and certain types of firearms was also ruled ineligible for the reconciliation process.
—Joseph Lord
BOOKMARKS
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-N.C.) announced Sunday that he won’t run for reelection in the 2026 midterms, The Epoch Times’ Jack Phillips reported. Trump had warned he may move to primary Tillis after the senator indicated he won’t support the GOP spending package. He tied his departure to “the political theatre and partisan gridlock in Washington.”
Trump said on June 29 that he has found a buyer for the Chinese-owned short-video application TikTok and that he will reveal the group in roughly two weeks, The Epoch Times’ Jacob Burg reported. “I’ll tell you in about two weeks, a big technology company … it’s a group of very wealthy people,” Trump said, indicating Chinese President Xi Jinping may need to approve the deal.
The Navajo Nation continues to grapple with the legacy of the atomic testing of the early nuclear area and uranium mining on their tribal lands, The Epoch Times’ Allan Stein reported. A community gathering on June 10 voiced support for national adoption of renewed legislation that benefits cancer survivors decades after radiation exposure.
The Supreme Court on June 27 handed down a decision restricting federal judges’ ability to impose nationwide injunctions against executive policies, a ruling that was immediately hailed by Trump as a win for his administration. The Epoch Times’ Joseph Lord reported on six policies that could be affected by the change.
