Senate Races to Pass Trump’s $4 Trillion ‘Big Beautiful’ Bill

The U.S. Senate opened a marathon amendment session on Monday as Republicans tried to move President Donald Trump’s 940-page One Big Beautiful Bill Act to final passage before the self-imposed July 4 deadline. With Democrats united against the package and several Republican holdouts still negotiating, leaders face a narrow path to muster the votes needed to send the measure back to the House for a final vote and then to the president’s desk. Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina, who opposes the bill’s Medicaid cuts, said he will not seek re-election, underscoring fractures inside the GOP caucus.

The legislation would lock in and expand Trump-era tax reductions, delivering roughly $4 trillion in relief over a decade. It makes permanent the 2017 rate structure, introduces federal tax exemptions for tips and overtime, lifts the child tax credit to $2,200 and quadruples the cap on state-and-local-tax deductions to $40,000 for five years. Businesses would regain the ability to write off 100 per cent of equipment and research costs, while the estate-tax threshold would rise to $15 million.

At the same time, the bill channels about $350 billion to border and defence priorities, including $46 billion for an expanded U.S.–Mexico border wall, $45 billion to fund 100,000 migrant-detention beds and hiring 10,000 new Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers. The Pentagon would receive $25 billion to develop the Golden Dome missile-defence system, and $40 million is earmarked for a National Garden of American Heroes.

Republicans say savings will come from at least $1.5 trillion in cuts to Medicaid, food assistance and green-energy incentives. The measure imposes 80-hour monthly work requirements on many adults receiving benefits and allows $35 co-payments for Medicaid services. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimates 10.9–11.8 million additional Americans would lose health insurance and 3 million would be removed from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

Fiscal impacts remain contested. The CBO projects the package would raise federal deficits by nearly $3.3 trillion between 2025 and 2034, while Senate Republicans argue that, by treating existing tax breaks as current policy, the bill would reduce deficits by about $0.5 trillion. With a procedural blockade by Democrats and wavering support among conservatives seeking deeper spending cuts, passage in the Senate—and therefore delivery of Trump’s signature domestic policy bill by Independence Day—remains uncertain.