(The Center Square) – Republicans’ mammoth budget reconciliation bill includes major changes to Medicaid, food stamps, student loans and more. It also permanently extends President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cuts – at a cost of at least $3.3 trillion.
Passing the House Thursday by a razor-thin margin, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act funds large swaths of Trump’s policy agenda while authorizing a $4 trillion debt ceiling hike. The legislation consists of 11 separate House committee prints that collectively fulfill the budget resolution’s 10-year spending and savings instructions.
The bill includes more than $1.5 trillion in savings found by congressional committees. But budget watchdogs say the package, if passed by the Senate without major alterations, will still add anywhere from $3.3 to $5.2 trillion to the national debt and at least $3.2 trillion to the primary deficit by 2035.
Most of the cost stems from the Ways and Means committee’s portion, which deals with codifying most of the sunsetting 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act into law.
That includes the higher standard deduction for nearly all tax filers, the $2,000 child tax credit – both parents will need a Social Security number to claim it – and the 20% Qualified Business Income (QBI) deduction.
American manufacturers would particularly benefit from the legislation, which would allow them to deduct 100% of facility improvement or construction costs. The bill would deal a blow to large universities by increasing endowment taxes, as well as hiking taxes on many private foundations.
Republicans clashed over how high to raise the state and local tax, or SALT, deduction cap, eventually settling on $40,000 for taxpayers earning less than $500,000 annually, via a last-minute Rules Committee amendment.
The tax portion of the reconciliation bill also features many short-term tax provisions set to expire after four years. Those include boosting the maximum standard deduction from $15,000 to $16,000 for single filers and from $30,000 to $32,000 for joint filers. The maximum child tax credit will see a $500 increase and the QBI deduction will rise to 23%.
Other temporary changes lasting until fiscal year 2028 include nixing taxes on tips and overtime, making the adoption tax credit partially refundable, ending interest on loans for American cars, and increasing tax deductions for eligible seniors by $4,000.
While lawmakers on the Ways and Means committee contributed most to the cost of the reconciliation package, the Energy and Commerce committee found the most savings – over $988 billion – primarily via scaling back the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act and Medicaid spending.
Energy and Commerce’s addition claws back unobligated funds from the IRA and repeals or phases out more than a dozen IRA renewable energy-related subsidies.
Four tax credits related to alternative fuel vehicles, three credits related to home energy efficiency or “clean” energy sourcing, and the clean hydrogen production credit will end by 2026. After facing pressure from fiscal hawks, the Rules Committee pushed forward the 2032 phaseout deadline for the IRA’s clean electricity production and investment credits to 2028.
Medicaid reforms in the bill include changing program eligibility requirements back to pre-COVID-19 standards, imposing work requirements on most able-bodied adults without dependents, and closing loopholes exploited by states.
The plan also axes federal funding to Planned Parenthood and other reproductive clinics, as well as prevents Medicaid and CHIP funding from going to gender transition procedures on children.
According to the Congressional Budget Office, the changes will save hundreds of billions of dollars and make at least 7.7 million current Medicaid recipients – including 1.4 million people without verified citizenship status – ineligible for Medicaid coverage by 2034. But given the Biden-era 20% spending increase on Medicaid, total program spending will still grow by at least 3% a year for the next decade.
Another last-minute addition by the Rules committee doubled down on Medicaid reforms, accelerating the work requirement deadline to take effect in 2026 and preventing states from implementing new taxes on providers.
House Democrats, none of whom voted for the bill, repeatedly called the Medicaid changes “cruel.” They similarly blasted the Agriculture Committee’s section of the bill, which saves $230 billion by reforming the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.
SNAP reforms include requiring states to cover 5% of their SNAP benefit cost share by fiscal year 2028, with their contribution increasing the higher the state’s payment error rate. States have an average payment error rate of 11.68%, as of 2023.
The bill also closes state “waiver gimmicks” that have exempted 84% of able-bodied adult beneficiaries without dependents from SNAP work requirements, plus bans all noncitizens aside from legal permanent residents from receiving benefits.
Trump’s border security and defense priorities received hundreds of billions of additional dollars collectively from the Homeland Security, Judiciary, and Armed Services committees’ portions of the megabill.
The Homeland Security committee authorized approximately $47 billion for the construction of the “Border Barrier System,” a technologically enhanced southern border wall. Roughly $5 billion will go toward building new U.S. Customs and Border Patrol facilities and checkpoints and $6 billion toward border agent workforce and hiring.
U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement receives a $45 billion funding boost meant for building new detention centers from the Judiciary Committee’s print.
Notably, the bill also imposes new fees on immigrants, implementing a $1,000 minimum fee on migrants seeking asylum and a $500 fee on individuals requesting Temporary Protected Status, which is currently free. Sponsors of unaccompanied migrant children will face a $3,500 charge, while many work permit applications will carry a $550 fee that renews every six months.
The Armed Services committee portion contributes $5 billion to border security efforts, but most of the $150 billion in spending is slated for shipbuilding, restocking munitions, increasing weapon production capacity and nuclear deterrence, and financing the Golden Dome for America project.
While the Transportation and Infrastructure committee gives $22 billion to the Coast Guard and $15 billion to the Federal Aviation Administration for infrastructure modernization, it imposes new fees on electric vehicle owners.
Under the bill, EV owners will have to pay $250 annually as a contribution to the dwindling Highway Trust Fund. Owners of combustion engine vehicles contribute to the HTF every time they fill up their gas tank.
The Natural Resources committee checks the box for Trump’s energy agenda by expanding onshore oil and gas leasing on federal lands, reducing drilling royalty rates to 12.5%, and permanently reinstating coal leasing suspended by Biden.
A final blow to the Biden administration in Trump’s “big, beautiful bill” comes from the Education and Workforce committee’s addition. It axes the 2023 SAVE loan repayment program, which amounted to potentially billions in complete loan forgiveness for thousands of student borrowers.
The legislation also simplifies and shrinks student loan repayment options and penalizes higher education institutions that allow students to take out unaffordable levels of debt. Additionally, it restricts Pell Grant eligibility to students taking more than six credit hours and low-income students in short-term programs.
Under normal Senate filibuster rules, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act would have no chance of passing. But since the budget reconciliation process bypasses the filibuster, Republican leaders are hopeful the package will make it to the president’s desk. House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., is aiming for that to happen by Independence Day.
Senate Republicans are eyeing potentially derailing changes, however, with some senators opposing the IRA and Medicaid cuts – key compromises Johnson made with House hardliners – with others wanting even more spending reductions.
“I think you can improve the product,” Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D., said in an interview about the bill with Punchbowl News. “There are certain things the Senate wants to have its imprint on.”
House Budget Committee Chairman Jodey Arrington, R-Texas, cautioned against drastic bill reforms.
“I’m urging my Senate colleagues to take up our balanced reconciliation package – and only consider changes that further strengthens our fiscal reforms – so we can quickly advance this One Big Beautiful Bill to the President’s desk and deliver for the American people,” he said.
