President Donald Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ has cleared multiple hurdles and passed in Congress and is on its way to his desk to be signed into law.
The House passed Trump’s signature domestic policy bill 218-214 on Thursday, with Representatives Brian Fitzpatrick and Thomas Massie being the only Republicans who joined Democrats in opposing it.
Trump set a July 4 deadline for the bill to reach his desk and his Republican allies delivered, with House Speaker Mike Johnson in particular succeeding in flipping dozens of members who hand planned to vote against it.
The president is set to sign his bill at 5pm on Friday while celebrating the Fourth of July at the White House.
What is the ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’?
Trump’s ‘One Big Beautiful Bill Act’ is a massive spending and tax bill with his signature policies. It will extend his 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, which was set to expire at the end of 2025. It will make many tax cuts permanent and boost funding for defense, border security and producing energy.
To offset those costs the bill makes cuts to programs like Medicaid health insurance for low-income and disabled Americans, and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) food aid.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the bill would add $3.4trillion to the federal deficit and leave nearly 12million Americans without health coverage over the next decade.
But the Trump administration has contested that and claim that it would decrease the deficit by more than $5trillion.
How will it affect immigration and migrants?
Immigrants including refugees, asylees and victims of sex trafficking and domestic violence may no longer qualify for federal benefits like Medicaid and food stamps.
Additionally, immigrants would have to pay more for programs like work authorization and Temporary Protected Status.
The bill puts aside $45billion to detain undocumented people taken into custody by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).
It provides $46.5billion for border wall construction, making up the amount that Trump was not able to secure for the project during his first term.
What did Trump say about it?
The passage of the ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ represents Trump’s first major legislative win in his second term, and he touted it as ‘the biggest bill of its kind ever signed’ in the US.
Speaking to reporters at Joint Base Andrews late afternoon Thursday, Trump confirmed that he will be signing the bill surrounded by lawmakers including Johnson and that military aircraft will be flying over the White House as part of a July 4 celebration.
‘It’s going to be a great day,’ he said.
‘So we’ll be signing with those beautiful planes flying right over our heads.’
What did Elon Musk say about it?
Elon Musk, who served as Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) chief, has been criticising the bill ever since his departure from the White House, and that caused a big feud to happen between the two billionaires.
The Tesla CEO has denied Trump’s claim that he is upset because the bill eliminates federal tax credits for purchasing electric vehicles, and said he is against it because it ‘pork-filled’ and will drive up the deficit.
On Wednesday, Musk appeared to take a break from firing shots at Trump and gave him ‘credit where credit is due’ on his work to try to resolve conflicts and wars around the world.
Hours after the bill cleared Congress, Musk remained silent on the bill on his X platform.
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