GOP Megabill Trades Tax Cuts For Safety-Net Cuts

The Congressional Budget Office estimates that President Trump’s sweeping “Big Beautiful Bill” would lead to nearly 12 million Americans losing health coverage and add $3.3 trillion to the national debt. The Senate advanced the nearly 1,000-page budget package 51-49, with Republicans Thom Tillis and Rand Paul joining Democrats in opposition. Key provisions include extending and expanding tax cuts—benefiting wealthier taxpayers most—while cutting roughly $1 trillion from healthcare, tightening Medicaid through work requirements and limits on state provider taxes, and adding stricter work rules for food stamps. To address concerns about rural care, the bill boosts a rural hospital relief fund from $15 billion to $25 billion. With a slim GOP majority and procedural delays by Democrats, the bill’s final passage remains uncertain ahead of Trump’s self-imposed 4 July deadline.

The US Senate is holding a marathon “vote-a-rama” on a nearly 1,000-page budget and tax package central to Donald Trump’s agenda, aiming for passage by 4 July. Republicans are divided over how deeply to cut welfare programs to extend roughly $3.8tn in Trump-era tax breaks. The bill could add an estimated $3.3tn to the national debt and potentially strip millions of Americans of Medicaid coverage, drawing unified Democratic opposition and skepticism from GOP fiscal hawks. Elon Musk has attacked the bill as “insane,” vowing political retaliation against Republicans who back it; Trump countered by highlighting subsidies benefiting Musk’s companies. The Senate can afford only three GOP defections before requiring Vice-President JD Vance to break a tie. If it passes, the measure returns to the House, where Freedom Caucus members threaten to block it over deficit concerns.

Sen. Mark Warner criticized a Republican tax-and-spending bill as a political liability, arguing it would remove health coverage from about 16 million people through Medicaid and ACA cuts, raise premiums broadly, reduce food assistance and school meals, eliminate over 20,000 clean energy jobs, and add roughly $4–4.5 trillion to the debt, all to benefit the wealthiest. He said GOP claims about modest work requirements understate the harm and suggested some Republicans are uneasy but constrained by party pressure. Warner also condemned the Trump administration’s intervention in higher education, calling UVA President Jim Ryan’s resignation under threat of federal cuts “outrageous” and a federal overreach that endangers academic freedom, research funding, visas, and public universities nationwide. On Iran, Warner praised the military strike’s execution but warned against premature “mission accomplished” rhetoric, saying intelligence assessments of Iran’s remaining nuclear capabilities are not yet conclusive and the public should not be given false confidence.

The Senate passed Republicans’ “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” extending Trump’s 2017 individual tax cuts, funding a border wall, and paying for it largely through major cuts and restrictions to safety-net programs. Key impacts: - Medicaid: New work requirements for many adults 19–64 (including parents of kids 14+), more frequent eligibility checks, copays up to $35, and reduced federal funding. CBO projects nearly 12 million more uninsured by 2034; hospitals warn of closures and service cuts, especially in rural areas. - SNAP (food stamps): Expanded work requirements to ages 55–64 and parents of older children, plus veterans, former foster youth, and people experiencing homelessness. States must shoulder more costs, likely prompting tighter eligibility and benefit reductions; benefit growth would be limited. - ACA marketplaces: Stricter verification and an end to automatic reenrollment would push millions off coverage, per CBO. - States: Face large federal funding cuts to Medicaid and SNAP and limits on provider taxes, likely forcing program cuts or reductions elsewhere (education, infrastructure). - Taxpayers: Most individual tax cuts are permanently extended; average household tax reduction about $2,900, with wide variation by income. Some benefit from a larger Child Tax Credit and a temporary lift in the SALT cap. - Seniors: Temporary $6,000 increase to the standard deduction (2025–2028) with phaseouts; some low-income dual-eligibles could lose Medicaid help with Medicare costs and services like long-term care and dental. - Student loans: New caps on graduate and parent borrowing and fewer deferment/forbearance options. House and Senate versions still must be reconciled before reaching Trump’s desk, but the overall direction is tax relief paired with tighter social program access and reduced federal support.

The Senate narrowly passed Republicans’ flagship bill, 51-50 with Vice President JD Vance breaking the tie, extending 2017 Trump tax cuts and adding new breaks on tips and overtime, plus large boosts for border security and the military. Three Republicans (Collins, Tillis, Paul) joined all Democrats in opposition, citing deep Medicaid and social program cuts and deficit impact. The bill, sweetened to win Lisa Murkowski’s vote with Alaska-specific protections, would add at least $3.3 trillion to the debt over 10 years and cut about $1 trillion from Medicaid, which the C.B.O. says would leave 11.8 million more uninsured by 2034. It now faces an uncertain House vote amid GOP divisions: moderates object to deeper Medicaid cuts than the House version, conservatives decry added costs and a less aggressive rollback of clean energy credits. Speaker Mike Johnson vowed swift passage but can lose no more than three GOP votes; Trump is pressuring holdouts to back it. Democrats warn the cuts will harm hospitals and voters, promising to make Republicans pay politically.

Republicans’ Senate-passed domestic policy package would deliver sizable tax benefits to high earners while cutting safety-net programs, leaving many low-income Americans worse off. Analyses cited in the article find: - Bottom-fifth earners would see average after-tax incomes fall 2.3% by 2034 (about $560), while top earners gain 2.3% (over $118,000 for those making $3 million+), due largely to cuts in Medicaid, SNAP, and other aid used to offset tax cuts. - The bill is projected to add over $3 trillion to the debt by 2034. - CBO estimates nearly 12 million more uninsured by 2034, driven by Medicaid funding changes. - Tax cuts are uneven: about $12,500 on average for those earning $217,000+, versus roughly $150 for those earning $35,000 or less. - SNAP changes would shift costs to states, tighten work requirements, and restrict benefit calculations, potentially pushing millions off food assistance or reducing benefits, increasing hunger risk. Republicans argue the plan aids workers and growth and maintains Medicaid; Democrats warn it strips health care and food aid to fund tax breaks for the wealthy. The measure now moves to the House, where some conservatives want deeper spending cuts.

Senate Republicans narrowly passed a sweeping tax-and-health policy bill that trades deep cuts to Medicaid and nutrition programs for roughly $4.5 trillion in tax cuts, despite internal dissent and public skepticism. The measure, which still faces a tough House vote, is projected to significantly increase the national debt over the next decade and breaks a longstanding budget guardrail, prompting warnings it will haunt the G.O.P.’s fiscal reputation. Internal Republican critics, including retiring Sen. Thom Tillis and Sen. Rand Paul, blasted the plan’s Medicaid reductions and deficit impact, while Democrats plan to make the bill a central campaign issue for 2026. GOP leaders argue growth will offset revenue losses and delayed most cuts until after the midterms, but damaging sound bites and the risk of voter backlash over health care mirror dynamics that hurt Democrats after the Affordable Care Act.

Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina and Representative Don Bacon of Nebraska, both Republicans who have shown occasional independence from Donald Trump, announced retirements rather than back Trump’s sweeping domestic policy bill, which includes deep Medicaid cuts. Tillis, citing his state’s potential loss of 663,000 Medicaid beneficiaries and blaming “amateurs” in the White House, framed the move as avoiding a political backlash over health care. Their exits open competitive seats for Democrats and highlight the shrinking space for moderates or dissenters in the GOP, a dynamic that has also isolated figures like Mitch McConnell and left Lisa Murkowski weighing her future. In the Senate, just four GOP defections could sink the bill; potential holdouts include Murkowski, Susan Collins, and fiscal hawks demanding even deeper cuts. Separately, Stephen Bannon criticized Elon Musk and other “oligarchs” despite their alignment with parts of the MAGA coalition.

Senate Republicans passed a bill to make the 2017 Trump tax cuts permanent and add new temporary cuts, which budget analysts say would add at least $3.3 trillion to the debt over 10 years and could cost up to $5.3 trillion including interest and likely extensions. By reducing long-term federal revenue, the bill accelerates debt growth, risks higher borrowing costs, and sets a precedent of bypassing fiscal guardrails via accounting maneuvers. Markets show early signs of concern, and the measure could complicate fixes for Social Security as its trust fund nears depletion in the early 2030s. The House’s hard-right members want a cheaper bill, but lowering costs may require deeper cuts to the safety net.