What’s in Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’?

The House passed the legislation in a 215–214 vote. It now heads to the Senate.

The U.S Capitol building Washington on May 5, 2025.Madalina Vasiliu/The Epoch Times

House Republicans passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act to implement President Donald Trump’s agenda in an early morning session on May 22.

The legislative package, totaling more than 1,000 pages, encompasses provisions that touch almost every area of federal policy and spending, ranging from tax cuts to Medicaid to the border.

Though it makes spending cuts across several sectors of the federal government, the Congressional Budget Office has projected the bill would add $3.8 trillion to the deficit over 10 years.

Following its approval by the House—which advanced the legislation in a 215–214 party-line vote—the bill now heads to the Senate for consideration.

Here’s what’s inside the megabill.

Tax Cuts

Under the bill, the tax cuts included in the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act will be permanently extended, heading off a scheduled expiration at the end of the year.

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Tax rates for the lowest income bracket will remain at 10 percent, gradually increasing to a 37 percent rate on top marginal earners. It also features additional tax breaks, such as a $2,000 increase to the standard deduction for joint filers, bringing it to $32,000 through 2028.

The legislation would also make earnings from overtime wages and tips tax-free, fulfilling a key promise made by Trump during the 2024 election. In addition, it allows for a temporary deduction of up to $10,000 in car loan interest payments for American-made automobiles.

It would also make the $2,000 child tax credit permanent and temporarily raise the limit to $2,500 per child through 2028.

According to the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee, making the 2017 tax cuts permanent would protect the average taxpayer from a 22 percent tax increase and provide an extra $1,300 tax cut for the average family.

SALT Deduction

The State and Local Tax (SALT) deduction has been a thorny issue for House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-La.) and Republican lawmakers from blue states.

The original proposal included raising the SALT deduction limit from $10,000 to $30,000 for joint filers earning under $400,000.

Following a contentious debate, however, the SALT deduction was raised to $40,000 for people making less than $500,000 per year, starting in 2025.

Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-La.) speaks to the media after the House passed the One, Big, Beautiful Bill Act at the U.S. Capitol on May 22, 2025. Kevin Dietsch/Getty Images

Tax Hike on Endowments

The legislation would carry out a proposal many conservatives have long pushed for: increasing taxes on the large, mostly tax-free endowments held by many major educational institutions across the United States.

Under the legislation, endowments would be taxed on a “student-adjusted” basis. Schools with more than $2 million in their endowment per student would be subject to a vastly increased 21 percent tax rate, raised from 1.4 percent under current law.

Medicaid

The bill would also make significant—and controversial—changes to Medicaid policies and funding.

The financial burden for the $914 billion entitlement program is shared between state and federal governments, with the federal government covering around two-thirds of that cost.

The Republican proposal would enhance work requirements to qualify for the program starting on Dec. 31, 2026. It mandates that able-bodied adults without dependents spend 80 or more hours per month at work, receiving education, or in volunteer service to maintain eligibility for Medicaid.

Additionally, Medicaid recipients who make more than 100 percent of the federal poverty level would be required to make co-payments for certain expenses. States would determine co-pay amounts, up to $35.

The bill would penalize states that allow people illegally residing in the United States to enroll in Medicaid. States that do so would have their federal reimbursement for enrollees who joined under the Affordable Care Act reduced from 90 percent to 80 percent.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the proposed changes would reduce deficit spending by more than $715 billion from 2025 through 2034 but would increase the number of uninsured Americans by 7.7 million by 2034.

States to Bear More of SNAP

Similarly, the bill seeks to cut costs by increasing the share states pay of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), commonly known as food stamps.

At a top-line cost of around $113 billion, SNAP provides monetary assistance to tens of millions of low-income Americans. In 2023, around 42 million people per month benefited from the program, according to the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

A sign about SNAP food stamps benefits is displayed in a grocery store in New York City on Dec. 5, 2019. Scott Heins/Getty Images

Currently, the federal government pays 100 percent of SNAP benefits and 50 percent of the program’s administrative costs. Under the legislation, the federal share would be cut to 95 percent, with states picking up the remainder. It would also boost states’ share of administrative costs to 75 percent.

There are currently no work requirements imposed on able-bodied adults aged 54 or older for the SNAP program. The legislation would raise the age at which adults are exempted from those requirements to age 64, although those caring for a dependent child under age 7 would be exempt from this requirement.

The bill would also bar people living in the country illegally from receiving the benefit.

The Congressional Budget Office estimated that the proposed changes would reduce federal deficits by more than $230 billion from 2025 through 2034.

Defense Boosted

The bill includes about $150 billion in new military-related spending.

That includes $34 billion to boost shipbuilding, $21 billion to replenish depleted weapons stocks, $13 billion to help modernize U.S. nuclear forces, and $400 million to boost development of the recently announced next-generation F-47 stealth fighter.

It also includes $25 billion for Trump’s “Golden Dome” missile defense project, which Trump has estimated would cost $175 billion and take three years to complete.

“Once fully constructed, the Golden Dome will be capable of intercepting missiles even if they are launched from other sides of the world, and even if they’re launched from space. And we will have the best system ever built,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on May 20.

Border Security and Immigration

The legislation includes a flurry of policies related to the border, in line with one of the core tenets of Trump’s 2024 campaign.

It dedicates $4 billion to onboard 3,000 new Border Patrol agents and 5,000 new customs officers, with another $2.1 billion set aside for signing and retention bonuses. It would also provide funding for 10,000 new Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers and investigators.

ICE has played a pivotal role in carrying out Trump’s mass deportation operation.

Additionally, the bill provides almost $50 billion in funding to renew construction of the southern border wall, a pillar of Trump’s political platform since he first entered politics in 2015.

The New York City Fugitive Operations Team arrests an illegal immigrant from the Dominican Republic in New York City on Jan. 28, 2025. U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement via Getty Images

Federal Pension Cuts

The House Oversight Committee contributed about $51 billion in deficit cuts to the bill through proposed tweaks to federal pensions.

Under the bill, federal workers hired before 2014 would be required to pay 4.4 percent of their salary into the pension system, the same amount required of all workers hired since 2014.

Clean Energy Tax Credits

The bill also moves to phase out clean energy tax credits initially included in the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act by 2028.

Non-carbon energy projects that commence construction within 60 days after the bill is enacted and are placed in service by 2028 can still qualify for the tax credits under the bill.

Nuclear power plant projects, meanwhile, would be eligible for investment and production tax credits when they begin construction rather than when they enter production.

Debt Limit

The House bill proposes a $4 trillion increase to the U.S. debt ceiling, contrasting with the Senate’s budget resolution, which calls for a $5 trillion boost, extending beyond next year’s midterm elections.

A screen displaying the national debt is displayed in the Manhattan borough of New York City on April 11, 2025. Angela Weiss/AFP via Getty Images

According to Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, the “extraordinary measures” currently being used to keep the government afloat will be exhausted by August, meaning Congress must raise the debt ceiling by then to avoid a U.S. default.

What’s Next?

The Senate is expected to make some changes to the package.

Both chambers will then need to resolve any differences in conference and pass matching versions before the final bill can be sent to the president’s desk for signature.