By Brendan Scanland
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Senate Republicans have unveiled their version of President Trump’s legislative agenda—known as the “One, Big Beautiful Bill.”
The Senate Finance Committee released the sweeping proposal Monday, putting their own stamp on a package the House passed just a few weeks ago. One major difference in the Senate’s is the preservation of some clean-energy tax credits and a gradual phase out to others.
To offset part of the cost for that phase-out, the Senate version calls for steeper cuts to Medicaid than the House plan does. It calls for expanded work requirements—not just for childless adults as the House proposed—but also for many parents receiving Medicaid whose children are older.
The Senate bill proposes a lower cap on state and local tax, or SALT, deductions than the House’s version does. That could create challenges once the bill heads back to the House for final approval—a higher SALT deduction cap is paramount for many moderate House Republicans in blue states, like New York.
The Senate’s version, however, does make several business tax breaks and the expanded child tax credit, permanent.
It would prevent a more than $4 trillion tax hike by making the 2017 Trump tax cuts permanent. Republicans say it would deliver additional tax relief to middle-class families who they say are still recovering from record inflation under the Biden administration.
“The Senate version is even worse than the House version,” said Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY.).
Leader Schumer and Senate Democrats wasted no time slamming the proposal Tuesday.
“The Medicaid cuts are deeper, reach further and the red tape is even longer than what House Republicans came up with. Under the Senate bill, tens of millions of Americans will lose health insurance,” said Schumer. “More hospitals will close, especially rural hospitals—and I tell my colleagues, that’s mainly in red states. These rural hospitals are often the only way people get health care in the rural communities.”
“I absolutely can never vote in supporting cutting Medicaid,” said Sen. John Fetterman (D-Pa.). “I can’t imagine why you would make those cuts, you know, just for tax cuts for the hyper wealthy.”
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) said Tuesday that the bill contains popular concepts President Trump campaigned on, like no tax on tips, no tax on overtime and tax relief for seniors.
“It includes many of President Trump’s promises on the campaign trail, including no tax on tips, no tax on overtime and reduced taxes for seniors. And on the business side, we believe that making permanent a lot of the business tax provisions will lead to that growth in the economy that will create those better-paying jobs and lead to a stronger and a more prosperous country,” said Thune.
The bill includes a $5 trillion increase to the federal debt ceiling, which is a red flag for some Republican fiscal hawks in the Senate.
Republican leaders are aiming to pass the bill out of the Senate by next week and get a final version to President Trump’s desk by the Fourth of July—a timeline viewed by some on Capitol Hill as very ambitious.
