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The Speaker of the House of Representatives, Mike Johnson, announces the final result of the vote.
Image: KEYSTONE
For weeks, Trump spared no opportunity to praise the "big, beautiful law". It was also criticized from within his own ranks, but Congress has now passed it. With what consequences?
It is a domestic political victory for US President Donald Trump - and at the same time a highly controversial project: After a long struggle in Congress, the House of Representatives has passed a tax and spending bill that the Republican had been instrumental in pushing forward. This sets the course for financing key promises from his election campaign.
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The bill, known as the "One Big Beautiful Bill", led to bitter disputes in the US parliament - including late-night marathon sessions and an extra round through the House of Representatives. Conservative budget policy critics from Trump's own party warned of a drastic increase in national debt. The Democrats rejected the plan because, in their view, it would primarily relieve the burden on the wealthy - while cutting back on the weakest in the country. Nevertheless, it was passed.
Due to the deep ideological divides, the parliamentary process proved to be extremely difficult. Until shortly before the end, it was unclear whether it would be enough for Trump to win in the House of Representatives: Only with difficulty and pressure from the White House on individual MPs did the Republican chairman of the chamber, Mike Johnson, manage to secure enough votes in his own ranks. In the end, 218 of Trump's party colleagues voted in favor of the bill, with only the two Republicans Thomas Massie and Brian Fitzpatrick refusing to go along. As expected, the Democrats unanimously rejected the law.
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There had also previously been three Republican dissenters in the other chamber of parliament, the Senate. US Vice President JD Vance had to step in and cast the deciding vote. In his role as President of the Senate, he can tip the scales in the event of a stalemate.
The bill only passed the Senate with a wafer-thin majority - the Republicans are led in the chamber by John Thune.
Bild: J. Scott Applewhite/AP/dpa
In both chambers, the Democrats exhausted all means to delay the project. The Democratic minority leader in the House of Representatives, Hakeem Jeffries, gave a speech lasting more than eight hours in the plenary chamber of Congress before the vote. According to the US media, this set a new record.
The Democratic minority leader in the Senate, Chuck Schumer, had previously managed a symbolic pinprick in the other chamber: He had the original title of the bill deleted. Officially, it is no longer called the "One Big Beautiful Bill" - but that doesn't stop Trump and his Republicans from calling it that.
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Name or no name: the bill can be presented to Trump for signature - just in time for his self-imposed deadline. The president had exerted massive pressure on the Republicans for weeks to get it to his desk by American Independence Day on July 4, i.e. this Friday.
At the heart of the bill is the permanent extension of tax breaks from Trump's first term in office. New tax cuts are also planned. For example, a tax on tips and overtime up to a certain amount is to be abolished.
The law provides for more spending on US defense and border protection, while other areas are set to see major cuts - such as social benefits. There is particular criticism of the planned cuts to the US healthcare system Medicaid. The state program supports low-income earners and people with disabilities. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates that almost 12 million Americans would lose their health insurance by 2034 as a result of the law.
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Cuts will also be made to climate and environmental policy subsidies. For example, subsidies for low-emission power generation, environmentally friendly building materials and sustainable construction methods in the public sector are to be cut. Significant cuts are also to be made to national parks. Critics see this as a step backwards in the energy transition and a weakening of American industries of the future in competition with China.
It is hardly surprising that the Democrats oppose the bill. More politically explosive was the unusually strong resistance to Trump's plan within his own ranks - despite its ultimately successful passage.
On the one hand, conservative Republicans criticized the rising debt burden. According to the CBO estimate, the law will increase the deficit by around 3.3 trillion US dollars (around 2.8 trillion euros) over the next ten years. The USA currently has a debt burden of around 36 trillion US dollars (around 30.5 trillion euros). The law is intended to increase the scope for new debt by 5 trillion dollars.
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On the other hand, the law also harbors risks for some Republicans with a view to the congressional elections next year. According to surveys, it is one of the most unpopular pieces of legislation in recent decades, and even among Republican voters approval is subdued.
The situation is therefore particularly delicate for MPs from swing districts - i.e. constituencies in which Republicans and Democrats are traditionally close to each other. The Democrats have already announced that they will campaign on the cuts to social and healthcare benefits.
The US President himself is probably the biggest advocate of the law and vehemently rejects criticism of the project he is pushing for. On his Truth Social platform, he recently emphasized in capital letters that the USA would experience an "economic renaissance" that has never been seen before if the law is passed.
A former ally of Trump - tech billionaire Elon Musk - sees things differently: he vehemently criticized the debt increase and got into an argument with Trump over the law, which turned into an open mud fight. On Platform X, Musk recently held out the prospect of founding a new party: "If this insane spending bill is passed, the America Party will be founded the next day."
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There is a de facto two-party system in the USA. Although there are other, smaller parties alongside the dominant Democrats and Republicans, they have no chance of major political success due to structural disadvantages in this system.
03.07.2025, 22:54
03.07.2025, 23:24
