Donald Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ On Saturday Was Different Than Earlier Draft: What Are The Changes?

Last Updated:June 29, 2025, 15:09 IST

Donald Trump's 'Big, Beautiful Bill': In a late-night post on social media, Trump declared a “GREAT VICTORY” after the bill cleared the Senate

US President Donald Trump (Reuters File Image)

Donald Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’: Senate Republicans took a major step toward delivering President Donald Trump his “big, beautiful bill" late Saturday. The bill cleared a key procedural vote, 51-49. Republican leaders must now satisfy numerous holdouts still demanding changes to the bill.

In a late-night post on social media, Trump declared a “GREAT VICTORY" after the bill cleared the Senate, offering praise to four key senators who shifted their votes to get the procedural bill over the finish line. Tech billionaire Elon Musk, however, doubled down on his criticism of the White House’s “Big Beautiful Bill", calling it “utterly insane" and “political suicide".

Trump’s multitrillion-dollar bill looks to lower federal taxes and infuse more money into the Pentagon and border security agencies, while downsizing government safety-net programmes including Medicaid.

The latest draft of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act is different from the version passed by a single vote last month in the House of Representatives. Here’s how:

• Social Security: While Trump had vowed to eliminate taxes on Social Security income during his poll campaign, the bill has temporarily increased the standard deduction of up to $4,000 for individuals 65 and over from 2025 to 2028. The deduction extensions begin to decrease after $150,000 for married taxpayers filing jointly and $75,000 for individual filers. Senate Republicans plan to extend Social Security tax breaks and have proposed an increase that would grant a $6,000 tax deduction for older Americans, said a BBC report.
• Medicaid: Medicaid, a healthcare programme relied upon by millions of elderly, disabled and low-income Americans now has additional restrictions and requirements. One of the key change is childless adults without disabilities would be required to work at least 80 hours per month from December 2026 to qualify. Also, Medicaid re-enrolment will shift from once a year to every six months. Those enrolling will have to provide additional income and residency verifications.
• Salt: The bill increases the deduction limit for state and local taxes (Salt). From the current $10,000 cap, the Salt limit has been raised to $40,000 for married couples with incomes up to $500,000.
• Snap: The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (Snap), the government programme used by over 40 million low-income Americans, requires states to contribute more to the programme, which is also partially funded by the federal government.
• Overtime or tips : The bill ends taxes on tips and overtime pay. The plan allows Americans to deduct interest on car loans for US-made cars only. The House voted to increase the child tax credit to $2,500 from $2,000 through to 2028, exclusively for American families where both parents have Social Security numbers. Additionally, the bill proposes increasing the debt ceiling by $4tn.

What happens next?

Trump wants to sign the bill on the Fourth of July, but it will have to go back to the House if it passes the Senate. Saturday’s vote allows the Senate to begin debating Trump’s bill, with a voting likely on Monday.

The Senate must agree on a final version of the bill before sending it to the floor for a vote. The BBC report said that as it is likely to include some of the changes to the original House bill, it will return to the House for another vote where it may see more challenges.

With BBC, CNN, Agencies Inputs

Manjiri Joshi

At the news desk for 17 years, the story of her life has revolved around finding pun, facts while reporting, on radio, heading a daily newspaper desk, teaching mass media students to now editing special copies ...Read More

At the news desk for 17 years, the story of her life has revolved around finding pun, facts while reporting, on radio, heading a daily newspaper desk, teaching mass media students to now editing special copies ...

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News explainers Donald Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ On Saturday Was Different Than Earlier Draft: What Are The Changes?