The House of Representatives has narrowly passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, sending the controversial and hotly contested legislation to the president's desk to be signed into law.
From trillions of dollars in tax giveaways for the wealthy to massive cuts to healthcare, food assistance, and renewable energy, the massive legislation will reshape the economic, social, and environmental landscape of the nation for years if not decades to come, as USA Today detailed.
What's happening?
Despite holding the White House and majorities in both houses of Congress, Republican lawmakers have squabbled for weeks over the final details of President Donald Trump's multi-trillion-dollar spending bill.
This infighting led some observers to question whether the GOP would ever be able to cross the finish line.
By a razor-thin 218-214 vote in the House of Representatives on the eve of the July 4 holiday, they finally did, adding $3.5 trillion to the federal deficit, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, largely as a result of permanent tax cuts for the nation's highest earners and some temporary tax cuts for tips and overtime that expire in 2028.
Why is the "Big Beautiful Bill" important?
From the economy to healthcare to food to the environment, the "Big Beautiful Bill" will touch every aspect of American life, as it shifts trillions of dollars in resources from the poorest among us to the wealthiest.
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The CBO has calculated that the so-called "Big Beautiful Bill" would increase household resources for the richest Americans by $12,000 per year while decreasing the household resources for the poorest Americans by $1,600 per year, or 3.9% of their income.
"Those projected decreases are mainly attributable to reductions in in-kind transfers, such as Medicaid and SNAP," the CBO said in a letter to lawmakers.
According to Axios, the "Big Beautiful Bill" would cut $186 billion in SNAP benefits over the next 10 years, with experts projecting that as many as 5 million households could be affected and 2 million people could lose their benefits altogether.
SNAP provided food to more than 41 million Americans in 2024, or 12% of the population. Nearly two-thirds of SNAP recipients are households with children, according to the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities.
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Similarly, the so-called "Big Beautiful Bill" contained roughly $1 trillion in cuts for Medicaid and the Children's Health Insurance Program, or CHIP. The CBO projected these changes will kick more than 10 million people off these vital healthcare programs by 2034.
Further, once enacted into law, the legislation will roll back billions of dollars in renewable-energy and electric-vehicle incentives aimed at jumpstarting the transition to a cleaner-energy economy.
EV tax credits of up to $7,500 for a new vehicle or $4,000 for a used one, which originally were scheduled to last through 2032, would now stop at the end of September, CNBC reported.
Consumer tax credits for home solar installation and energy-efficient home upgrades like heat pumps, two areas EnergySage specializes in helping homeowners lock in with incentives, would conclude early as well, sunsetting at the end of the year, per CNBC.
Also ending early would be incentives for building cleaner-energy facilities like renewable power plants, carbon sequestration facilities, and factories for building clean-energy equipment like wind turbines.
All told, these incentives have helped garner billions of dollars in private investment and have created tens of thousands of jobs, according to Clean Investment Monitor.
As the "Big Beautiful Bill" appeared poised to become law, it stood as a direct threat to the thousands of projects, hundreds of billions of dollars in private investment, and more than 50,000 jobs already in the pipeline.
What's being done about the "Big Beautiful Bill"?
With President Trump's so-called "Big Beautiful Bill" now having passed both houses of Congress, it will become law as soon as the president signs it, which he has indicated he will do in a July 4 ceremony.
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Definitely 👍 Though the legislation will have massive implications for American life for years to come, it does not mean the end of the road.
Even without the federal government's support, there are plenty of actions that can be taken on the state, local, and community level to help our neighbors and to pave the way for a cleaner-energy future.
Driving an electric vehicle, installing solar panels, growing your own food, taking public transit, or volunteering at a local food bank are all great ways to make a real difference, regardless of what government policies may or may not be in place at the moment.
To learn more ways in which you can make your voice heard, check out this guide.
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