WASHINGTON \u2014 President Donald Trump on Friday signed into law his sweeping tax cut and spending package, what he\u2019s called the \u201cbig, beautiful bill,\u201d in a Fourth of July ceremony packed with patriotic pomp and symbolism.<\/p>\n
The White House ceremony, which took place alongside a military picnic, included an armed forces flyover and was attended by jubilant Republican lawmakers, including House Speaker Mike Johnson and Majority Leader Steve Scalise, both of Louisiana, who helped muscle the legislation<\/a> through their chamber Thursday by a razor-thin margin.<\/p>\n \u201cOur country has had so much to celebrate this Independence Day as we enter our 249th year. America\u2019s winning, winning, winning like never before,\u201d Trump said before signing the bill.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have officially made the Trump tax cuts permanent. That\u2019s the largest tax cut in the history of our country,\u201d he continued. \u201cWe\u2019re setting all sorts of economic records right now, and that\u2019s before this kicks in. After this kicks in, our country is going to be a rocket ship, economically.\u201d<\/p>\n The Senate on Tuesday passed the bill<\/a> on a 51-50 vote, with Vice President JD Vance needed to break the tie. That sent the bill to the House, which passed it on a mostly party-line vote of 218-214 Thursday, just one day before Trump\u2019s arbitrary July Fourth deadline<\/a>.<\/p>\n As a band played the national anthem, a B-2 Spirit bomber, accompanied by two F-35 jets, flew over the White House in honor of the U.S. strike on nuclear facilities in Iran last month. The pilots who participated in those strikes, Operation Midnight Hammer, were invited to the event by Trump.<\/p>\n Trump, first lady Melania Trump and their guests were expected to watch the annual Independence Day fireworks celebration over the National Mall on Friday night. The president visited his Virginia golf club earlier in the day.<\/p>\n The bill signing capped a grueling, monthslong process, during which the House and the Senate publicly quarreled<\/a> over whether the GOP should try to pass Trump\u2019s domestic policy priorities in one bill or break them up into two. Moderate and conservative Republicans also battled over how much they should cut federal safety net programs \u2014 Medicaid and food aid (the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP) \u2014 as well as how much to raise the deduction cap on state and local taxes, or SALT.<\/p>\n The mammoth package<\/a> fulfills many of Trump\u2019s 2024 campaign promises. It extends the expiring tax cuts he enacted in his first term, in 2017, while temporarily slashing taxes on tips and overtime pay and allowing deductions on auto loan interest payments. It also includes hundreds of billions of dollars in new spending on the military and on carrying out Trump\u2019s mass deportation plans.<\/p>\n The legislation partly pays for that with steep cuts to Medicaid, SNAP and clean energy funding.<\/p>\n And despite conservative calls to tackle the ballooning debt and deficit, the Trump law is projected to increase the national debt by $3.3 trillion over the next decade, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office. The CBO also estimated that 11.8 million people could lose health insurance coverage because of the legislation\u2019s Medicaid cuts and other provisions.<\/p>\n A raft of recent polls<\/a> shows Trump\u2019s big bill is deeply unpopular. A recent Quinnipiac University poll<\/a> found that 53% of registered voters oppose the bill, while only 27% support it. And Democrats, eager to win back control of the House and possibly the Senate in 2026, are salivating at the chance to make the Trump bill a central campaign issue in the midterm elections.<\/p>\n