One of the biggest victories of President Donald Trump’s first 100 days came when Congress passed a budget reconciliation framework, paving the way for his domestic agenda in a single, comprehensive bill. The measure — which the president has dubbed “one big, beautiful bill” — aims to extend tax cuts, enhance border security, and boost national defense.
The budget reconciliation process allows for more streamlined consideration of legislation pertaining to the federal budget. With it, the Senate requires only a simple majority — 51 votes — to pass a bill that gets developed after Congress passes a blueprint for how to proceed, bypassing the three-fifths majority threshold needed to overcome a filibuster. Currently, Senate Republicans hold a 53-seat majority.
Before taking office in January, Trump expressed his preference for passing a single bill, arguing that such a “powerful” measure would “bring our Country back, and make it greater than ever before,” and would be offset by tariffs in response to countries he says have been taking advantage of the United States for years.
Each chamber of Congress charted a different course, at least initially.
The Senate took a two-step approach, wherein one bill would address budget priorities while leaving tax cuts for a future measure. But House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) opted to pursue legislation with everything in one package.
Reaching the finish line first, the Senate passed a $340 billion budget resolution tackling immigration and border security, defense, and energy in early February. The House ignored the Senate framework and later that month advanced its own plan that would not leave the tax cuts for a future piece of legislation.
In the weeks that followed, the Senate essentially abandoned its two-step plan and pressed ahead with taking up the House resolution. Unlike the House, the Senate has to contend with the Byrd Rule for budget reconciliation, which constrains the upper chamber to focus solely on fiscal measures such as extending tax cuts and raising the debt ceiling while stripping out non-budgetary provisions.
What ultimately passed through the Senate was an amended framework that seeks to retain the 2017 tax cuts set to expire this year, raise the debt ceiling by $5 trillion, and increase spending on border security and defense. It also includes several billion dollars in spending reductions — far less than the more than $2 trillion goal in the original House resolution.
The lesser spending-reduction goals that made it into the Senate’s version proved to be disagreeable for several House conservatives, though Republican leadership managed to overcome the resistance. Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) had offered his assurances that the upper chamber would strive to become “aligned” with the House in terms of savings. And, on April 10, the framework narrowly passed the House, with two Republicans casting their no votes alongside 212 Democrats.
Although Democrats who oppose the budget plan claim that it could lead to $880 billion in cuts to Medicaid and benefit the wealthy, Trump has insisted he would not touch Medicaid, Medicare, or Social Security. He has, however, said fraud and illegal immigrants will be rooted out of the system. The president has also pushed for a number of tax cuts that could help Americans in the middle and lower-income brackets. Among his ideas are eliminating taxes on tips and reducing income taxes for people making less than $200,000 a year.
The “big, beautiful bill” is coming together under the shadow of a national debt that is approaching $37 trillion.
Trump’s administration has engaged in a Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) effort led by tech executive Elon Musk, which says its “estimated savings” have reached $160 billion amid cuts to programs and jobs across the federal bureaucracy. The White House also unleashed “Liberation Day” tariffs, with which the president contends he is trying to dismantle unfair trade practices. And yet another stopgap bill to avert a partial government shutdown — this one lasting for six months — was passed and signed by Trump in March.
Negotiators are now working on putting together the budget reconciliation legislation, using the amended resolution as a guide.
“It’s a complicated piece of legislation. I think it can be and probably will be one of the most consequential pieces of legislation ever passed by the United States Congress,” Speaker Johnson told host Will Cain in a Fox News interview last week, adding later, “Here’s the update. What you’ll see over the next four weeks is the pieces, the various components of that big bill, rolling out of these committees. You’ll have committee markups scheduled and all those 11 committees successively over the four weeks. And you’re going to see this thing come together.”
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent suggested the legislation could be complete by Independence Day following a gathering on Monday of the so-called “Big Six,” which includes himself, White House National Economic Council Director Kevin Hassett, Johnson, Thune, Senate Finance Committee Chairman Mike Crapo (R-ID), and House Ways and Means Committee Chairman Jason Smith (R-MO).
“We had another successful ‘Big Six’ meeting today, and we hope to have a tax bill done by the Fourth of July,” Bessent said in a post on X. “The House is moving things along quickly, and the Senate is in lockstep. I’m happy to announce that they are in substantial agreement and that this is going to be a very big, pro-growth win for the American people.”
