The Latest: House leaders rush toward a final vote as Democrats hold the floor
Final debates began in the predawn hours after another chaotic day and night at the Capitol following a series of closed-door meetings.
Putting the bill on Trump's desk would be a milestone for the president and his party as Republicans have the votes to overcome Democratic opposition to a long list of GOP priorities. Trump's 'one big beautiful bill,' an 800-plus page package, is a defining measure of his return to the White House. Read what's in the full bill for yourself.
Here's the latest:
What's in the Big Beautiful Bill Act
At some 887 pages, the legislation includes tax breaks, spending cuts, a rollback of solar energy tax credits, new money for national defense and deportations. The bill does not eliminate taxes on Social Security benefits, despite what Trump says.
The bill rolls back past presidential agendas: In many ways, the package is a repudiation of the agendas of the last two Democratic presidents, a chiseling away at the Medicaid expansion from Barack Obama's Affordable Care Act, and a pullback of Joe Biden's climate change strategies in the Inflation Reduction Act.
Congressional Budget Office review: The nonpartisan CBO said Sunday the bill would pile nearly $3.3 trillion onto the nation's debt load from 2025 to 2034, a nearly $1 trillion increase over the House-passed version of the bill. The analysis also found that 11.8 million Americans would become uninsured by 2034 if the bill passed.
White House: The big bill is kind of like the solution to a bad hair day
With Trump's spending and tax cut bill nearing passage, the White House is getting creative in pitching it to Americans who haven't been closely following the debate over the legislation.
The White House late Wednesday dropped a tongue-in-cheek video on social media that includes before and after shots of women who transform flat hair to voluminous bouffants as a narrator ticks off aspects of the bill that she says will make Americans' lives better.
'Are you tired of government promises falling flat? Do you go through an outrageous amount of stress just trying to get by?' the narrator intones as a woman screams in frustration over her bad hair day. 'Then bump it up with 'one big, beautiful bill' and get that relief fast and easy.'
By the end of the short video, the screaming woman and others are sporting new hairdos that are markedly more voluminous.
Hakeem Jeffries has been talking for three hours and counting
Republican leadership spent much of the night and early morning persuading a handful of holdouts to support the Senate-approved tax cuts and spending bill. But now, House Speaker Mike Johnson appears to have the votes, and Democrats are standing in the way.
As the House wrapped up its debate over passing Trump's agenda, Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries used a tool known as the 'magic minute' that allows leaders unlimited time to speak. He started his address just before 5 a.m. ET. And it's still going.
'I'm going to take my time,' he said, before launching into a speech criticizing Republicans' deference to Trump, reading through personal accounts of people concerned about losing their health care coverage, and recounting American history.
Eventually, Jeffries will end his speech, and Republicans will move to final passage of the bill.
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Please try again Interested in more newsletters? Browse here. Amid recurring concerns in Kyiv about how much military support its allies can supply and how quickly, Ukraine has raced to build up its domestic defense industry. The country's output has gradually grown, especially in the production of more and increasingly sophisticated drones, but Ukraine needs to speedily scale up production. Crucially, some high-tech U.S. weapons are irreplaceable. They include Patriot air defense missiles, which are needed to fend off Russia's frequent ballistic missile attacks, but which cost $4 million each. That vital system is included in the pause, and many cities in Ukraine, including Kyiv, could become increasingly vulnerable. A senior Ukrainian official said Thursday that Patriot systems are 'critically necessary' for Ukraine, but U.S.-made HIMARS precision-guided missiles, also paused, are in less urgent need as other countries produce similar assets. 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