After weeks of infighting, last-minute rewrites, and a marathon vote-a-rama, Senate Republicans narrowly passed President Donald Trump’s sweeping domestic policy bill on Tuesday, setting up a final showdown in the House.
Vice President JD Vance cast the tiebreaking vote after three Republicans, Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME), Thom Tillis (R-NC), and Rand Paul (R-KY), broke ranks to oppose the bill. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act delivers trillions in tax cuts while slashing funding for Medicaid, food assistance, and clean energy. It also includes a host of conservative priorities, ranging from abortion restrictions to expanded fossil fuel development.
The final package reflects a bruising intraparty fight, with several controversial provisions added, scrapped, or watered down in the final hours. Here’s a look at some of the key things that made it in and what got left on the cutting room floor
Phasing out subsidies for renewables and electric vehicles
Changes to phase-outs of clean energy tax credits in the bill remained central to the final hours of debate among Republicans, as hard-line conservatives have called for strict, swift cuts and more centrist lawmakers pushed for extended wind-downs to avoid major market and investment disruptions.
The now-passed Senate bill includes steep cuts for these tax credits, ending incentives for wind and solar projects placed in service, meaning operational and plugged into the grid, by the end of 2027.
Moderates were able to squeeze in a carve-out allowing projects that begin construction less than one year after the bill is enacted to claim the credit. Any projects that start construction after that time frame must be operational and in service by 2027 to be eligible.
The Senate’s bill would also terminate tax credits designed to support the electric vehicle industry. Specifically, the Republicans’ bill would end the Clean Vehicle Credit by September. The credit offers consumers a $7,500 credit for purchasing plug-in vehicles.
Since taking office, Trump has sought to dismantle the Biden administration’s credits and policies that would facilitate the transition from gas-powered vehicles to electric cars.
Other energy sources such as nuclear, geothermal, and hydrogen do see some relief under the Senate-passed package, with Republicans extending those incentives to at least 2028.
Boosting fossil fuels
The legislation also includes provisions to boost domestic oil and gas development by mandating lease sales on federal lands and waters. Specifically, it would mandate two lease sales in the Gulf of Mexico, which has since been renamed the Gulf of America, for 15 years.
It would also mandate quarterly lease sales onshore and sales in Alaska. These lease sales are expected to be in the state’s Cook Inlet, National Petroleum Reserve, and Arctic National Wildlife Refuge.
Republicans also included a provision that would allow metallurgical coal to claim an advanced manufacturing production tax credit. Metallurgical coal is used in the production of steel. Trump has vowed to revive the coal industry.
Slashing tax on renewables and public land sales
Over the weekend, Senate leadership also sought to include a new tax on solar and wind projects that fail to meet restrictions on using Chinese materials. The tax would be imposed on these projects regardless of whether they claimed subsidies.
The tax was heavily criticized by clean energy groups and even notable fossil fuel advocates who said it went too far to penalize the energy industry. In the hours leading up to the bill’s passage in the Senate, centrist Republicans removed the tax from the final text.
On Sunday, Sen. Mike Lee (R-UT) removed his controversial measure that would have allowed the sale of federal land to address the housing crisis. Lee received pushback from fellow conservatives and environmentalists on his measure, which they argued would harm the nation’s most protected lands.
Lee’s measure was considered a “poison pill” by some House Republicans, who said if the bill included the resolution, it would fail in the House. Lee attempted to revise his measure after it was axed by the Senate parliamentarian, but continued to receive criticism from fellow lawmakers and conservative groups that sought to see the provision removed entirely.
Medicaid work requirements
Both the House and Senate versions of the bill include work requirements for nondisabled adults without dependents added to the Medicaid program under the Affordable Care Act, often called the Medicaid expansion population.
The Senate’s version of the bill, like the House’s, requires nondisabled adults without dependents to work or volunteer part-time to be eligible for Medicaid benefits. Work requirements would be mandatory no later than 2026.
In addition to the House’s exceptions for pregnant women and others, the Senate increases the exemption for caregivers of dependent children by allowing parents of children under 14 to be exempt.
The Senate’s version of the bill also requires that states use data matching “where possible” to verify whether an individual meets the requirements for an exemption. The House’s version of the text only required states to data match to verify that the beneficiary is compliant with work requirements.
Advocates have warned that work requirements for Medicaid will inevitably kick qualified beneficiaries off their insurance coverage, not because they are not working, but because they have difficulty complying with onerous reporting requirements.
Rural hospital funding
A provision boosting the amount of money given to rural hospitals to $50 billion was included in a last-minute change in an amended draft of the GOP mega bill made public Tuesday afternoon.
The $50 billion would be paid in five installments through 2030, according to the text of the bill.
Funding for rural hospitals has been a flashpoint in debates over the bill’s adjustments to provider taxes.
Several centrist Republican senators have voiced concerns over recent weeks that the bill’s adjustment to provider taxes will have an outsize effect on already struggling rural hospitals.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act lowers the amount that states can tax healthcare providers and use the funding to qualify for more federal Medicaid dollars without draining the state’s general fund.
Conservative health policy advocates have long decried provider taxes as a “gimmick” to cover states’ irresponsible Medicaid spending, but others have said that lowering provider taxes without boosting funding for rural hospitals will be an overall detriment to public health.
Earlier on Tuesday, Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) introduced an amendment to the bill to increase the funding for rural hospitals to $50 billion, but it was voted down by both Republicans and Democrats by a vote of 78-22.
Collins, who voted against the bill, wrote: “I am pleased that the bill contains a special fund that I proposed to provide some assistance to our rural hospitals, but it is not sufficient to offset the other changes in the Medicaid system. While I continue to support the tax relief I voted for in 2017, I could not support these Medicaid changes and other issues.”
Defunding Planned Parenthood
The Senate Parliamentarian upheld a provision in the bill prohibiting Medicaid funds from being used to reimburse health clinics that also provide elective abortions, saying that the measure was compliant with the Byrd Rule, which restricts what can be included in a budget reconciliation bill.
Although the Hyde Amendment prohibits federal dollars from directly covering the costs of abortions, anti-abortion advocates have long argued that any money given to health centers that provide elective abortions indirectly subsidizes the procedures due to the fungibility of money.
The bill text does not name any specific abortion providers. Instead, it would defund any abortion provider that receives more than $800,000 in federal grants and reimbursements.
But anti-abortion advocates have been pushing for this under the banner of defunding Planned Parenthood, which received $792 million in government grants and reimbursements according to its 2023-2024 fiscal report.
Senate Republicans revised the measure late Friday, shortening the proposed funding cutoff from 10 years to just one.
Planned Parenthood has warned that a loss of Medicaid funding could force the closure of at least 200 health centers nationwide, 90% of them in states where abortion remains legal. The organization says more than a million low-income patients would lose access to care.
Several states have attempted to cut off state-funded Medicaid reimbursement from Planned Parenthood and other elective abortion providers. If both chambers enact the final bill, the policy would be extended nationwide.
Attempts from Democrats to remove the provision during the marathon vote-a-rama session on Monday and Tuesday ultimately failed.
Gender-transition medicine not covered by Medicaid
The House version of the bill prohibited federal matching funds for “gender transition procedures,” including puberty blockers, hormonal treatments, and reconstructive surgeries for any individual enrolled in Medicaid or the Children’s Health Insurance Program.
The House bill text also included a provision prohibiting Obamacare marketplace insurance plans from including gender transition procedures as an essential health benefit.
The Senate bill passed with the same language as the House with respect to Medicaid and CHIP coverage, but it did not have a provision regarding Obamacare plans, according to the healthcare think tank KFF.
SNAP funding changes and work requirements
Before voting on the bill, the Senate made a last-minute change to the provision, shifting some of the cost of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program to the states.
SNAP, more commonly known as food stamps, has traditionally been a solely federally funded program. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act intends to shift a portion of the program’s funding to states to reduce the rate of payment errors made by states administering the nation’s largest food assistance program.
The updated bill text would require states to fund between 5% and 25% of program costs, depending on their payment error rates.
The Senate’s version of the bill also narrowed exceptions for work requirements for nondisabled adults, requiring them to continue working through age 64 to receive benefits.
Parents of dependent children under the age of 14 are exempt from working requirements to receive SNAP benefits. The House bill’s exemption was only for parents of children under age 7.
Senate kills AI moratorium
In a 99-1 vote early Tuesday morning, the Senate removed from the megabill a provision that would have prevented states from regulating artificial intelligence over the next 10 years.
Republican leaders and tech industry groups have argued that a multiyear pause on state-level AI regulation is essential to giving U.S. companies the space to innovate and maintain an edge over China. The House approved a version of the megabill last month that included a 10-year ban on states enacting or enforcing AI rules.
The provision’s defeat followed a breakdown in negotiations between Sens. Marsha Blackburn (R-TN) and Ted Cruz (R-TX), who had crafted a compromise to limit the AI regulation freeze to five years and include exemptions. Blackburn ultimately backed out, and both senators voted against the measure, leaving Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) as its sole supporter.
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The proposal sparked strong opposition from Democratic leaders, advocates, and bipartisan state lawmakers, who warned it would wipe out existing AI laws in numerous states and leave the industry largely unchecked.
New tax credit rewards donations to K-12 scholarship nonprofit organizations
Included in the bill is a $1,700 tax credit for individuals who contribute to nonprofit organizations that offer scholarships to elementary and secondary students, a move supporters describe as advancing “school choice,” akin to voucher programs. Early Tuesday, Republicans led by Cruz voted down a Democratic effort to remove the provision.