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- Author, Brandon Drenon
- Author's title, BBC News
- Author, Nadine Yousif
- Author's title, BBC News
The United States Congress approved the extensive Tax and Expenses Law of Donald Trump, which represents a significant victory for the president and his national agenda.
After an arduous session in the Capitol, the House of Representatives approved the bill for 218 votes in favor and 214 against this Thursday afternoon. On Tuesday, the project was approved in the Senate by a single vote.
Trump had given the Congress, controlled by the Republicans, until July 4 to send him the final version of the bill and thus promulgate him, something that will do this Friday at a special ceremony.
The Congress Budget Office estimates that the bill could add US $ 3.3 billion to the federal deficit in the next 10 years and leave millions of people without sanitary coverage, a forecast that the White House questions.
The legislation generates savings through cuts to public benefits for food and health, and the reduction of tax exemptions for clean energy projects.
In addition, it fulfills two of Trump's main campaign promises: to make their tax cuts permanent and eliminate taxes on tips, overtime and social security beneficiaries, with a cost of US $ 4.5 billion in 10 years.
About US $ 150,000 million will be allocated to border security, detention centers and immigration agents. Other US $ 150,000 million will be used for military spending, including the “Golden Dome” of the President.
The Democrats, who had resorted to procedural maneuvers to delay vote in the House of Representatives, strongly criticized the final bill.
They described it as a measure that deprives millions of Americans of medical care and food subsidies, while granting tax cuts to the rich.
Next, we present some of the key points of the controversial law.
1. Extension of Trump tax cuts of 2017
In his first mandate, Trump signed the Tax and Reduction Law, which lowered taxes to corporations and persons of most income levels.
Trump had promoted the law as a norm that would stimulate economic growth, but experts argue that we have benefited weans more.
Key provisions of that law will overcome in December, but the extensive budget bill voted on Thursday will make these tax reductions permanent.
2. Strong cuts to health subsidies
To help finance tax cuts in other areas, Republicans have added additional restrictions and requirements to Medicaid, the health program on which millions of Americans depend with disabilities and low income.
The changes to Medicaid, one of the most important components of federal spending, have been an important source of conflict.
One of the changes are the new labor requirements for adults without children and without disabilities.
To qualify, as of December 2026, they must work at least 80 hours a month.
Another change proposed to the program is to demand that Medicaid re -registration go from being annual to semiannual.
Registered will also have to provide additional income and residence verifications.
The Congress Budget Office estimates that almost 12 million Americans could lose their medical coverage by the end of the next decade as a result of the proposed changes.
3. Social Security Taxes
In the electoral campaign, Trump promised to eliminate taxes on social security benefits: payments for retirement or pensions for people with disabilities.
The bill does not meet that promise, but it does temporarily increase the standard deduction of up to US $ 6,000 annually for some people over 65 years. This deduction would be in force between 2025 and 2028.
The elderly with lower income that no longer pay taxes on Social Security may not benefit, who choose to request their benefits before they turn 65 and those who exceed a defined income threshold.
4. Cuts to food benefits
Reforms have also been incorporated into the supplementary nutritional assistance program (SNAP), used by more than 40 million low -income Americans.
The bill requires that states contribute more to the program, which is currently financed by the federal government.
The Government will continue to fully financing the benefits for the states with an error rate in the payments of less than 6%, but the states with higher error rates will assume between 5% and 15% of the program costs.
The change will enter into force in 2028.
The bill also adds work requirements for affiliates to the SNAP program without disabilities that do not have dependents.
The provision of “without taxes on tips” of the bill was one of Trump's campaign promises.
The final version of the bill will allow workers to deduce up to US $ 25,000 in tips and up to US $ 12,500 (US $ 25,000 in the case of a joint statement) in overtime, but these deductions are temporary and end on December 31, 2028.
6. Tax cuts to clean energy
One of the most notable divisions among the Republicans of the House of Representatives and the Senate was the proposal of the Senate of Fiscal Exemptions for Clean Energies.
Although both requested the end of federal tax credits for clean energy of the Biden era, the Senate Republicans approved a gradual elimination.
For example, the Senate has expanded the deadline for companies that build wind and plot farms continue to benefit from fiscal credits.
However, both the version of the lower house and that of the Senate sought to deny credits to companies whose supply chains can have links with a “worrying foreign entity”, such as China.
Companies that begin construction this year could qualify for full tax exemption. This is reduced to 60% if construction starts in 2026 and 20% if they begin in 2027. Credit would disappear in 2028.
What happens from now on?
Now that the bill has been approved by the House of Representatives, its next step is to go through the president's office for official promulgation.
The White House states that President Trump will sign it at a ceremony on July 4 at 5:00 p.m. local time (21:00 GMT).
The White House Secretary, Karoline Leavitt, reacted to the approval of the bill with a brief message on social networks: “Victoria!”, He wrote, next to an image of the US flag.
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