What Exactly Is The ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’?

The congressional budget bill, dubbed the “One Big Beautiful Bill” by its Republican authors, is advancing through Congress.

Lawmakers are currently debating the bill, which they are trying to get through the House of Representatives before Memorial Day. The bill could have implications for your taxes, government benefits, and federal services.

Here’s what you need to know about the bill and the process to get it approved.

What Exactly Is The ‘One Big Beautiful Bill?’ Is It Really Just One Bill?

In congressional jargon, the budget proposal is a “reconciliation” bill.

Generally, a reconciliation bill requires that each committee write a bill outlining how the parts of government that fall under their purview will spend, save, or raise money. Then, the Budget Committee consolidates all the individual plans into one big bill.

This year, the bill combines government spending and taxation measures for the year ahead with an increase in the debt ceiling.

Like any piece of legislation, it must be passed by a majority vote in the Senate and the House of Representatives and signed by the president to become a law.

What’s In The Bill?

The bill sets the federal budget for the next fiscal year and is poised to make many changes to the tax code.

The bill includes extending many provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts And Jobs Act that were set to expire at the end of the year. It also adds new tax cuts, including eliminating income tax for car loan interest, overtime pay, and tips.

The bill cuts funding for Medicare and the SNAP food aid program, and eliminates the government’s free tax filing website. Overall, the changes benefit wealthier taxpayers and make those with the lowest income poorer, the Congressional Budget Office estimated.

Why Is It A Republican Budget?

Because Republicans control both chambers of Congress and the White House, the GOP is in the driver’s seat, with the Democrats mostly powerless to influence the process.

But the Republicans’ narrow majorities make passing the legislation tricky, since it would only take a handful of dissenters from the ranks to stop its passage. Some Republicans have raised objections to the bill in its current form: some have called for steeper, faster cuts to Medicaid, while others have objected to the program being cut, according to reports.

Reconciliation bills are not subject to the Senate’s “filibuster” procedure, which allows the minority party to shoot down any legislation that has the support of fewer than 60 of the Senate’s 100 members. That’s especially important because the Republicans only control 53 Senate seats, so they don’t have enough votes alone to overcome a filibuster.

What Happens Next?

This week, the bill cleared a key milestone when the House budget committee voted to advance it. Next, the bill must be voted on by the full House.

At the same time, the Senate’s budget committee is preparing its own version of the bill for the full Senate to vote on. After both chambers of the legislature pass their bills, any differences between the two versions will be hammered out, either by exchanging amendments or by a conference committee.

Changes could be introduced at every step of this process, so the final bill version will likely differ from the latest proposal.

Finally, the bill will be sent to the president, who can either sign it into law or veto it.