Congress approves Trump's 'big beautiful' tax breaks bill

Medicaid will suffer as package could add $3.4 trillion to debt

- AGENCY REPORTERS

As US president Donald Trump worked to pass his signature spending bill, he blended charm and threats, bestowed gifts and bellowed frustration to bend Congress to his will.

In the end, after days of intense behind-the-scenes pressure from the White House, Congress proved no match for a president at the peak of his power.

Mr Trump secured the biggest legislative victory of his second term in office last night when the House of Representatives passed his sweeping tax-cut and spending bill, sending it to the Republican president for his signature by his deadline of today’s Independence Day holiday.

The measure will give Mr Trump billions of dollars and new legal avenues to press forward with his domestic agenda, ramping up migrant deportations and cutting taxes while rolling back health benefits and food assistance.

One by one, major US institutions from the Supreme Court, law firms, universities, media outlets and beyond have given way for Mr Trump to push the bounds of presidential authority in his first five months in office. With its narrow passage of his self-styled “big, beautiful bill,” Congress, too, delivered the president a victory that will further extend his power.

“There’s no question that it’s a capstone to what has been a very strong last few weeks for President Trump,” said Lanhee Chen, a fellow at the Hoover Institution, a think tank, and a former adviser to Republicans Mitt Romney and Marco Rubio.