President Donald Trump says “NO ONE GOES ON VACATION” until the big, beautiful bill is on his desk by the Fourth of July deadline. And Republicans in Congress are staying put to get it done.

The Senate is gearing up for weekend work, while House Speaker Mike Johnson told lawmakers Tuesday to keep their schedules “flexible” as they prepare for more votes.

“We are making good headway,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-S.D. He expects the Senate will get this “past the finish line” by the end of the week, sending it back to the House for swift action.

But Republicans who have majority control of the House and Senate are finding that their push to move fast and change things — namely cuts to federal government programs including Medicaid and SNAP food stamps used by millions of Americans — is easier said than done.

Not all GOP lawmakers are on board, and the Senate parliamentarian has advised that several key proposals violate procedural rules. With Democrats flatly opposed, it’s all leaving GOP leaders scrambling days before final votes.

Here’s the latest on what’s in, out and still up for debate as lawmakers work to finish the massive 1,000-page plus package.

What’s the goal of the big bill? Tax cuts.

The top priority for Republicans is preventing what they warn would be a massive tax hike, some $3.8 trillion, after December when the tax breaks they put in place during Trump’s first term, in 2017, expire.

The big bill seeks to make existing tax rates and brackets permanent, while also temporarily adding new ones Trump campaigned on — no taxes on tips, overtime pay or some automotive loans, along with a bigger $6,000 deduction in the Senate draft for seniors who earn no more than $75,000 a year.

The wealthiest households would see a $12,000 increase, while the bill would cost the poorest people $1,600 a year, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

Middle income taxpayers would see a tax break of $500 to $1,500, CBO said.

One provision for families would boost the $2,000 child tax credit to $2,200 under the Senate proposal or $2,500 in the House. But families at lower income levels won’t see the full amount, if any.

And one unresolved issue is the House’s proposed $40,000 cap on state and local deductions, called SALT, that GOP senators say is too high and want limited.

The bill also funds deportations, a border wall and Trump’s heroes garden

There’s also some $350 billion of new funding in the package for Trump’s border and national security agenda.

Trump promises the largest mass deportation operation in U.S. history, and the package proposes money to hire 10,000 new Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers, with $10,000 signing bonuses, and for 100,000 immigration detention beds with a goal of deporting some 1 million people a year.

Additionally, the House bill proposes $12 billion for the Homeland Security secretary to provide grants to states that help with federal immigration enforcement and deportation actions. The Senate package also provides the attorney general with $3.5 billion to create a similar state fund — called Bridging Immigration-related Deficits Experienced Nationwide, or Biden, referring to the former president.

Immigrants entering the U.S. would face stiff new fees, including $1,000 for those seeking asylum protections.

There’s also money for the development of Trump’s “Golden Dome” missile defense system over the U.S., and quality of life measures for servicemen and women.

And there are extras: One provision from the Senate would provide $40 million to establish Trump’s long-sought “National Garden of American Heroes.”

How to pay for it? Cuts to Medicaid, SNAP, and green energy programs

To help partly offset the lost tax revenue, Republicans are seeking to cut back some long-running government programs — Medicaid, food stamps and green energy incentives — basically unraveling the accomplishments of the past two Democratic presidents: Joe Biden and Barack Obama.

Republicans argue they are trying to right-size the safety net programs for the population they were initially designed to serve — mainly pregnant women and children — and root out waste, fraud and abuse.

The package includes new 80-hour-a-month work requirements for many adults receiving Medicaid and food stamps, including older people up to age 65. Parents of children older than 10 would have to work to qualify for food aid, and those with teens would have to comply with the work requirement for Medicaid.

“It’s wildly popular,” Johnson said Tuesday, noting people can work, volunteer or go to school or job training programs. “For heaven’s sake, do something constructive.”

Some 80 million Americans rely on Medicaid, which expanded under Obama’s Affordable Care Act, and 40 million use the Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program, and most already work, according to analysts.

All told, the CBO estimates at least 10.9 million more people would go without health coverage, and 3 million more would not qualify for food stamps.

Deeper SNAP cuts that would shift cost-sharing to the states were called into question by the Senate parliamentarian and undergoing revisions. And more Medicaid changes are up for debate — including a Senate plan to reduce the so-called provider tax that most states impose on hospitals and other entities.

Key GOP senators and a coalition of House Republicans warn that lower Medicaid provider tax cuts will hurt rural hospitals. “We cannot support a final bill that threatens access to coverage,” said 16 House GOP lawmakers in a letter to leadership.

Senators are considering the creation of a new rural hospital fund, but the plan remains a work in progress. They’ve also had objections to the House’s proposed new $35 co-pay on Medicaid services.

Both the House and Senate bills propose a dramatic rollback of the Biden-era green energy tax breaks for electric vehicles and also the production and investment tax credits companies use to stand up wind, solar and other renewable energy projects.

All told, the cuts to Medicaid, food stamps and green energy programs are expected to produce at least $1.5 trillion in savings.

What’s the final cost?

Altogether, keeping the existing tax breaks and adding the new ones is expected to cost $3.8 trillion over the decade, CBO says in its analysis of the House bill. The Senate draft is slightly higher.

The spending cuts tally at least $1.5 trillion.

The CBO estimates the package from the House would add $2.4 trillion to the nation’s deficits over the decade.

Or not, depending on how one does the math.

Senate Republicans are proposing a unique strategy of not counting the existing tax breaks as a new cost, because they’re already “current policy.” They argue the Budget Committee chairman has the authority to set the baseline for its preferred approach.

Under the Senate GOP view, the cost of tax provisions would be $441 billion, according to the congressional Joint Committee on Taxation.

Democrats and others argue this is “magic math” that obscures the costs of the GOP tax breaks. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget puts the Senate tally at $4.2 trillion over the decade.

“Current policy baseline’ is a budget gimmick,” said Sen. Jeff Merkley, the top Democrat on the Budget Committee. “This bill will add trillions upon trillions of dollars to the national debt to fund tax breaks for billionaires.”

Trump, en route to Europe for a NATO meeting, told senators to lock themselves in a room if needed, and “GET THE BILL DONE.”

Hear this story

WASHINGTON – President Donald Trump’s so-called “one big, beautiful bill” is getting smaller.

In recent days, Senate Parliamentarian Elizabeth MacDonough has taken shears to the sweeping tax and spending legislation, leaving multiple provisions on the cutting-room floor as Republicans press for a final vote as soon as this week.

Gone are GOP-led efforts to curb environmental regulations, attempts to restrict federal judges’ powers, plans to bulk up immigration enforcement and to cut funding from the federal agency launched to protect American consumers after the 2008 financial crisis. MacDonough determined each item was in violation of a critical Senate rule that prohibit extraneous measures in bills like the one Trump wants on his desk for signature by July 4.

What to know: Trump’s tax bill has a big week ahead in Washington

The loss of these and other items complicates the already difficult endeavor for Republicans who are trying to secure Trump a big second-term win on Capitol Hill. Trump has given Congress the artificial Independence Day deadline to get the legislation passed. But with less than two weeks left until the country’s 249th birthday, leadership in both chambers have a near-Herculean task before them if they’re going to meet the Republican president’s demands.

“To my friends in the Senate, lock yourself in a room if you must, don’t go home, and GET THE DEAL DONE THIS WEEK,” Trump wrote in a June 24 Truth Social post. “Work with the House so they can pick it up, and pass it, IMMEDIATELY. NO ONE GOES ON VACATION UNTIL IT’S DONE.”

Environment-related provisions get struck

Multiple measures seeking to ease environmental regulations were atop the list of items struck from the bill. MacDonough, the Senate’s lead procedural expert since 2012, ruled they were outside the purview of the at-issue legislation because the language doesn’t directly affect the federal budget.

Provisions that would deem offshore oil and gas projects automatically compliant with the National Environmental Policy Act were among those cut, along with an effort to repeal recent U.S. EPA emission limits for vehicles.

The parliamentarian also ruled against forcing the U.S. Postal Service to scrap thousands of electric vehicles and charging equipment.

Trump’s critics are urging MacDonough to keep making cuts to the bill.

“Democrats continue to show up and fight every provision of this Big, Beautiful Betrayal of a bill, because this bill is an attack on workers and families everywhere,” Oregon Sen. Jeff Merkley, ranking member of the Energy and Natural Resources Committee, said in a statement. “Democrats will not stand idly by while Republicans attempt to circumvent the rules

Immigration enforcement changes a no-go

MacDonough also has carved a category of immigration-related provisions out of the Senate Republicans’ bill, including a restriction on grant funds for “sanctuary” cities.

Also tossed on this front: Increased immigration enforcement powers for state and local authorities, and repeals to Supplemental Nutritional Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits for non-citizens.

What else did the parliamentarian strike?

The parliamentarian ruled against the proposed elimination of funds for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an agency created during the Obama administration after the Great Recession to protect “consumers from unfair, deceptive, or abusive practices.”

Republican Senators had kept a House-approved provision restricting federal judges’ ability to block government policies, but that effort was dashed during MacDonough’s review as well.

Democrats are pushing for the removal of a measure that would soften regulations on gun silencers, eliminating the need to register and pay a $200 fee on the equipment.

“This change … would be catastrophic to public safety and greatly impede law enforcement efforts to keep our communities safe,” a group of House Democrats wrote in a letter to Senate Republicans.

States to shoulder some SNAP costs after all

Republicans’ House-passed bill had included a measure that would shift some food aid costs onto states.

MacDonough had ruled initially that the changes to the SNAP program – long known as “Food Stamps” – did not comply with Senate rules. But she gave Republicans the green light on June 24 after they did some tweaking to the language that included giving states additional buffers before they have to start paying into the program.

The reversal is great news for Senate Majority Leader John Thune, R-South Dakota, who is working to corral colleagues concerned about too much federal government spending. The SNAP reform is expected to save billions and help offset revenue lost from an extension of Trump’s first-term tax cuts.

“I am confident we will get this bill across the finish line,” Thune wrote in a June 23 opinion piece.

Trump’s agenda takes its ‘Byrd bath’

Legislation typically requires 60 votes to pass in the Senate. Otherwise, the minority party can mount a filibuster and sink the bill.

An exception to the rule: Reconciliation. Under this complicated process, the Senate majority can avoid filibuster threats with a simple 51-vote majority, in exchange for meeting strict criteria that prohibits anything not directly related to the federal budget.

Under these conditions, MacDonough, the Senate’s first female nonpartisan rule keeper, has found multiple provisions within the massive tax bill in violation.

Results of the fat-trimming process, known as the “Byrd bath” in Senate lingo in honor of the late-Sen. Robert Byrd, D-West Virginia, means Trump and Republicans will have to find another way to achieve several of the president’s legislative priorities. That could mean negotiating with Democrats, a tricky task in the hyper-partisan legislature.

In the meantime, Thune must find a way to get the majority of his members behind Trump’s slimmer megabill.

Contributing: Zac Anderson, USA TODAY; Reuters

Washington — Congressional Republicans are racing to meet a self-imposed Fourth of July deadline to send a massive tax and domestic policy bill to President Trump as he dials up pressure on lawmakers, even as several major disputes have yet to be resolved.

On his way to The Hague on Tuesday, Mr. Trump called on lawmakers to stay in Washington until they can resolve their issues and get the bill — which extends the president’s 2017 tax cuts and includes much of his second-term agenda — to his desk.

“NO ONE GOES ON VACATION UNTIL IT’S DONE,” he wrote on Truth Social.

The last scheduled day in session for both chambers before they leave town for the holiday is Friday, leaving them with little time to reach their goal.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, who met with Senate Republicans Tuesday, told reporters after the meeting that they’re “on track” for a vote Friday on the bill, adding that he expects it can get to the president’s desk by July 4.

Still, Senate Majority Leader John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, threatened to keep senators in Washington over the recess as several Republicans cast doubt about the upper chamber’s ability to finish their work before the deadline.

Thune told reporters Monday that the Senate is “on schedule” to vote by the end of the week.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune leaves the Senate Republicans’ lunch in the U.S. Capitol on June 24, 2025. Bill Clark/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

The bill, named the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, narrowly passed the House last month, but Senate Republicans are making changes in order to navigate the party’s tight 53-47 margin in the upper chamber.

On Tuesday, House Speaker Mike Johnson said he told House Republicans to “keep your schedules flexible” as the Senate looks to send the legislation back to the lower chamber for approval. The Louisiana Republican predicted the Senate could pass the bill by Friday or Saturday. The timing of a House vote would eat into next week’s recess.

“There’s nothing more important that we should be involved in and can be involved in than getting the one big, beautiful bill to the president’s desk,” Johnson said at his weekly news conference.

Parliamentarian rulings

Days before an expected vote, the Senate’s final version has yet to come together. The Senate’s rulekeeper has been looking through the legislation to determine whether any provisions violate the upper chamber’s rules.

The Senate parliamentarian advised that several controversial provisions would violate the Byrd Rule, which requires that the legislation only include provisions that have a direct impact on federal spending, according to Senate Budget Committee Democrats.

Provisions that did not make the cut are subject to a 60-vote threshold, compared with the 51 votes needed under the reconciliation process.

Republicans can’t include language that would make it harder to challenge the government’s actions in court. The provision limited the ability of federal courts to delay or halt the government’s policies by requiring people suing the federal government to post a bond to cover the potential costs and damages incurred by the government.

The parliamentarian determined that a provision to bar immigrants who are not citizens or lawful permanent residents from receiving food assistance benefits under the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP, should also be removed.

The parliamentarian also rejected a proposal championed by Republican Sen. Mike Lee of Utah that would have sold off millions of acres of public lands.

Other provisions struck from the bill include the sale of electric vehicles used by the United States Postal Service and several immigration-related measures, including limiting certain funding for “sanctuary cities” and allowing states to conduct border security and immigration enforcement.

But the parliamentarian did allow Republicans to keep a 10-year moratorium on state laws regulating artificial intelligence.

SALT sticking points

As the Senate lurches toward a vote on the bill, disagreement over the state and local tax deduction, known as SALT, has persisted. But Bessent said Tuesday afternoon that he expected a solution on what’s become one of the biggest sticking points will be reached in the next 24 to 48 hours.

While the House measure increases the deduction from $10,000 to $40,000 per household for incomes up to $500,000, the Senate Finance Committee’s version that was unveiled last week proposes permanently extending the $10,000 cap. The chasm sparked pushback among blue-state House Republicans, who have threatened to withhold their support should the Senate approve the changes and send it back to the House.

Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin of Oklahoma, who formerly served in the House and has worked as a messenger between the two chambers, told reporters Monday that “neither side is going to love where we’re at, but it’s going to be acceptable.”

“The Senate wants to go further to the right and the SALT caucus wants to go further to the left,” Mullin said. “We’re going to find, I think, hopefully some place right in the middle that both sides can live with.”

Medicaid and the provider tax

Senate Republicans have proposed steeper cuts to Medicaid funding by lowering provider taxes — which states use to help fund their share of Medicaid costs — from 6% to 3.5% by 2031, after the House sought to lower federal costs by freezing states’ provider taxes at current rates and prohibiting them from establishing new provider taxes. But the move has sparked pushback, and threatened to complicate the delicate balance reached in the House.

A group of 16 House Republicans penned a letter to Thune and Johnson Tuesday opposing the Senate’s changes to the House-passed legislation on Medicaid. The moderates argued that the House approach “reflects a more pragmatic and compassionate standard,” pointing in particular to the provisions restricting the provider tax within the Senate legislation.

Sen. Josh Hawley, a Missouri Republican, has voiced opposition to the provider tax changes, and said more senators spoke up at Tuesday’s lunch against the Senate’s provider tax proposal.

Fiscal hawks speak out

Another faction in Congress has voiced opposition to the spending levels in the legislation, advocating for deeper cuts that have often worked counter to leadership’s efforts to appease other members of their conferences.

Members of the conservative House Freedom Caucus who initially threatened to withhold their support for the House-passed legislation have suggested they would tank the Senate’s changes to the bill. And a number of Senate Republicans have voiced strong opposition to the legislation’s impact on the deficit.

Sen. Rick Scott of Florida was among a handful of Senate Republicans who met with Mr. Trump on Monday amid opposition from fiscal hawks. Despite the disagreements, he told reporters that “I’m the eternal optimist that we’re going to figure this out.”

, and contributed to this report.