Here’s what’s in the GOP megabill headed for a vote in the Senate : NPR

The head of the majority of the Senate, John Thune, Rs.d., (r) says that he hopes to adopt the bill on taxes and the Senate expenses this week. If he succeeds, the president of the Chamber Mike Johnson, r-la., (L), will have to sell the bill to conservations in his own party if he hopes to reach the goal of President Trump to sign the bill on July 4.

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Kayla Bartkowski / Getty Images North America

The Senate Republicans have published an updated version of the massive legislation of expenses and tax reductions, containing a large part of the national agenda of President Trump, fixing the table of votes on legislation less than a week Before the party’s self-imposed deadline on July 4.

The updated bill shares many of the same global policies that have narrowly adopted in the House of Representatives in May, including an extension of Trump 2017 tax reductions as well as the increase in border security, defense and energy production.

Republican leaders hope to start the votes on the measure on Saturday. The process includes an open series of amendments that could extend to Sunday and can lead to new changes to the bill.

Where the Republicans remain divided is how they pay for these priorities. Despite the same monitoring lines, the Senate proposed legislation includes several changes compared to the bill adopted by the Chamber, including a higher increase in the debt limit and major changes in Medicaid, the insurance program for low -income Americans.

The Senate bill also has changes to the opinion of the Senate parliamentarian, Elizabeth Macdonough, which serves an unclear and non -partisan role focused on maintaining the rules of the room. During the last week, Macdonough noted that a number of bills of the bill did not qualify for a simple majority during reconciliation and were to be deleted.

The Senate bill should face a decline in the party’s contradictory factions, in particular tax hawks who wish to reduce the deficit and the legislators who have drawn a red line on the major reductions in social security net programs.

And there are still internal conflicts on how to respond to the borrowing limit of the nation. Senator Rand Paul of Kentucky promised to vote against the bill on the issue.

While some GOP senators also have concerns about the bill, the greatest fight can rest to the Chamber, which has a thin majority as a razor and will have to accept the same bill if it adopts the Senate.

This is a history in development, certain elements of the bill have been negotiated until the last minute. The following is a partial list and will be updated.

Some of the biggest changes

Tax incentives

Congress Republicans have included many campaign promises linked to the president’s tax in the bill. The Senate text includes temporary changes that would allow Americans to deduct up to $ 25,000 for tip wages and $ 12,500 for overtime wages until 2028. These limits were not included in the version of the house.

The Senate bill also increases children’s tax credit from $ 2,000 to $ 2,200 per child and adjusts the amount of inflation after 2025. It is slightly different from the room plan to temporarily increase the credit to $ 2,500 before suppressing it at the current level and the adjustment of inflation.

In addition, the text of the Senate would constantly extend the standard deduction, marking a key difference compared to the bill of the Chamber, which temporarily widened it until 2028. Senators also increased a tax deduction for people from more than 6,000 to $ 6,000 to 2028, against $ 4,000 in the bill. The two rooms have included an elimination of people earning more than $ 75,000.

Increase the debt ceiling

The Senate offers an increase in the country’s debt limit of $ 5 billions, a considerable increase compared to the Bill of the Chamber, which agreed with 4 dollars.

Lifting The limit of debt does not allow new expenses. Instead, it allows the government to pay the programs that Congress has already authorized. If the ceiling is not lifted and the government cannot comply with its obligations, then it risks default – a scenario which, according to economists, would be catastrophic not only for the United States, but the global financial system as a whole. THE CBO estimates That without action of the congress, the United States will lack money to pay its bills at some point between mid-August and the end of September.

Earlier this month, 38 members signed a letter Addressed to the head of the majority of the Senate, John Thune, RN.D., criticizing the size of the increase.

Snap changes

The Senate and the Chamber described the reforms of the additional nutritional aid program, known as Snap, which provides food aid to more than 40 million low -income Americans.

The Senate bill includes expanded work requirements that “adult adults capable” continue to work up to 64 years. There are exemptions for parents with children under the age of 14 and limits of the way states can offer derogations from these requirements.

The bill would also oblige states to assume a larger share of the cost of food assistance. The amount that a state should be based on a formula fixed by the percentage of erroneous payments reported each year. These changes would come into force in 2028.

State and local tax deduction

One of the most thorny questions during the negotiations was the state and local tax deduction, also known as salt. The deduction is particularly important for a small number of GOP legislators in the Chamber of Blue States with a high taxes, such as California and New York. Trump’s tax discounts in 2017 closed the deduction of salt at $ 10,000. The Senate plan would temporarily increase the ceiling to $ 40,000 for couples married to income up to $ 500,000. But this provision would expire after 2028 – an effort to provoke the Republicans of the Blue State during the electoral cycles of mid -term and 2028, while limiting the long -term impact of the reductions of federal tax revenues.

“We have about a dozen members who vote on this bill exclusively according to what is happening with salt. There is not a single senator on the republican side which has the same problem”, the head of the majority of the Steve chamber scalizes R-La., Record for journalists on Tuesday.

Medicaid

The Senate has published an updated version of the legislation which includes several modifications proposed in Medicaid, the federal / state -owned and spouses health care program for low -income Americans, the elderly and disabled. He remained one of The most confronted problems Throughout the negotiations of the Chamber and the Senate.

The Senate plan would force adults capable of working 80 hours a month until the age of 65 to qualify for social benefits. There are sculptures for parents of children under the age of 14 and disabled people.

The plan ceiling and gradually reduces tax states can impose on Medicaid suppliers. The student would start in 2028, finally ending with a 3.5% ceiling on this tax. Several GOP senators have feared that the tax is an essential funding flow for rural hospitals in particular – which could close if this flow of dry income.

In order to relieve some of these concerns, GOP Senate leaders included a new $ 25 billion fund to support rural hospitals. This program would also start in 2028 and the funds would be spread over five years.

What remained above all the same

Extend Trump tax reductions

The Senate bill provides for 4 billions of dollars in tax discounts, which is slightly higher than 3.8 billions of dollars offered in the House. This decision would extend Trump’s tax reductions in 2017, which should expire at the end of the year, which means that without an extension, most households would see their taxes increase.

Billions for border security

The Senate and the Bill of the Chamber was going to finish $ 46.5 billion to finish the Trump border wall. It also takes $ 5 billion for customs and border protection facilities and $ 10 billion to use border security more widely. The Senate bill puts aside less funding to hire and keep more agents and officers, offering $ 4.1 billion compared to the $ 6 billion allocated to the Chamber. The legislation also invests in improved technology for projections and monitoring of American borders.

New immigration fees

Like the bill adopted by the Chamber, the Senate legislation includes a handful of new or increased costs for immigration services. The bill would create costs of $ 550 for labor authorization requests with renewal every six months.

However, the Senate parliamentarian determined that fees of $ 1,000 for asylum applications did not respond to the rules necessary to qualify for a simple majority vote.

A student loan overhaul

As the bill adopted by the Chamber, the Senate plan would eliminate several existing reimbursement options, including the Biden era safeguard program which bases payments on income and household size. He replaces them with A new standard reimbursement plan And an income -based plan, the Republicans call their “reimbursement assistance plan”. The bill would also limit the amount that parents and graduate students can contract federal loans each year.

A difference between the two bills concerns the PELL grant program for low -income students. The room proposed to increase the hours of credit required for full -time and part -time students in order to receive Pell subsidies, but the Senate has left current registration rules. The Senate bill prevents students from qualifying for a PELL subsidy if they have received a full scholarship through other sources of aid.

Regulate artificial intelligence

The Senate’s proposal allocates $ 500 million to the broadband, equity, access and deployment program, which focuses on the increase in wide -band access for Americans, and specifies that funding can be used to develop artificial models and systems. But states must also receive this funding only if they do not regulate AI for 10 years. This rule was also established in the house bill