President Trump signed a sweeping domestic policy bill into law on Friday, cementing a major political victory that was timed to take place during Independence Day celebrations.
Accompanied by a flyover of B2 bombers, the same aircraft used in the recent bombing of Iran, Mr. Trump touted the massive tax cuts included in the bill and downplayed the unpopularity of the legislation in polls and the potential impact of spending cuts.
“The largest spending cut, and yet, you won’t even notice it,” Mr. Trump said while standing with the first lady, Melania Trump, on the balcony of the White House.
“The people are happy, they’re happy,” he added.
Mr. Trump highlighted a list of measures included in the enormous bill he believes are popular, singling out, for example, the expansion of the Child Tax Credit and a reduction in estate taxes. He spoke only in generalities about deep spending cuts to programs like Medicaid and food assistance.
The legislation carries significant risks for the Republican Party. The law is estimated to cause the national debt to balloon by trillions of dollars, and the cuts to Medicaid could leave 11.8 million more people without health insurance by 2034, breaking Mr. Trump’s promise earlier this year that he would not “touch” the entitlement.
Democrats in the opposition roundly denounced the bill as a move to slash critical government programs to pay for tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans. They have made it clear that they will attack Mr. Trump and Republican lawmakers for pushing through those and other measures that polls have shown are deeply unpopular.
Republican lawmakers who had feuded bitterly over Mr. Trump’s bill ultimately united behind it, fearing the political consequences of defying a president who demands unflagging loyalty and who had threatened to punish Republicans who opposed the legislation.
Many House Republicans had indicated they would not vote for the version of the bill that ultimately advanced out of the Senate. In the end, all but two voted for the legislation. Conservative holdouts alluded to vague assurances they had received that Mr. Trump would address their chief concerns through executive orders or the way his administration implemented the bill.
The bill extends tax cuts enacted early in Mr. Trump’s first term that had been scheduled to expire this year, while adding new ones that Mr. Trump promised during the 2024 campaign, at a cost of $4.5 trillion. Many economists have estimated that the wealthiest Americans would see the most generous tax reductions.
The bill also increases funding for defense and border security and cuts nearly $1 trillion from Medicaid, along with reductions to food assistance for the poor and other government aid. The legislation also phases out clean-energy tax credits passed under former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. that Mr. Trump and conservative Republicans have long decried.
The law includes a $5 trillion increase in the debt limit, a measure that Republican lawmakers are typically unwilling to support but nevertheless voted for over the objections of deficit hawks and conservatives in their ranks.
Michael Gold contributed reporting.
Chris Cameron is a Times reporter covering Washington, focusing on breaking news and the Trump administration.
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