US President Donald Trump scored a key political victory after Congress narrowly approved his major tax and spending bill, a document that solidifies his radical agenda for a second term and provides significant funding for his anti-immigration campaign.

Trump will sign the bill on July 4, the US Independence Day, giving it symbolic national significance.

The massive $4.5 trillion package includes an extension of tax cuts from Trump's first term, increased military spending, and funding for large-scale deportations of illegal immigrants. The law also includes the biggest cuts to Medicaid and food stamps since the 1960s.

Analysts say the law will increase the national debt by more than $3.4 trillion over the next decade, and about 17 million people could lose their health insurance. Dozens of rural hospitals are expected to close.

“Today we are laying the foundation for a new Gilded Age for America,” said House Speaker Mike Johnson.

The bill passed the House by a vote of 218 to 214 after it passed the Senate earlier in the week. It came after intense negotiations and pressure from Trump and Johnson on wavering Republicans.

Some moderate Republicans worry that the welfare cuts will make them vulnerable in the upcoming election, while so-called “fiscal hawks” say the law doesn’t save enough.

Democrats, led by Hakeem Jeffries, have used every means at their disposal to slow the process — including a nine-hour speech by Jeffries, in which he told stories of ordinary Americans affected by the bill.

“This bill — this one big, ugly thing — this irresponsible Republican budget madness — has nothing to do with improving the lives of ordinary Americans,” Jeffries said.

For Trump, the bill represents a significant consolidation of control over the Republican Party, despite internal tensions. In recent weeks, he has personally called members of Congress and held meetings at the White House to persuade them not to oppose the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill.”

“One of the most significant bills in history. The United States is the HOTTEST country in the world!” Trump wrote on social media after the final decision.

The bill eliminates subsidies for electric vehicles and clean energy, which led to an open conflict between Trump and his former supporter Elon Musk.

Democrats are hoping for political dividends in the 2026 midterm elections, presenting the law as a massive redistribution of wealth from the poor to the rich. | BGNES, AFP