Trump’s ‘Tax Cut Bill’ Passes U.S. Senate... Approved by Vice President's Tie-Breaking Vote

After the House Revote Scheduled for the 2nd

Official Enactment and Implementation Upon Trump’s Signature

A 'big, beautiful bill' encompassing key policies of President Donald Trump's second term—such as tax cuts and strengthened measures to block illegal immigration—passed the federal Senate on the 1st (local time).

The Senate held a plenary session and voted on the bill, resulting in a tie with 50 votes in favor and 50 against. However, Vice President JD Vance, who also serves as the President of the Senate, exercised his 'tie breaker' authority and cast the decisive vote in favor, narrowly passing the bill.

Currently, the U.S. Senate (total of 100 seats) comprises 53 Republican seats and 47 Democratic (including Democrat-affiliated independents) seats. In this vote, all Democratic senators voted against the bill and three Republican senators also voted no.

Having previously passed the House last month and moved to the Senate, this bill must be voted on again in the House due to some amendments made during the Senate's review process.

The House is expected to vote on it on the 2nd. If the bill passes the House again, it will be officially confirmed and enacted upon President Trump's signature.

Nicknamed the ‘Tax Cut Bill,’ it extends various tax reduction measures implemented during Trump’s first term in 2017 (which are set to expire at the end of this year), such as lower personal income tax rates, lower top corporate tax rates, expanded standard income deduction, and expanded child tax credit.

The bill also includes provisions pledged by Trump in last year’s presidential election: tax exemptions for tips and overtime pay, $1,000 savings accounts for newborns, and raising the debt ceiling to $5 trillion.

It additionally provides funding for border wall construction and expanded detention facilities—flagship campaign promises of the presidential election—for $17.5 billion, as well as a new $15 billion defense budget.

To offset the cost of extending tax cuts, the bill also includes cuts to welfare budgets such as Medicaid (public healthcare aid for vulnerable groups) and food stamps (food assistance for low-income groups), the elimination of clean energy tax credits, and the end of electric vehicle purchase tax credits—measures that scale back key policy budgets from former President Joe Biden’s administration.

Go Jung-sam, Hankyung.com Reporter jsk@hankyung.com