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House passes 'One Big Beautiful Bill', Trump hails it as transformative

House passes 'One Big Beautiful Bill', Trump hails it as transformative
By Joseph Stepansky, Alastair McCready and Virginia Pietromarchi
Published On 2 Jul 2025

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4 Jul 2025 - 02:00
 (02:00 GMT)

That’s a wrap from us

Thank you for joining us for day 165 of US President Donald Trump’s second term.

For more coverage on the House’s passage of Trump’s tax and spending bill, read our story here.

Or delve into the latest US sanctions on Iran with this article. And get the scoop on Trump’s call today with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin here.

4 Jul 2025 - 01:50
 (01:50 GMT)

Here’s what happened today

This live page will soon be closed. Here were today’s top events.

  • The US House passed Trump’s signature tax and spending bill, a piece of legislation that cements 2017 tax cuts, restricts social welfare programmes, surges funding for immigration-related efforts and curtails green energy incentives.
  • In the wake of the bill’s passage, Trump promises the legislation will make the US like a “rocket ship” in its success.
  • The bill will be signed into law in a White House ceremony on July 4, the US Independence Day.
  • The top Democrat in the House, Hakeem Jeffries, held a marathon speech for eight hours and 44 minutes, in a largely symbolic effort to oppose the bill.
  • In the end, only two Republicans broke from their party to vote against the legislation, leaving Democrats two votes short.
  • One of those Republicans, Thomas Massie, objected to the long-term effects of adding an estimated $3.3 trillion to the national debt.
  • Trump travelled to the midwestern state of Iowa to launch his “America250” series, a string of celebratory events leading up to the US’s 250th anniversary in 2026.
4 Jul 2025 - 01:40
 (01:40 GMT)

US arrests, seeks to deport Mexican boxer Julio Cesar Chavez Jr

US immigration authorities say they have arrested Mexican boxer Julio Cesar Chavez Jr in Los Angeles and plan to deport him, just days after he lost a high-profile bout to American rival Jake Paul.

The US Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said Chavez was determined to be in the country illegally last week after he made fraudulent statements on a 2024 application for permanent residence. He is married to a US citizen, it said.

Michael Goldstein, a lawyer for Chavez, said more than two dozen immigration agents arrested the boxer at his home in the Studio City area of Los Angeles on Wednesday.

“The current allegations are outrageous and appear to be designed as a headline to terrorise the community,” Goldstein said.

Homeland Security said the 39-year-old boxer, son of Mexican world champion fighter Julio Cesar Chavez, is suspected of ties to Mexico’s Sinaloa Cartel, which Washington has designated a foreign terrorist organisation.

His wife, Frida Munoz Chavez, was previously married to the son of former Sinaloa Cartel leader Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, who is serving a life sentence in a US prison. His son, Edgar, was assassinated in 2008.

Chavez is the target of a Mexican arrest warrant on allegations of involvement in organised crime and firearms trafficking, DHS said.

In Mexico, Chavez’s family said in a statement they “fully trust in his innocence”.

Mexican boxer Julio Cesar Chavez Jr squares up against Jake Paul at Honda Center in Anaheim, California, US, June 28, 2025 [Gary A Vasquez/Imagn Images via Reuters]
4 Jul 2025 - 01:30
 (01:30 GMT)
Developing

Trump finishes speaking at Iowa rally following speech hitting usual notes

President Trump has now finished speaking at his America250 rally at the Iowa State Fairground, kicking off a yearlong celebration of the US’s 250th anniversary.

Trump was in a jubilant mood following the passing of his landmark Big Beautiful Bill, which he heralded on several occasions and said would “ensure the United States of America will remain the strongest country anywhere on this beautiful planet”.

In a far-reaching, tangential speech lacking much in the way of substance, Trump did controversially suggest his office was working to find a way to “put farmers in charge” of whether undocumented workers they employ can stay in the US.

“I don’t want to take people away from the farmers,” he said. “If a farmer is willing to vouch for these people … I think we’re gonna have to just say that’s gonna be good, right?”

Trump also claimed that Iran “wants to meet”, as he suggested the two sides could soon return to the negotiating table over curbing Tehran’s nuclear programme.

But the majority of the speech was Trump revelling in his recent victory and playing his greatest hits to the cheering crowd, including peddling 2020 election fraud conspiracy theories and slamming CNN as “fake news and scammers”.

President Trump at the America250 event in Des Moines, Iowa, on July 3, 2025 [Nathan Howard/Reuters]
4 Jul 2025 - 01:27
 (01:27 GMT)
Developing

Trump slams ‘communist’ NYC mayoral candidate Mamdani

Trump accuses New York City mayoral candidate Zohran Mamdani of being a “communist at the highest level”.

“He wants to destroy New York. I love New York, and we’re not going to let him do that,” Trump said. “Generations of Americans before us did not shed their blood only so that we could surrender our country to Marxist lunatics on the eve of our 250th year.”

“As president of the United States, I’m proclaiming here and now that America is never going to be communist in any way, shape, form, and that includes New York City.”

4 Jul 2025 - 01:15
 (01:15 GMT)

Republican lawmaker says conservative hardliners influence is waning

Republican Derrick Van Orden, who represents Wisconsin, called out the small group of conservative holdouts who held up the passage of President Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill for hours.

Van Orden claimed that the bill’s ultimate passage showed that the influence of the conservative hardliners who make up the House Freedom Caucus is over.

“How many times have they done this? I mean, I’ve been in Congress for two years and five seconds, and they’ve pulled the same stunt 19 times. So they’re over,” Van Orden said. “The influence of the Freedom Caucus is over.”

He continued that he thought the group had “really, really sharp people” but their leadership needed to get “in tune”.

4 Jul 2025 - 00:56
 (00:56 GMT)
Developing

Trump says working to find way to put farmers ‘in charge’ of whether workers get removed

Trump bragged that his administration achieved the “lowest number of illegal border crossings in US history”.

“Last month, American-born workers gained 830,000 new jobs – a record. While the illegal aliens lost 340,000,” he said.

Trump said his office was working with Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem to find a way to “put farmers in charge” of whether their illegal workers can stay in the country.

“I don’t want to take people away from the farmers and we’re gonna do something I think that’s gonna be good because we want all the criminals out,” he said.

“If a farmer is willing to vouch for these people, in some way, Kristi, I think we’re gonna have to just say that’s gonna be good, right?”

“We’ve got to work with the farmers, and people who have hotels and leisure properties, too,” he added.

4 Jul 2025 - 00:41
 (00:41 GMT)
Developing

Trump praises ‘complete obliteration’ of Iran

Trump praised the US strikes on Iran’s nuclear programme last month, as he said his administration is overseeing the “largest welfare reforms and military upgrades in modern times”.

“That’s what we’re doing. We rebuilt our military in 2016 [in the] first term, we rebuilt it. They [the Democrats] gave some of it away to Afghanistan on the most embarrassing day in the history of our country. Remember that?” he said, referring to the US withdrawal from Afghanistan in 2021.

“Remember that – we don’t have days like that. We have days like we just had in Iran. That’s the kind of days [we have], complete obliteration. It turned out that was a complete obliteration,” Trump added.

4 Jul 2025 - 00:38
 (00:38 GMT)
Developing

Trump praises Republicans, slams Democrats

Trump went on to praise Republicans for passing the “Big, Beautiful Bill” in the Senate and the House.

“Not one Democrat voted for us,” he said. “All of the things we’ve given, and they wouldn’t vote, all because they hate Trump.”

“But I hate them, too … I cannot stand them because I really believe they hate our country.”

 

4 Jul 2025 - 00:34
 (00:34 GMT)
Developing

Trump heralds ‘birthday present’ for America with passing of bill

The US leader, speaking in Iowa, said he is fulfilling “every major promise” he made during his campaign with the passing of his signature Big Beautiful Bill.

“There can be no better birthday present for America than the phenomenal victory just hours ago when Congress passed the One Big Beautiful Bill to make America great again,” he said.

4 Jul 2025 - 00:30
 (00:30 GMT)

Trump’s Chief of Protocol heralds new ‘golden age’ after passing of bill

President Trump’s Chief of Protocol Monica Crowley has heralded the passing of Trump’s new bill, saying it will add “rocket fuel” to the US economy.

Speaking before Trump at a rally in Iowa, where the US leader is kicking off a yearlong celebration of the US’s 250th anniversary, Crowley said the US is entering a “new golden age”.

“The Big Beautiful Bill, which was passed today and the president is going to sign tomorrow, is going to add rocket fuel to an already strong Trump economy,” she said.

4 Jul 2025 - 00:23
 (00:23 GMT)
Houthi

Trump is speaking

Trump has started his speech in Iowa.

Stay here for updates.

4 Jul 2025 - 00:15
 (00:15 GMT)

WATCH: US House passes Trump bill after record-setting speech

President Trump’s spending and tax cuts bill has cleared the US House of Representatives, with a largely party-line vote of 218 to 214.

Two Republicans joined with the House’s 212 Democrats to oppose the bill: Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania and Thomas Massie of Kentucky. The legislation has faced criticism that it will add $3.3 trillion to the national debt and will cut social safety-net programmes such as Medicaid.

Democratic Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries set a record for the longest House-floor speech, as he labelled the “One Big Beautiful Bill” as reckless.

Al Jazeera’s Rosalind Jordan reports from Washington, DC:

4 Jul 2025 - 00:00
 (00:00 GMT)

Trump praises senior Republicans for passage of bill

Posting on his Truth Social platform, Trump praised House Majority Leader Steve Scalise, Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, and Senate Majority Leader John Thune for their role in passing Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill”.

Trump called Scalise a “WARRIOR” who “fought hard to help us secure the votes” needed to pass the bill.

He then said Johnson had “Great Strength and Wisdom”, before suggesting he will “go down as one of the most successful Speakers of the House in History, maybe even the BEST OF THEM ALL”.

In a third post, Trump said Thune is “tough, smart, and knows how to GET THE JOB DONE”.

3 Jul 2025 - 23:45
 (23:45 GMT)

Healthcare groups blast Trump’s bill, warn it will harm millions of low-income Americans

Healthcare groups slammed the passage of President Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill, which will introduce changes that are expected to leave millions uninsured and overhaul the Medicaid healthcare programme that covers around 71 million low-income Americans.

Bobby Mukkamala, American Medical Association president, warned the Medicaid cuts would leave millions without health insurance and make it harder for them to see doctors.

“It will make it more likely that acute, treatable illnesses will turn into life-threatening or costly chronic conditions. That is disappointing, maddening, and unacceptable,” he said in a statement.

Greg Kelley, president of the Service Employees International Union’s healthcare branch, representing Illinois, Indiana, Missouri and Kansas, called the bill a “moral failure”. Kelley added that it threatened healthcare access, jobs, as well as the stability of the healthcare system.

The Alliance of Community Health Plans – which represents local, nonprofit health plans – said the bill would drive up consumer costs while slashing federal health spending to historic levels.

3 Jul 2025 - 23:30
 (23:30 GMT)

Brooke Rollins teases ‘very special announcement’

On stage at the Iowa State Fairgrounds, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins told the crowd that President Trump will make an announcement in his speech tonight.

“ We are pulling out all the stops to celebrate 250 years of American greatness,” she said.

“President Trump’s very special announcement – that is coming very, very quickly here to you tonight in Iowa – will let you know exactly what we’re doing.”

Trump has planned a series of events leading up to the 250th anniversary of the US in 2026. The Iowa event is the kickoff to those celebrations.

3 Jul 2025 - 23:21
 (23:21 GMT)

Why is Trump launching his ‘America250’ event in Iowa?

It all boils down to symbolism – and good electoral politics.

Iowa is part of the US heartland, a largely rural region considered a place where tradition and American values thrive.

But the Midwestern state also has a key role to play in presidential elections. Iowa is where the primary and caucus races begin for the Republican presidential nomination, making it one of the first major contests during presidential election years.

It has also been a solidly red state, where Trump has enjoyed strong support. In 2024, Democrats held their first primary state elsewhere, a fact Republicans seized upon to show a disconnect with the heartland.

This afternoon, in Iowa, Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins spoke to that lore surrounding Iowa.

“There is no better place to kick off the new era of American greatness than right here, right now, on the Iowa State Fairgrounds,” Rollins said.

“Iowa is the backbone of America, and there is a reason for that. It is the small towns. It is the hearts of the people who live here, who power our nation. Iowa feeds America. Iowa, you fuel America! And Iowa will always be the beating heart of America.”

3 Jul 2025 - 23:10
 (23:10 GMT)

Trump signs order to raise national park fees for foreigners

The US president signed an executive order on Thursday to increase the fees for foreign visitors at national parks, the White House said.

The increased revenue from foreign tourists will raise hundreds of millions for conservation projects to improve national parks, according to the White House’s statement.

No details were given as to the amounts to be charged or how visitor residency would be ascertained, but the statement directed the Secretary of Interior to develop a strategy to do so.

The statement also revoked an Obama-era memorandum, “Promoting Diversity and Inclusion in Our National Parks, National Forests, and Other Public Lands and Waters”.

The National Parks Service (NPS) has been vastly understaffed amid Trump’s cuts to the federal workforce.

The NPS has lost 13 percent of its 20,000-strong workforce since Trump took office in January, according to the National Parks Conservation Association, a watchdog-advocacy group, which attributes much of the drop to job eliminations and staff taking buyouts offered by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE).

3 Jul 2025 - 23:00
 (23:00 GMT)

Both of Iowa’s US senators make appearances at Trump’s rally

Iowa’s senators offered a show of support to Trump as he kicked off his “America250” events in the midwestern state.

Both heavily emphasised the tax cuts enshrined in the president’s “One Big Beautiful Bill”, which passed both chambers of Congress earlier in the day.

“ I’ve been committed to saving your hard earned tax dollars and making Washington squeal,” Senator Joni Ernst told the crowd. She described herself as “castrating wasteful spending”.

“I’ve been leading the Senate DOGE caucus. And I’ve been working hand in hand with President Trump to drain the swamp. We are really making them squeal now.”

Senator Chuck Grassley, meanwhile, said that the Democrats who opposed the “One Big Beautiful Bill” were “voting to have the biggest tax increase in the history of the country”.

Analyses have suggested, however, that the tax cuts in the bill are likely to disproportionately benefit higher earners.

3 Jul 2025 - 22:50
 (22:50 GMT)

Warm-up speakers praise Trump and tout the One Big Beautiful Bill

Ahead of Trump’s appearance in Iowa, warm-up speakers have taken to the stage to reflect on the day’s events – most notably the passage of the “One Big Beautiful Bill”.

Former Iowa state Representative Jeff Kaufmann used the bill’s informal name as an opportunity to contrast it with things he felt were less than “beautiful”.

“How about the left-wing nuts that are infesting our dialogue and our universities? That sure isn’t beautiful. How about the pro-Palestinian rioters that have lost their way and our tax dollars protesting and acting like complete moronic idiots?” Kaufmann shouted to the crowd.

“How about opening up the border like the last four years and allowing danger to invest in our country? That sure isn’t beautiful.”

Each item he raised was met by a chorus of boos.