Donald Trump updates: US House passes the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’

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.

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.

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”.

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”.

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.

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:

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”.

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.

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.

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.”

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).

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.

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.