Trump signs his tax and spending cut bill at the White House July 4
picnic
[July 05, 2025]
By DARLENE SUPERVILLE and NICHOLAS RICCARDI
WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump signed his package of tax
breaks and spending cuts into law Friday in front of Fourth of July
picnickers after his cajoling produced almost unanimous Republican
support in Congress for the domestic priority that could cement his
second-term legacy.
Flanked by Republican legislators and members of his Cabinet, Trump
signed the multitrillion-dollar legislation at a desk on the White House
driveway, then banged down a gavel gifted to him by House Speaker Mike
Johnson that was used during the bill's final passage Thursday.
Against odds that at times seemed improbable, Trump achieved his goal of
celebrating a historic — and divisive — legislative victory in time for
the nation's birthday, which also was his self-imposed deadline for
Congress to send the legislation to his desk. Fighter jets and stealth
bombers streaked through the sky over the annual White House Fourth of
July picnic.
“America's winning, winning, winning like never before,” Trump said,
noting last month's bombing campaign against Iran's nuclear program,
which he said the flyover was meant to honor. “Promises made, promises
kept, and we've kept them.”
The White House was hung with red, white and blue bunting for the
Independence Day festivities. The U.S. Marine Band played patriotic
marches — and, in a typical Trumpian touch, tunes by 1980s pop icons
Chaka Khan and Huey Lewis. There were three separate flyovers.
Trump spoke for a relatively brief 22 minutes before signing the bill,
but was clearly energized as the legislation's passage topped a recent
winning streak for his administration. That included the Iran campaign
and a series of U.S. Supreme Court rulingshe's fought for.
After dark, chants of “USA, USA” rose from the picnic crowd on the South
Lawn when Trump and the first lady, Melania, appeared on the Truman
Balcony to watch the fireworks. They danced to “Y.M.C.A.” and waved
goodbye to the crowd before they left for their home in New Jersey.
The budget legislation is the president's highest-profile win yet. It
includes key campaign pledges like no tax on tips or Social Security
income. Trump, who spent an unusual amount of time thanking individual
Republican lawmakers who shepherded the measure through Congress,
contended “our country is going to be a rocket ship, economically,”
because of the legislation.
Big cuts to Medicaid and food stamps
Critics assailed the package as a giveaway to the rich that will rob
millions more lower-income people of their health insurance, food
assistance and financial stability.
“Today, Donald Trump signed into law the worst job-killing bill in
American history. It will rip health care from 17 million workers to pay
for massive tax giveaways to the wealthy and big corporations, amounting
to the country’s largest money grab from the working class to the
ultra-rich,” AFL-CIO President Liz Shuler said in a statement. “Every
member of Congress who voted for this devastating bill picked the
pockets of working people to hand billionaires a $5 trillion gift.”
The legislation extends Trump’s 2017 multitrillion-dollar tax cuts and
cuts Medicaid and food stamps by $1.2 trillion. It provides for a
massive increase in immigration enforcement. Congress’ nonpartisan
scorekeeper projects that nearly 12 million more people will lose health
insurance under the law.
The legislation passed the House on a largely party-line vote Thursday,
culminating a monthslong push by the GOP to cram most of its legislative
priorities into a single budget bill that could be enacted without
Senate Democrats being able to block it indefinitely by filibustering.
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Military aircraft conduct a flyover during a Fourth of July
celebration at the White House, Friday, July 4, 2025, in Washington.
(AP Photo/Rahmat Gul)
It passed by a single vote in the Senate, where North Carolina
Republican Thom Tillis announced he would not run for reelection
after incurring Trump’s wrath in opposing it. Vance had to cast the
tie-breaking vote.
In the House, where two Republicans voted against it, one,
conservative maverick Tom Massie of Kentucky, has also become a
target of Trump’s well-funded political operation. No Democrats
voted for the bill.
The legislation amounts to a repudiation of the agendas of the past
two Democratic presidents, Barack Obama and Joe Biden, in rolling
back Obama’s Medicaid expansion under his signature health law and
Biden’s tax credits for renewable energy.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates the package will add $3.3
trillion to the deficit over the decade and 11.8 million more people
will go without health coverage.
Democrats vow to make bill a midterm issue
Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin on Friday called the
bill “devastating” and said in a statement that Trump’s signature on
the legislation “sealed the fate of the Republican Party, cementing
them as the party for billionaires and special interests — not
working families.”
He predicted Republicans would lose their majority in Congress over
it. “This was a full betrayal of the American people,” Martin said.
Trump complained Friday about Democrats opposing the bill, “and we
knew that because their hatred of either the country or me or both
is so great they didn't vote at all and it's terrible.”
He said their “standard line” is to say Republican legislation is
“dangerous” or “everybody's going to die” and “we can't let them get
away with it.” With his bill, Trump said, “it's actually just the
opposite, everybody's going to live.”
“And I just want you to know, if you see anything negative put out
by Democrats, it's all a con job,” Trump said, defending a package
that now is law.
Speaking in Iowa on Thursday night, Trump said Democrats “hate Trump
— but I hate them, too.”
The package is certain to be a flashpoint in next year's midterm
elections, and Democrats are making ambitious plans for rallies,
voter registration drives, attack ads, bus tours and even a multiday
vigil, all intended to highlight the most controversial elements.
Upon his return to Washington early Friday, Trump described the
package as “very popular,” though polling suggests that public
opinion is mixed at best.
For example, a Washington Post/Ipsos poll found that majorities of
U.S. adults support increasing the annual child tax credit and
eliminating taxes on earnings from tips, and about half support work
requirements for some adults who receive Medicaid.
But the poll found majorities oppose reducing federal funding for
food assistance to low-income families and spending about $45
billion to build and maintain migrant detention centers. About 60%
said it was “unacceptable” that the bill is expected to increase the
$36 trillion U.S. debt by more than $3 trillion over the next
decade.
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