House Republicans passed President Donald Trump’s $4.5 trillion tax breaks and spending cuts bill Thursday after staying up all night with GOP leaders and the president himself working to persuade skeptical holdouts to drop their opposition by his Fourth of July deadline. However, House Democratic leader Hakeem Jeffries seized a leader’s prerogative for unlimited debate and set the record for the longest House floor speach by speaking against the bill for hours. But Democrats lacked the votes in Congress to stop Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill.” So Jeffries’ speech is really about framing the GOP effort ahead of the 2026 midterm elections as “an all-out assault on the American people.” Jeffries spoke of Republican colleagues who could stand up and oppose what he called the “big ugly bill.” Fellow Democrats filled the chairs around Jeffries, cheering at times. At its core: $4.5 trillion in tax breaks enacted in Trump's first term in 2017 that would expire if Congress failed to act, along with new ones. This includes allowing workers to deduct tips and overtime pay, and a $6,000 deduction for most older adults earning less than $75,000 a year. It provides some $350 billion for national security, Trump's deportation agenda and development of the “Golden Dome” defensive system over the United States. To help offset the costs of lost tax revenue, the package has $1.2 trillion in cutbacks to the Medicaid health care and food stamps, largely by imposing new work requirements, including for some parents and older people, and a massive rollback of green energy investments. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates the proposal will add $3.3 trillion to the nation's debt over the decade and 11.8 million more people will go without health coverage. The outcome is a milestone for the president and his party, compiling a long list of their priorities into what they call his “one big beautiful bill,” an 800-plus page package. With Democrats unified in opposition, the bill becomes a defining measure of Trump’s return to the White House, with the sweep of Republican control of Congress.