Shortly before 9 p.m. Wednesday, House Republican leaders unveiled the finishing touches to their “big, beautiful bill” — a 42-page “manager’s amendment” calibrated to win over the final votes they need to advance the bill over to the Senate.
Some of the most significant changes to the tax, energy and border security megabill have to do with closely watched provisions dealing with Medicaid, clean-energy tax credits and the ever-controversial cap on the state-and-local-tax deduction.
But there’s much, much more. Here’s a roundup of other provisions that were tweaked or eliminated in the final hours before the bill hit the floor:
FEDERAL WORKER PENSIONS: The amendment strikes language that would have calculated retirement payments for federal employees based on the average of a worker’s five years of highest income instead of the current three years. Rep. Mike Turner (R-Ohio) and many House Democrats sought the change.
GUN SILENCERS: Rep. Andrew Clyde (R-Ga.) had already won the elimination of a $200 transfer tax on gun silencers. He got more on Wednesday: It further strikes the $200 tax on the manufacture of gun silencers and otherwise removes them from the regulatory purview of the National Firearms Act.
PUBLIC LANDS: Language inserted by the Natural Resources Committee allowing for sale of public lands in Nevada and Utah was struck. Members in those states wanted the provision, but Rep. Ryan Zinke (R-Mont.), a former Interior secretary, stood firm against using land sales to raise revenue for the megabill.
TRUMP ACCOUNTS: The Ways and Means Committee included new tax-advantaged savings vehicles called “money accounts for growth and advancement,” or MAGA Accounts. Well, that’s what they were called, anyway: They’re “Trump Accounts” now — seeing as they were a Trump campaign promise.
TANNING SALONS: The original draft nixed an excise tax on tanning beds that was originally laid out in the Affordable Care Act. The revisions, made after Democrats repeatedly mocked the GOP during a marathon Rules Committee hearing, will keep the tax in place.
REMITTANCE TAX: The amendment scales back a tax on overseas remittances from 5 percent to 3.5 percent. The financial services industry and foreign governments pushed back on the idea, which was set to raise $22 billion.
ABORTION: New language would restrict payments to Affordable Care Act plans that offer abortions outside of cases of rape or incest or to save the life of a mother.
NUCLEAR ENERGY: The revisions mostly toughen the rollback of green energy incentives enacted under former President Joe Biden. But the nuclear industry caught a break, with the softening of some tax credits phase-outs for advanced nuclear reactors, a technology favored by the Trump administration and many congressional Republicans.
