The Senate made several substantive changes to the House version of the GOP spending bill that the White House has decreed to be a must-pass.
The modifications created a bill that had just enough support to pass the Senate with a tie breaking vote by Vice President JD Vance. House leaders have said they are unhappy with the changes but will ultimately have to accept them if they want to meet the July 4 deadline set by President Donald Trump.
Here are some of the changes the Senate made to the bill:
Not making it easier to ignore court rulings
Senate Republicans removed a provision in the House version of the bill that would have restricted judges’ ability to hold people accountable for violating court orders.
In recent months some judges have considered contempt rulings against the Trump administration for ignoring court orders that restricted the administration’s actions.
The legislation would bar judges from enforcing such contempt rulings if they didn’t first order a bond, which is commonly set at zero or not ordered in cases when people are claiming the government did something unconstitutional.
Democrats say it’s an attempt to limit the power of the courts, while Republicans say it was an incentive to stop frivolous lawsuits by requiring plaintiffs to pay in.
Who is eligible for the child tax credit?
The Senate version allows mixed-status immigration status families to quality for the child tax credit for American citizen children.
Currently, children with Social Security numbers, the vast majority of whom are American citizens or legal permanent residents, are eligible for the Child Tax Credit, even if their parents lack Social Security numbers, according to the Center for Migration Studies.
The Senate version, requires at least one parent to have a Social Security number to qualify. The House version required both parents to have valid Social Security numbers to qualify, which would have kept millions of children from getting the benefit. The Center for Migration Studies estimated this would have impacted 4.5 million citizen and legal permanent resident children.
A ban on regulating AI
Senate Republicans stripped out a provision in the House bill that would have blocked states from creating new regulations to shape how artificial intelligence is used or developed for the next 10 years.
It would have also blocked dozens of states from enforcing AI regulations and oversight structures already in place. There is now no federal AI regulation to take the place of state policies, which are likely to vary across the country.
Tax-free gym memberships
Senators removed a portion of the bill qualifying sports and fitness expenses as qualified medical care, which would have allowed people to pay for them tax-free through a Health Savings Account.
The benefit, worth $500 for an individual or $1,000 per couple, could not have been used at “a private club” owned by members, or a facility that offers golf, hunting, sailing or riding facilities. The health and fitness part of the business also couldn’t be “incidental to its overall function and purpose.”
Purple Heart benefits
Senators also removed a provision that would have created a new income tax credit for some people who earned a Purple Heart – the decoration for service members who were wounded or killed in action.
Purple Heart recipients who lost a portion of their Social Security disability benefits because they got a job could have also gotten a higher Earned Income Tax Credit to make up those lost Social Security benefits.
Pell grants
The Senate also pulled out a change to the Pell Grant program, which provides federal aid to low-income students to attend colleges and universities. Right now, students are considered full time and qualify for the maximum amount of aid if they take 12 credits a semester.
The House version of the bill would have changed that to 15 credits a semester, which the National College Attainment Network estimated would result in a nearly $1,500 cut in benefits for students who can’t increase their courseload because of work or caretaking responsibilities. The Senate left the 12-credit requirement intact.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: How did the Senate change the GOP tax and spend bill?
