After weeks of significant activity in the Senate, both chambers passed a modified version of the landmark “One Big Beautiful Act” (H.R. 1), meeting the GOP’s self-imposed deadline of July 4. President Trump signed the bill into law on the holiday.

The bill, considered the centerpiece of President Trump’s legislative agenda, narrowly passed with only Republican votes in both chambers, with Vice President J.D. Vance casting the deciding vote in the Senate. The bill creates or extends significant tax cuts and provides hundreds of billions of dollars of increased spending on defense, border security and energy dominance, among many other provisions which are still coming to light.

The final score from the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimates the bill will add $3.3 trillion to the national debt over the next ten years.

In a major development and good news for federal managers, the overwhelming bulk of cuts to federal workforce retirement benefits were removed prior to the bill’s final passage.

FMA worked for months in opposition to provisions that targeted retirement benefits and civil service protections, which were ultimately eliminated. FMA successfully advocated for the removal of provisions to increase pension contributions for all Federal Employees' Retirement System (FERS) employees, to change the annuity calculation change from the High-3 to the High-5, and to eliminate the FERS annuity supplement. Provisions requiring a filing fee to appeal cases to the Merit Systems Protection Board and to make feds at-will employees unless they contribute even more toward their pensions – additional provisions FMA opposed – were also eliminated.

“These changes were critical, welcome improvements to the bill, as the proposed provisions were broken promises to workers who are currently vested, or at or near retirement age, and a tax on federal employees and annuitants,” FMA National President Craig Carter wrote. “They would have unfairly shifted the goalposts and eliminated earned benefits for employees who dedicated a career of service to the country. We are pleased these proposals have been removed.”

With all of the tax provisions included in the bill, the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will face a steep challenge to enable its workforce and IT systems to prepare for and implement the changes to the tax code. Multiple former IRS commissioners have expressed concerns about the toll the new provisions will put on the IRS workforce, which has cut more than 25 percent of its employees under the Trump administration.