Lawmakers have expanded the bill’s carve-outs while weakening its spending cuts, causing its overall cost to rise significantly.

Ten days ago, after the Senate released its version of Republicans’ signature reconciliation package, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, National Review editorialized that the upper chamber had improved upon what the House had previously put together. Indeed it had, by prioritizing the best parts of the legislation while curtailing the worst. It offered permanency for the tax code simplification and rate reductions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, kept the state and local tax deduction capped at $10,000 instead of raising it to $40,000, as the House would, and aimed for structural Medicaid reform by curbing exploitative state practices.

A lot has changed in the last ten days, however. In that time, much of the Senate’s bill has been picked apart by the body’s parliamentarian to ensure compliance with the rules of reconciliation. Political pressures from various members of the Republican Conference have forced leadership to adopt further changes, mostly in the wrong direction. The majority of these changes were included in the megabill’s revised text, released on Friday night, whereas others are planned as part of a final amendment once voting on other amendments wraps up either later today or tomorrow:

One positive change is that the phaseout of the Inflation Reduction Act’s green energy subsidies — which was more aggressive in the House’s version of the bill — has been accelerated in the Senate’s revised text. Renewable energy projects would now need to enter service by the end of 2027 to be eligible for tax credits. Unfortunately, this shift is accompanied by some additional, smaller subsidies for nuclear facilities and loans for “energy dominance.” The revised bill also contains a novel tax on new solar and wind projects unless they follow onerous requirements to cleanse themselves of Chinese components. Given that this tax does not apply to oil and gas projects, it seems intended to actively disadvantage renewable energy sources rather than merely repeal an artificial advantage of those industries.

Altogether, the changes to the Senate bill add up to a staggering cost. Based on Congressional Budget Office estimates, the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Budget projects that the revised legislation would add $3.94 trillion to the national debt over ten years — nearly $1 trillion more than the House’s version. If expiring provisions of the bill are extended past their stated end dates, which usually happens, its total cost could exceed $5 trillion. Such is the natural result when special handouts and carve-outs grow, offsets shrink under political scrutiny, and tax cuts take precedence over spending restraint.