Republican leaders made major last-minute changes to the tax-and-spending megabill that passed early Thursday. In most cases, the bill was altered to win the votes of holdout members of the party. 

Here’s the rundown of significant late alterations made to secure passage of the bill, which would enact much of President Donald Trump’s domestic agenda.

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SALT Deductions

The bill increased households’ ability to deduct state and local taxes from their federal taxable income. This revision was made to win over Republicans from high-tax states, such as Rep. Mike Lawler (NY), who had insisted on lifting a $10,000 cap on SALT deductions, which was implemented as part of the 2017 GOP tax overhaul. 

Initially, the GOP megabill introduced earlier this month raised the cap to $15,000 for individuals and $30,000 for couples. The added cap would have phased down for couples earning more than $400,000. 

The revised version lifts the cap to $20,000 for individuals and $40,000 for couples, and implements a phase-down starting at $500,000 for couples. 

While the enlarged SALT cap had strong support from some GOP representatives of blue states, it is opposed by conservatives, who argue that it facilitates big spending by Democratic state governments and predominantly benefits the wealthy. 

Accelerated Medicaid changes

The final bill speeds up the implementation of work requirements for Medicaid, the joint federal-state health insurance program for low-income and disabled people. 

The initial bill instituted work requirements to go into effect in early 2029. The final bill moves that timeline up to the end of next year. 

Some fiscal conservatives complained about the imposition of the work requirements being delayed until 2029. By putting off implementation until after the next presidential election, they argued, the legislation opened the door to having a future Congress peel back the reform. The savings, too, would be reduced over the 10-year budget window. 

Clean energy tax credit repeal sped up

The final bill includes a shorter timeline for undoing clean energy tax credits enacted by the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, which was passed by Democrats and signed by President Joe Biden. 

Earlier versions of the bill would have begun phasing out some of the credits in 2029, perhaps most notably clean electricity production and investment tax credits. 

The revised text ends credits for all projects unless they are able to start construction within 60 days of the bill’s enactment and are placed in service, or up and running, by the end of 2028. 

GOP fiscal hawks, such as Rep. Chip Roy (TX), had called for a quicker elimination of the credits. 

But the final bill included a bit of a reprieve for nuclear energy, which was facing strict phase-outs of related subsidies by 2031 — a timeline nuclear advocates said would threaten new domestic buildout. Energy Secretary Chris Wright lobbied for a gentler treatment of nuclear power in the bill. 

Other changes

The final bill also included other changes of note. 

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