What legislation did Republicans pass with Trump’s support during his first year (2025-2026)?
Executive summary
Republicans, with President Trump’s active support, turned several high-profile campaign priorities into law in his first year (2025–2026): a large reconciliation package known as the One Big Beautiful Bill (signed July 4, 2025), a major set of tax changes and extensions tied to that bill (H.R.1 / OBBB Act) and multiple headline bipartisan and partisan laws such as the GENIUS Act for digital assets and the TAKE IT DOWN Act; Trump also issued an unprecedented volume of executive orders (217 in 2025) that complemented those legislative actions [1] [2] [3] [4] [5]. Reporting shows these moves were largely passed along party lines in the House and pushed hard by the President [1] [6].
1. One Big Beautiful Bill: Republicans’ marquee legislative achievement
House Republicans crafted and passed a sweeping reconciliation package dubbed the One Big Beautiful Bill, which President Trump signed into law on July 4, 2025; the measure packaged large tax cuts (including extensions of the 2017 tax cuts), immigration and benefit changes, and spending adjustments and was driven through with near-unanimous GOP support and unified Democratic opposition [1] [2] [7]. Analysts and advocacy groups immediately flagged the bill’s broad reach: the Tax Foundation and other explainers document its sizable fiscal effects, and immigrant-rights groups described major anti-immigrant policy changes in the final package [8] [2] [9].
2. Tax policy: H.R.1 consolidated into law and the political mechanics behind it
The tax centerpiece—H.R.1 as reconciliation text—was debated and reconciled across chambers; Congress.gov hosts the enacted text used by Republicans to extend or make permanent several Trump-era tax provisions and related fiscal measures that cost hundreds of billions over the decade [10] [2]. The bill’s path relied on reconciliation rules to avoid a 60-vote filibuster in the Senate; reporting shows Republicans used internal vote discipline and procedural maneuvers to secure passage despite intraparty resistance from fiscal conservatives [11] [1].
3. High-profile laws signed alongside the tax bill: GENIUS and TAKE IT DOWN
Beyond the reconciliation package, the White House and allies highlighted bipartisan or broadly framed bills the President signed in 2025: the GENIUS Act, creating federal stablecoin rules and broader digital-asset regulation, and the TAKE IT DOWN Act, aimed at criminalizing non-consensual explicit deepfake imagery—both presented by the administration as fulfillment of campaign promises and positioned as consumer protections or law-and-order wins [3] [4]. The White House fact sheets frame these as historic accomplishments; independent coverage and legal analyses of impacts are referenced in advocacy and bar association reporting [3] [12].
4. Executive actions: an administration heavily reliant on orders and deregulatory directives
Republicans’ legislative agenda in Congress was matched by a torrent of presidential actions: the Federal Register records that President Trump signed 217 executive orders in 2025, and the White House launched an aggressive “10‑for‑1” deregulation initiative that requires agencies to repeal multiple rules for every new rule they issue [5] [13]. Brookings and law‑firm trackers compiled extensive lists and summaries showing regulatory rollbacks and major policy shifts implemented administratively alongside the statutory changes [14] [15].
5. Political dynamics: party-line votes, intra-GOP tensions, and presidential pressure
Coverage of OBBB’s passage emphasizes that Republican leaders relied on party discipline and presidential pressure to bring holdouts into line; NPR reported the House vote and noted Trump’s direct involvement, including threats of primary challenges for dissenters [1]. The reconciliation strategy minimized Democratic influence, producing near-party-line outcomes in many key votes while prompting dissent from a small number of conservative Republicans who worried about deficits or specific policy riders [1] [11].
6. Opposition perspective and policy criticisms
Progressive and immigrant-rights groups characterized the reconciliation bill as harmful in areas like Medicaid, nutrition benefits, and immigration enforcement; the National Immigration Law Center explicitly described the One Big Beautiful Bill as “anti-immigrant” and warned of long-term harm to communities [9]. Fiscal analysts also flagged the large revenue effects and long-term cost estimates tied to extending earlier tax cuts [2] [8].
Limitations and sourcing note: this account relies exclusively on the provided reporting, fact sheets, and document trackers. Available sources do not mention a complete rollcall list of every law Republicans passed in 2025–2026 beyond those highlighted here; for full legislative tallies and text, consult Congress.gov and the specific White House fact sheets cited above [10] [3] [4].