Four big things Congress did in 2025 — and how they could affect you

The Republican-led Congress had a busy first year of President Donald Trump’s second term in 2025, passing tax cuts in the "big beautiful bill" and more.

WASHINGTON — The Republican-led Congress had a busy first year of President Donald Trump’s second term in 2025.

From approving Trump’s signature tax-cut and spending legislation to repealing a record number of regulations under a fast-track procedure, the actions taken on Capitol Hill this year will have an impact on just about every American.

It was also a dramatic year, with the party’s narrow House majority fighting bitterly among itself and Congress struggling to achieve bipartisan deals to pass funding bills, leading to a record 43-day shutdown last fall.

Here are four big things Congress did in 2025.

Republican leaders made good on their top priority of extending the Trump tax cuts, which passed in 2017 and were set to expire at the end of this year. The “big, beautiful bill” — as Trump dubbed it — passed both chambers with only Republican votes and was signed into law on July 4.