President Donald Trump’s second term has so far been dominated by his aggressive use of executive power — but now, he’s finally trying to get something through Congress.

This week, Republicans in the House of Representatives will attempt to pass what Trump has deemed the “one big, beautiful bill.” It is the centerpiece — really, the only major piece — of Trump’s legislative agenda. He’s trying to stuff everything he wants into this, in hopes of ramming it through both the House and Senate on a party line vote.

Trump wants a few main things from the bill. First is preventing the “Trump tax cuts” he passed back in 2017 from expiring at the end of the year. Second is passing, in some form, a bunch of new tax breaks he promised during the campaign, such as “no tax on tips.” Third is spending a bunch more money on immigration enforcement and the military. Fourth is an increase in the debt ceiling (the limit on new debt the government can issue, which Congress periodically has to agree to raise).

All this is quite expensive, so how will Republicans pay for it? Mostly, they won’t: The vast majority of it will be unpaid for and just increase the debt, while other costs will be hidden with gimmicks. But the House GOP has proposed paying for some with deep cuts to Medicaid, clean energy, student loans, and food stamps, among other areas.

The problem is that Republicans have narrow majorities in both chambers and deep disagreements on policy. Fiscal hawks are demanding deeper spending cuts. Some Republicans have complained about the Medicaid cuts; others dislike the clean energy cuts. One key group is demanding the rollback of a Trump tax hike that mostly hit affluent people in blue states back in 2017 — an expensive change that would blow up the bill’s budget math.

So right now, the big beautiful bill is a big ugly mess. But even if Republicans resolve their differences and pass something, it may not get much prettier. Trump is proceeding as if we’re still in the low-inflation, low interest-rate environment of the 2010s. But things are different now, and running up the deficit yet again may have some painful economic consequences.

What Republicans want in the big, beautiful bill

Let’s walk through what’s in the House version of the bill, starting with the big things Trump and Republicans want.

Keep the expiring “Trump tax cuts”

In his first year as president in 2017, Trump’s major........

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