Why whaling captains will benefit from Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill

Eleventh-hour changes to President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill included a curious tax break – write-offs for whaling captains.

Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska at the Capitol in Washington. Picture: AP

Eleventh-hour changes to President Donald Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill included a curious tax break – write-offs for whaling captains.

In an apparent attempt to win the support of the Republican senator Lisa Murkowski from Alaska, the captains, Inupiat and Siberian Yupik Inuit who have hunted bowhead whales for thousands of years, were in line for a new perk.

The $US3.3 trillion ($5.02 trillion) legislative package, with its sweeping tax cuts and restrictions to Medicaid, includes $US50,000 in expenses written off as a donation to charity, up from $US10,000 at present, according to a draft of the bill.

The last-minute changes – in a 940-page bill which congressional forecasters say includes $US4.45 trillion of tax cuts –– appeared to be designed in the hope of winning the support of Senator Murkowski.

Other benefits for Alaska belatedly inserted into the draft bill include temporarily waiving the payment of some costs of the state’s anti-hunger program and additional requirements to qualify for accessing it. It would also add considerable federal funds to boost its Medicaid program, which provides health coverage to low-income individuals and families.

Senator Murkowski has not said if she will support the bill, however, and the Senate arbiter has said at least some of the late changes are against the rules. She eventually voted to help the bill overcome a key procedural hurdle at the weekend. But she has longstanding concerns about the bill’s nationwide cuts to Medicaid.

Hawaii would also benefit from the new draft of the bill. A bill seeking to pass with a simple majority cannot include benefits targeting only a single state, according to congressional rules. The new draft made reference instead to “non-contiguous states” – those not connected to the American mainland. Hawaii has two Democratic senators, both of whom oppose the bill at present.

Two Republican senators have said they will vote against the bill, meaning Mr Trump could afford to lose only one more vote with his party’s slim majority of 53 seats to the Democrats’ 47. Susan Collins of Maine has also refused to say whether she will support the bill, while a group of conservative senators are still pushing for further cuts to Medicaid.

On Tuesday Mr Trump posted on Truth Social that the One Big Beautiful Bill was “moving along nicely” after a marathon weekend including a dramatic late-night vote. Two Republican senators broke ranks to vote against moving the bill forward to debate.

One of them, Thom Tillis of North Carolina, subsequently said he would not be seeking re-election next year. His announcement came a day after Mr Trump threatened to support a primary challenge against him and was further evidence of the tight control he still wields over Republican senators.

THE TIMES