This bill is several months in the making, and the last few weeks of intense negotiations have yielded real results. Although it's fair to say that this bill on the net is better than current policy, it still misses the mark in a few areas. The process is far from over and there’s plenty of time to build on this historic legislation as it now moves to the Senate. Heritage Action will continue engaging lawmakers to iron out the wrinkles and ensure the “One, Big Beautiful Bill” delivers for the American people.
Here’s the breakdown:
The Good:
President Trump’s “One, Big Beautiful Bill” accomplishes his top priority: putting the needs of the American people over the wants of special interest groups. Here’s how:
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It cuts taxes: Extends the 2017 tax cuts, boosts expensing for capital investments, factories, and small businesses, reduces job training tax penalties, and cuts corporate charitable deductions to curb taxpayer-subsidized donations.
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It secures the border and ramps up deportations: Supports ICE operations to deport one million illegal immigrants annually, doubles the number of detention beds, hires 10,000 new officers, increases immigration judge totals, and builds 701 miles of border wall.
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It reforms the broken student loan system: Cuts Grad Plus Loans, repeals Biden’s unlawful student loan forgiveness, expands Pell Grants to workforce programs, and holds colleges accountable for unpaid student loans from high-cost, low-value degrees.
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It restricts taxpayer funding for abortion providers and transgender surgeries: Prohibits funding for abortion providers like Planned Parenthood, saving millions of unborn lives, and ends taxpayer-funded transgender surgeries, puberty blockers and cross-sex hormones in the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP) for minors and Medicaid for adults..
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It slashes fraud and abuse in the federal budget: Strengthens Medicaid and Obamacare eligibility checks to ensure taxpayer dollars aren’t being wasted on resources to support illegal aliens, adds work requirements, codifies employer health reimbursement rules, and expands Health Savings Account options.
The Bad:
While this legislation makes monumental strides, there is work to be done on important components of the bill — including further reforming Medicaid, fully repealing the Inflation Reduction Act, and tightening up key tax provisions while capping the blue state bailout known as the SALT deduction. Heritage Actions urges lawmakers to address these shortcomings to ensure the final legislation fully delivers on the promise of an America-first agenda.
The Beautiful:
Budget reconciliation is a complex process and can only be used to adjust taxes, spending, and the debt limit. But creative use of the rules allowed conservatives to include several long overdue priorities in the text — including removing suppressors from the National Firearms Act and repealing the Biden EV mandate. Make no mistake: these are massive wins for the conservative movement.
What Does This Mean and What’s Next?
Now that the bill is passed by the House, the Senate will take up the bill. The fight will shift from crafting the best legislation possible to locking in wins while strengthening key provisions. Despite the best efforts of the House to comply with the Senate’s unique requirements, we expect that some aspects of the bill will be adjusted due to what’s known as the “Byrd Rule.” This rule states that the bill:
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Can’t create a deficit outside a 10-year budget window.
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Can’t make changes to social security.
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Must alter outlays (spending), revenue (taxes), or both, and produces a “non-incidental budget change.”
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Can’t make a change that isn’t budgetary (This means the change to spending or revenue can’t be a byproduct of the change, it has to be the main intent).
Heritage Action will continue to provide you with updates on the latest movements as this bill progresses in the Senate.
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