Dems call GOP's 'big, beautiful' bill 'ugly' for hurting low-income, helping rich
Republicans are celebrating the narrow House passage of a megabill to fund President Donald Trump's domestic agenda as a win for Americans. Democrats are slamming it as benefiting the rich while hurting low-income people.
The "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" passed early Thursday morning by a single vote after marathon talks this week. It now heads to the Senate.
The legislation extends Trump's 2017 tax cuts and boost spending for the military and border security -- while making some cuts to Medicaid, SNAP and other assistance programs.
It will also add about $3.8 trillion to the federal government's $36.2 trillion in debt over the next decade, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
The CBO's preliminary analysis of the bill, requested by House Democrats and completed before it was passed by the House, estimated the lowest-income Americans will see their resources decrease while the country's highest earners would see an increase.
"This is not one big, beautiful bill. It's ugly," Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer wrote in a post on X on Thursday morning.
"There's nothing beautiful about stripping away people's healthcare, forcing kids to go hungry, denying communities the resources they need, and increasing poverty," the New York Democrat said.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries argued during an overnight hearing that it would "cause millions of Americans to lose healthcare and food assistance."
"Unfortunately, we are here today discussing a bill that would make that American dream harder to reach for millions by increasing costs for families, hardworking American families, and gutting the things that they would need to survive and thrive," Jeffries said.
On Medicaid, the Republican bill would implement new work requirements -- targeting able-bodied adults and immigrants, among other beneficiaries -- to kick in no later than the end of 2026 (three years earlier than originally proposed). It also incentivizes states to not expand Medicaid. The CBO estimated it would result in $698 billion less in federal subsidies because of changes to the Medicaid program.
The early CBO estimates put the number of people who could lose coverage at more than 8 million -- but that number continues to fluctuate and the CBO has not yet released its final score of the GOP bill as it continues to be negotiated.
Republicans have defended the moves as trying to remove "waste, fraud and abuse" within the program amid a broader administration effort to find savings within the federal government. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt on Thursday called the work requirements "commonsense" and claimed changes to Medicaid will protect benefits for the "most vulnerable Americans."
On SNAP, the megabill would cut the nutrition assistance program by $230 billion, according to CBO estimates. Millions of Americans rely on SNAP for benefits to supplement their grocery budget to afford nutritious food. Adults between the ages of 55 and 64, as well as children, would face additional work requirements to qualify for SNAP benefits.
Several Democrats accused Republicans of rushing the bill in overnight hearings and session to hide such potential impacts from the public.
Rep. Jim McGovern, during the House Rules Committee's 1 a.m. hearing, asked Republicans what they were "afraid of."
"It's a simple question that speaks to the heart of what's going on here, and one that I'm going to keep on asking: if Republicans are so proud of what is in this bill, then why are you trying to ram it through in the dead of night?" he said.
Rep. Nancy Pelosi, the former speaker, called the GOP bill "Robin Hood in reverse" during a speech on the House floor Wednesday.
"This is fiscal engineering to reduce the role of government in the lives of the American people where it most needed, where it is most needed," Pelosi said. "This is Robin Hood in reverse ... Taking resources from where it is most needed, people who need it most, and giving it those who need it less: the billionaires in America. This is shameful and it is a fraud."
Meanwhile, the White House and Republicans are touting the elimination of taxes on tips and overtime pay, a key pledge during Trump's 2024 campaign to provide relief to working-class families. The elimination applies to workers who make less than $160,000 a year.
The current bill raises the deduction limit of state and local taxes from federal income tax filings from $10,000 to $30,000 for joint filers making less than $400,000 per year.
Trump's tax cuts from the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act would be made permanent and the bill does not include a tax increase on the wealthiest earners.
One notable change hammered out in negotiations among Republicans was raising the SALT deduction to $40,000 for incomes under $500,000 -- a substantive change from the $10,000 cap that was implemented in the 2017 tax law.
The White House on Thursday promoted the bill as "the largest tax cut in American history for middle-class families, the working class and small businesses."
But the CBO analysis advises it could be top earners who stand to gain the most from the tax cuts.
Taxpayers with the highest incomes could see their household resources increase by 4% in 2027 and 2% in 2033, largely due to the extended tax cuts, the CBO analysis requested by Democrats showed.
