Big, Ugly, and Becoming the Law
One of the most disgraceful moments in a presidency filled with disgraceful moments
After months of wheeling and dealing… changes, hold-ups, and surprise vote switches… a narrow 50-50 tie vote in the Senate broken by JD Vance… a record breaking eight hour speech on the floor by Hakeem Jeffries… and an even more statistically narrow passage in the House by just four votes… Donald Trump’s Big Bastard of a Bill has passed just in the nick of time with its July 4 deadline, and is now on its way to his desk for him to sign into law.
It was once 940 pages. Through repeated discussion and dispute, it is now reportedly an 887 page bill. There is not a chance anybody that voted for, or even against it, is fully aware of everything in the bill. So I thought it might be fun, though likely mostly depressing, to go over a few things Republicans did, and didn’t, vote for.
On the positive side of the spectrum, a few disastrous parts of the bill were removed on its journey from House to Senate and back to the House, like the previously reported text allowing hundreds of thousands of acres of public lands to be ripped apart to develop infrastructure. Originally, the text, written by Mike Lee, would have seen 11 Western states’ land be up for sale. Thankfully, the opposition to this travesty was bipartisan, and it was quietly stricken from the bill.
A measure that cut Medicaid funding from states that granted healthcare o undocumented immigrants, thankfully, was determined to be not in compliance with Senate reconciliation rules and was therefore stricken from the bill. And in a move widely criticized as not only symbolic, but representative of the current failings of the Democratic Party, Chuck Schumer removed the title of the bill. So it’s not called the One Big Beautiful Bill Act anymore. Great.
I wish I had better news for you, but that’s about it as far as meaningful victories within the text of this monstrosity. Here are a few of the terrible things this bill does:
ADDS NEW MEDICAID RESTRICTIONS
Medicaid now has work requirements and a far greater level of “eligibility checks.” According to the Congressional Budget Office, this will likely see nearly 12 million Americans lose Medicaid coverage - nearly three million more than projected under the House bill.
MORE MONEY FOR ICE
Over $46 BILLION will be allocated to building Trump’s border wall, with an additional $45 billion to build detention centers for any immigrants currently in custody, as well as another $30 billion for hiring and training new ICE agents (as opposed to the fake ones we covered a few days ago)
It’s also worth noting that the bill is now requiring anybody seeking asylum to pay $100 to the US… which is a minor victory of sorts, I guess, since the House had this at a whopping $1,000 before.
ELECTRIC BILL EXPENSIVE? THAT’S OKAY, IT’S ABOUT TO GET WORSE
By phasing out tax credits for solar and wind projects, the electric companies have now been given carte blanche to increase prices nationally. “An Energy Innovation analysis of an earlier, similar version of the bill found that, by 2035, the average yearly energy bill will be $473 higher in Michigan, $590 higher in Maryland, $668 higher in California, and $777 higher in Texas than it would have been if the IRA credits had remained in place,” writes Rogé Karma at The Atlantic.
Courtesy of EnergyInnovation.org
HATE BEING SCAMMED? THAT’S OKAY, IT’S ABOUT TO GET WORSE
Funding for the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an organization that fights corporations and bigger businesses for the little folks like you and me and helps prevent them from outright scamming us with hidden and junk fees, has had its funding slashed in half by the bill - and that’s AFTER the layoffs that came at the start of the Trump administration.
TERMINATES GREEN ENERGY TAX INCENTIVES
Did you ever take advantage of any of the tax incentives from the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act? Those Biden era clean energy, EV, and energy efficiency programs? Including tax credits for EVs both new and old? Yeah, those are gone now, alongside the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund, the funding granted to nonprofits working on projects that reduced pollution and greenhouse gas emissions. Any projects currently using those funds are allegedly fine; no new funding will be granted.
SNAP RESTRICTIONS
The cost of food stamps is now being shifted to a few states. This is where things get confusing, and likely will for awhile, with the text of the bill stating SNAP REMAINS federally funded for any states who has an “error payment rate” below 6%, starting in 2028… but if you fall above that number, your state has to foot the cost for anywhere from 5-15% of the costs.
There are also new work requirements here. Right now, SNAP’s work requirements are for people between the ages of 18 and 54. If you’re 54-64 years old when this goes into effect, however, you will ALSO have work requirements. To be fair, SOME parents are exempt here, as well as some Alaskans and Hawaiians.
WE’RE IN MORE DEBT THAN EVER
The debt ceiling now increases by $5 trillion, over a trillion more than the House promised. Which is probably for the best, since the Bastard Bill adds three and a half trillion alone in the national debt over the course of ten years, which itself is also a trillion more than the House bill.
IF YOU LOSE MONEY GAMBLING, YOU… LOSE MORE MONEY?
Credit to Herb Scribner at Axios for pointing this out, but the BBB includes a provision that “puts the amount gamblers can deduct from their winnings equal to 90% of their losses for a tax year.” What that means is that if you are a gambler that “won $100,000 but lost $100,000 would have to pay taxes on $10,000 of income.”
This is a very bizarre inclusion in the bill, and something that could signal the death of professional gambling in the US as we know it. Whether that’s good or bad is up to you, but it’s strange to include this alongside Medicaid cuts and ICE funding.
This is a nearly 900-page bill that is going to become law very soon. I can guarantee that Donald Trump hasn’t read the bill, since he’s lied about what’s in it - repeatedly! Things are about to get more expensive, more dire, and more downright annoying as America backpedals into a darker, more fascistic place than it was even yesterday. Happy Independence Day.
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