Although creating and passing bills into law is the primary job of the senators and representatives we elect, we often ignore the details of what they vote for. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act illustrates this phenomenon well. In some circles, this piece of legislation is the center of discussion. In others, it is not even mentioned.
Ostensibly, the OBBBA appears beneficial, continuing tax cuts and increasing certain deductions and tax credits for Americans, albeit disproportionately for the rich.
However, certain politicians blatantly lie about the negative effects of this bill. Among the most obvious lies are those involving the deficit. The Congressional Budget Office, Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget and other groups predict the deficit would increase by trillions given the loss in revenue, but many politicians continue to say our growth will be so explosive that such losses will magically disappear.
While non-partisan groups like the CBO and CRFB use math to back up their claims, Congressional Republicans have resorted to creative accounting. By using the “current policy baseline,” they assert since many of these measures are continuations of 2017 policy, the cuts are somehow free.
To utilize an example posed by journalist David Dayen, imagine if we instituted universal healthcare in the last week of a fiscal year. Then, when budgeting for the next year, Congressional Democrats argued it would not cost any more money to continue universal healthcare for the entire following year under the current policy baseline. If that sounds stupidly wrong, well, it is.
Speaking of healthcare, it’s this bill’s Medicaid cuts and work requirements that are most damaging. At first glance, the bill ends tax credits for health-care premiums and introduces an 80-hour-a-month work requirement. However, most recipients do work, volunteer, have a disability, go to school or meet other criteria. The fact is House Speaker Mike Johnson’s picture of unemployed 29-year-olds playing video games in their parents’ basement while on Medicaid is rather rare, much like the “welfare queen” stereotype perpetuated during the Reagan administration.
Thus, the reason savings are so high is because many legitimate recipients – an estimated 4.2 million people over a decade – will all be kicked off Medicaid due to hard-to-meet paperwork requirements and administrative errors. Additionally, rural hospitals, at-home senior care and other services that disproportionately depend on Medicaid money will be cut or eliminated, affecting non-recipients as well.
The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program will also experience cuts that especially hurt the homeless, veterans and former foster youth but will ultimately impact upwards of 5 million Americans. Despite the tax cuts, the SNAP and Medicaid cuts mean the poorest Americans will ultimately have less money while the richest Americans will gain a whole lot more. Furthermore, these same vulnerable Americans will also die sooner from reduced services and care, not that it matters much to Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst since, as she said, “We are all going to die anyway.”
A lot of these savings, instead of reducing the deficit, are going toward an Immigrant and Customs Enforcement budget that is 13 times larger than what it used to be. For comparison, that surpasses the budget of the Israeli Defense Forces – the military of a wealthy country at war. This is all so we can more effectively detain peaceful, tax-paying Americans, both with and without legal status and so Homeland Security Director Kristi Noem can take photos in these detention centers that are remindful of certain photographs taken in 1945 Germany.
Hence, this bill promises more money for ICE and the rich at the cost of the poorest Americans and the deficit. I ask this, not with some smug sense of self-satisfaction, but out of genuine worry for those who could be hurt: Is this what you voted for? If not, make your voice heard, no matter your ideology and remember this when voting in the future.
