SAUNDERS: One Big Beautiful Bill — with a due date
WASHINGTON
“This bill is like yogurt, not wine,” one senator said, describing the One Big Beautiful Bill to Semafor. It was an apt description for legislation that President Donald Trump wants on his desk by Independence Day.
Because the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act signed by Trump in 2017 sunsets this year, Congress has to pass a new measure to prevent many families from facing painful and unanticipated tax hikes. The House has passed a bill. As I write this, the Senate has not.
The One Big Beautiful Bill would make the TCJA cuts permanent and and toss in extra benefits, including a boost in the child tax credit to $2,500 per family. Per Trump’s 2024 campaign promises, the measure also includes “no tax on tips” and “no tax on overtime.”
There’s money for the border and increased funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement because this administration actually believes in implementing and following federal law.
Spending reforms include the directive that able-bodied Medicaid recipients without children either work or volunteer part-time. The measure also ends benefits for “1.4 million illegal immigrants who are gaming the system,” according to a White House fact sheet.
The Trump administration boasts that the measure “reverses the Biden-era mandate that Medicaid cover so-called ‘gender transition’ procedures — ending the taxpayer-funded chemical castration and mutilation of American children.” That’s popular.
At the same time, Trump proposes boosting spending for the military, revitalizing shipbuilding and the maritime industrial base and modernizing the Air Traffic Control system.
What’s not to like?
Well, a few things.
Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., is concerned the Trump move to cut funding for international aid will defund America’s “soft power.” The Solon of the Senate reminded his colleagues, “If you’re concerned about spending,” consider how much wars cost.
On that same note, when Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought appeared before the Senate Appropriations Committee on Wednesday, Sen. Susan Collins, R-Maine, grilled Vought for maintaining that under BBB, “no life-saving treatments will be impacted.”
Collins brought props too. RUTF — peanut-butter based “Ready to use therapeutic food” — has saved the lives of premature babies and malnourished children. Pre-natal vitamins, she said, have allowed impoverished mothers in Africa “to safely deliver healthy children.”
Other Republicans object to the measure’s projected $1.9 trillion annual deficit that will contribute to the $36 trillion national debt. That’s more than $106,000 for every man, woman and child living in the United States.
Washington expects Congress to pass the One Big Beautiful Bill. Consider that a testament to Trump’s ability to strong-arm the rump of Republican lawmakers who have flirted with depriving Trump of the votes needed to pass the Senate. But the expectation also is a nod to reality. Congress has to pass something. Nobody gets everything they want.
At an East Room event Thursday, Trump dismissed the not-on-board senators as “grandstanders.”
There’s a saying in politics that every senator looks in the mirror and sees a president.
Today, methinks, Republican senators look in the mirror and see Trump — well, maybe with the exception of former Sens. JD Vance, now vice president, and Marco Rubio, now secretary of state.
Today’s Republican senators have been frozen in time — their own ambitions butt against the reality of as many as 11 more years of Team Trump in the Oval Office. Yes, GOP governors could run for prize, but in this town, there is one path to the promised land. And it is a narrow path paved by loyalty. For now.
Contact Review-Journal Washington columnist Debra J. Saunders at dsaunders@reviewjournal.com. Follow @debrajsaunders on X.
