The One Big Beautiful Bill

Written By: Anna Zhang

The One, Big, Beautiful Bill—a piece of legislation that may sound positive and encouraging, but hides sneaky bits of new laws in the 900 pages. This bill, passed on July 3, 2025, will change the lives of all Americans.

President Trump after signing the One Big Beautiful Bill act into law.
Source: Getty Images

What is It?

The One, Big, Beautiful Bill was recently passed by the House of Representatives, after the Senate approved the bill by a landslide. This bill truly is “big”, reaching nearly 900 pages.

A large majority of it is an extension of President Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Job Act, which lowered income tax rates across most brackets and capped state and local tax (SALT) deductions at $10,000. Within this new bill, SALT deductions will be capped at $40,000. However, these tax deductions disproportionately benefit the rich and wealthy, as they receive the most amount of taxes being cut.

Meanwhile, students will face financial aid struggles as student loans become capped. According to Forbes, “The bill limits parents to borrowing $20,000 per year for each child, with a $65,000 total cap per student. It also limits graduate students to $20,500 per year in loans and $100,000 in total, while students in professional schools, like medical school, are limited to $50,000 in loans per year and $200,000 in total.” University tuition is not cheap, and neither are professional schools’ tuition. The new policy of capping student loans may crush many first generation students, whose parents do not have that much money to spare. This makes it almost impossible for first generation students to pursue a career in law, medicine, and more.

In addition, Medicaid funding will be significantly reduced by around a trillion dollars, and eligibility for Medicaid will be a lot stricter. Medicaid helps cover medical costs for people with low income, resources, and disabilities. However, due to the new bill, more than 11.8 million Americans could lose health coverage under Medicaid within the next decade. This is a devastating number, especially damaging to disabled people and immigrants. According to the Center for American Progress, “The OBBBA prohibits the implementation of two finalized rules until October 1, 2034. The rules would have made it easier for very low-income Medicare enrollees to access Medicare Savings Programs (MSPs)...This will disproportionately affect disabled people, as they are more likely to have lower incomes than nondisabled people. Second, the bill eliminates Medicare eligibility for people with lawful immigration status who have already paid into the program”. This will also negatively impact hospitals, especially rural ones. Due to Medicaid funding being cut, hospitals may experience a loss in operation, and many rural, small hospitals are facing that problem right now.

Not only will Medicaid funding be cut, but so will funding for food stamps, or SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program). According to CNN, “Millions of low-income Americans are expected to lose their benefits because of the work requirements and the bill’s other measures affecting Medicaid and food stamps.” Adults must be in the workforce and work a certain amount of hours in order to qualify for Medicaid and SNAP, making it discriminatory towards disabled people and lower income citizens in general.

Instead, much of this money is being used to tighten security and crack down on immigrants in the United States. More than 45 billion dollars will be used for border wall construction and additional security, and an additional 45 billion will be allotted to expand detention capacity for immigrants in custody. Not only that, but refugees and immigrants seeking asylum will need to pay a minimum of a $100 fee. The vice president of policy at the National Immigration Law Center, Heidi Altman, claims that the fee will put an "unaffordable price tag on due process" for many immigrants, which will make it even harder for them to enter the country. Indeed, one of the main points of this bill is to enforce the number of immigrants in the country.

One of the most controversial points of this bill is allowing America’s debt limit to increase even further. The debt ceiling has been pushed to $5 trillion, which could cause the United States to be unable to pay its bills in the near future. While funding has been cut on Medicaid, that money is being used towards other services, such as border enforcement. This raises a dangerous question: is the money truly being used to benefit the citizens, or is it just being used to further the president’s own agenda?

Media Response:

There are many mixed responses to the passing of this bill that will change millions of people’s lives. The President himself believes that "...you have the biggest tax cut, the biggest spending cut, the largest border security investment in American history". More than half of the Republicans stand behind President Trump, as highlighted by the Dean of the New York Republican Delegation Elise Stefanik saying, “I was proud to stay in Congress to vote to pass the One Big Beautiful Bill to deliver on President Trump’s historic mandate to enact the largest tax cut in American history, turbocharge economic growth, secure our borders, restore energy dominance, cut wasteful spending, and deliver peace through strength.” On the other hand, the majority of Democrats oppose the passing of this bill. House Democratic Leader Hakeem Jeffries states that "...Republicans just approved the largest cut to Medicaid and food assistance in American history to fund tax breaks for their billionaire donors."

Distribution of Americans that favor/do not favor the bill.
Source: KFF Health Tracking Poll

Impact:

America is supposed to be a place where people of all color, race, and backgrounds can come together and make a better life for themselves, as long as they work hard. However, with the One Big Beautiful Bill being passed, the “American Dream” seems to be a distant reality. This bill benefits the rich while punishing the poor. While those with little money barely see any tax cuts and Medicaid being taken away from them, the rich receive a huge increase in tax cuts and become even wealthier. In addition, first generation students may never be able to afford to go to university or a professional school. With this bill, the message is clear—profit and money is being prioritized over the citizens, marking a fine distinction between the rich and the poor. If this path continues, the gap will only widen, making the American Dream impossible to achieve.