Trump’s Big, Beautiful, Bill…Sitting on Capitol Hill
President Trump’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill” squeaked through the House 215-214 this week—one vote shy of total party calamity. It’s loaded with tax cuts, border funding, and spending promises—but also some big, not-so-beautiful catches.
And it’s not without its giant, genius critics—Elon Musk among them. He called out the bill’s bloated spending, which undercuts DOGE’s push for fiscal discipline.
Big, Beautiful Pros:
- Border Boost
$46.5B for wall construction + $14B for deportation ops = major win for GOP security goals. - Military Muscle
New money for bases, equipment, and infrastructure upgrades. - Tax Cut Revival
Extends 2017 Trump tax cuts, dodges a 22% hike for the middle class. Tips and overtime? Tax-free. - Business Breaks
Small biz deduction raised to 23%. Full expensing for R&D and equipment returns. - Work for Welfare
Medicaid work requirements by 2026 = $700B in savings + push for personal responsibility. - Family Friendly
Child tax credit bumped to $2,500 through 2028—pro-family and pro-values.
Big, Beautiful Cons:
- Ballooning Deficit
Adds $3.8T to national debt. Now, I have heard how they math the math on this, nonetheless fiscal hawks = not amused. - Medicaid for Illegals
Citizen-only clause dropped. Cost + controversy inbound. - Entitlement Evasion
Misses Medicare/Social Security reform—still the biggest spending beasts. - Temporary Tax Relief
Cuts for tips/overtime vanish in 2028. Planning = harder. Trust = lower. - SALT Cap Spike
Raising it to $40K costs $350B and rewards blue-state budgets. This one flies all over me.
And this may not be on most people’s lists of grievances, but it’s on mine. And very near the top. There is no good reason in the world for 1,000 page bills to have only 72 hours for review, much less 48 hours. It is ridiculous for any party. I hated it when Pino Pelosi blathered about “You have to pass the bill to see what’s in it…” I hate it still.
Next, on the list of things that make you go “hmmmph.”
We are frontloading spending with the promise to make cuts on the back end.
It is essentially giving ourselves, morbidly obese and sedentary as we are, permission to have all the desserts now with only a promise to eat all of our dinner afterwards. Y’all–we won’t. We can’t. We haven’t ever. The broccoli sits on the plate untouched year after year. While we with sticky-sprinkled fingers, push back from the table suddenly (when the veggies are served) too full and in need of a nap. Is there any way that we could schedule an appointment for our elected representatives with Houston’s own, Dr. Nowzaradan from My 600-Lb Life??
Does anyone remember that time a patient in the hospital got weepy because they didn’t like the hospital food and “…just had to eat or they would die?” Dr. Now’s response? “No, you won’t. You’re fine. You won’t starve–you’ve eaten the food that belongs to the next three years ahead of time.”
That’s us with spending. We have spent the money that belongs to the next three generations ahead of time and now we are asking for more. Because we promise someone, someday will get around to sticking to the diet of the healthy and wise.
Pardon me if “We promise to be better” falls flat rolling off the lips of a government with zero credibility in the area of reigning itself in.
Friends, the broccoli won’t get eaten until broccoli is the only choice.
Another concern I have is that much of our cuts are not cuts but are “surplus” banking on revenue yet to be generated. We are removing less things from the budget and simply promising to make more money to offset keeping them. We are projecting predicted savings and surplus at a time when there is not a whole lot of stability in any area. We are factoring in best possible scenarios with trade deals, negotiations, and economic growth as to our justification for why creme brulee should come before the salad. We can’t make our economic plans based on Putin’s predictability. Because he’s not. China? Don’t count on peace and passivity there.
Y’all, we are counting on revenue from tariffs that as of this column going to print, are being halted by a judge. Someone crunch the numbers on what happens to the bottom line while that snag works its way through the courts.
I hope they are all smarter than me. Surely, they are. And I hope this is the 4-D chess we always hear about. But if you’re going to insist on “One Big, Beautiful, Bill” it better be GORGEOUS. This ain’t it.
But my beef is less with Trump and more with the GOP.
If all the talk and all the hours spent amount to this bill failing to get a glow-up or worse, failing in the Senate…heads should roll.
Get your acts together.
Show your work.
Earn your keep.
If you are packing on the pork, I hope your bacon burns.
The days of pleading righteous indignation while behaving in the same ways as the left are over. It seems to me that both parties have had an enduring…ahem…”pissing contest” to see who can be more self-serving and derelict in office. And we the people are the only ones who ever end up wet. We did our part in November. It’s time to do yours. The big, beautiful bill is sitting on Capitol Hill now. A Texas 10 seems unlikely, but I’d settle for a New Mexico 7 with potential.
