Context on the Big Beautiful Bill
From USA Facts
Mahatma Gandhi said, “The true measure of any society can be found in how it treats its most vulnerable members.”
Nelson Mandela echoed this with, “A nation should not be judged by how it treats its highest citizens, but its lowest ones.”
If we measure the United States by the outcome of this bill, we fail miserably on all counts.
The new bill would raise the debt ceiling by $5 trillion after Congress reinstated the limit at $36.1 trillion in January. The debt-to-GDP ratio rose to 123% in fiscal year 2024.
The bill also approved cuts to Medicaid. The Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services spent $638 billion on Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program in 2024. Medicaid enrollment peaked at 100 million people in 2023 and was down to 84.6 million by June 2024.
The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the proposed changes to Medicaid and health insurance would increase the number of uninsured people by 16 million in 2034.
It also permanently establishes some provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, including the individual tax brackets and the increased standard deduction. The bill expands the cap on state and local tax deductions from $10,000 to $40,000.
The bill also cuts business taxes, including increased deductions for equipment and research costs.
The bill increases defense spending for naval shipbuilding, missile defense, weapons development, nuclear forces, and personnel support. Defense spending was 12.9% of the federal budget in fiscal year 2024, or $873 billion.
Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) were the third- and fourth-highest funded Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agencies in 2024, with budgets of $12.1 billion and $10.0 billion.
Read full article here.
