In the early hours of July 1, 2025, all was quiet in Washington, D.C. Stores stood shuttered, the National Mall sat empty, and the streets were deserted. Our nation’s capital lay still, silent, and serene, free of agitation or anxiety – except for the building directly south of Constitution Avenue. In stark contrast with the rest of the city, the atmosphere inside the United States Capitol was teeming with tension and turmoil as the Senate sought to push through Donald Trump’s signature piece of legislation, daftly dubbed the “One Big Beautiful Bill.”
By 3:30 A.M., Senate Democrats, skeptical Republicans, and MAGA loyalists had been squabbling over particularly contentious parts of the bill for over eighteen hours, having begun around 9:30 A.M. the previous day. The bill, which was first introduced in mid-March, passed in the House of Representatives on May 22 before making its way to the Senate for amendments shortly thereafter.
Meanwhile, during their hours of deliberation, many lawmakers could be observed lolling in their seats as if the airy, neoclassical Senate Chamber were their living rooms. Some Senators sported shawls or pashminas, like Cindy Hyde-Smith (R-MS) and Elizabeth Warren (D-MA). Others read books on Kindles, and Republican Senator Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who should surely be well acclimated to the cold, draped herself in an enormous fuzzy blanket, likening her resemblance to a blonde polar bear on its hind legs. Some Senators even fell asleep.
While their constituents – and some of the politicians themselves – slept, the Senate managed to pass the bill in the middle of the night, albeit with a narrow majority of 51 to 50. Lisa Murkowski wound up voting in favor of the bill in what she called an “agonizing decision.” Murkowski, who often breaks party lines and could have single-handedly stalled the bill in the Senate, then went on to hypocritically — and somewhat counterintuitively — tell her Republican colleagues in the House to vote against the bill, despite doing the exact opposite herself. They didn’t listen, however, and the bill made it over the finish line into the Oval Office. President Trump, Sharpie in hand, signed the bill into law at a flashy ceremony on the Fourth of July, surrounded by his smirking and sneering sycophants.
Karoline Leavitt, Trump’s fawning and dimwitted press secretary, has hailed the bill as one that will “tirelessly [fight] for everyday, middle class, working Americans;” however, these words could not be farther from the truth. The One Big Beautiful Bill is yet another poorly veiled attempt to line the pockets of billionaires, while simultaneously wreaking havoc on the lives of the middle-class Americans MAGA pretends to care so much about. This legislation threatens to corrode and dismantle the very fabric of this country and cause damage that will take years, if not decades, to repair.
At the core of this ruinous bill are the brazen tax cuts that were introduced with its passage last month. One may have hoped that the end of Trump’s transient friendship with billionaire Elon Musk might have somewhat dampened his enthusiasm for sweeping tax cuts to the ultra-rich. However, it appears that the Musk estrangement has done nothing of the sort. The Big Beautiful Bill will enact a $4 trillion tax cut, largely benefiting wealthy Americans and disproportionately affecting low-income and middle-class citizens. In a study conducted by the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), it was estimated that households making less than $23,000 a year could lose up to $1,600 each year, while families making over $700,000 a year would gain up to $12,000 annually. Indeed, 68 percent of tax benefits from the bill will go to just 10 percent of Americans.
Though most Americans consider paying taxes a somewhat vexing process, they are the government’s primary source of revenue, and when fewer taxes are collected, cuts in spending must be made to compensate for revenue losses. Hence, the Trump administration, prior to the passage of its beautiful bill, identified and pruned all sources of “waste, fraud, and abuse” in the federal government, thus covering the trillions of dollars worth of revenue that would be depleted with the impending tax cuts. This approach would prevent cuts to salient programs that millions of Americans rely on, such as Medicare. After all, the Trump Administration has long been consistent in its commitment to Medicare. In early March, the official White House website even released a statement fact-checking claims that Medicare was next on the Trump chopping block.
“The Trump Administration will not cut Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid benefits. President Trump himself has said it over and over and over again. […] The press is lying again,” the statement read. This sensible course of action should be applauded – except for the fact that it didn’t actually happen. Predictably, the Trump administration decided to cut Medicare anyway, notwithstanding their persistent claims that they would never dream of doing so, and that any person who suggested otherwise was a liar.
In reality, the Big Beautiful Bill will slash over $1 trillion from Medicare, as well as $1.2 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). The bill also includes provisions that make it easier for the government to deny and cancel Medicare, as well as reduce funding for states that allow undocumented immigrants to receive Medicare benefits. It is estimated that up to 11.8 million Americans could lose their healthcare coverage or become uninsured because of these policies. Furthermore, over three million Americans could lose access to SNAP benefits.
Naturally, MAGA politicians have extended their heartfelt sympathy to those who will be adversely affected by the forthcoming cuts to Medicare and SNAP. Well, actually, this too has yet to happen. Instead, MAGA has gone in the opposite direction.
At a town hall in late May, Joni Ernst (R-IA) chose to remind her constituents of their impending mortality, saying that “we are all going to die” in response to an audience member exclaiming that “people are going to die” because of cuts to healthcare in the Big Beautiful Bill. Following uproar over her flippant response, Ernest filmed a sarcastic apology video in a cemetery where she established a feeble straw man, implying that the town hall attendees did not fully understand the concept of death. “I made an incorrect assumption that everyone […] understood that yes, we are all going to perish from this Earth. So I apologize,” Ernest said in a sardonic, falsely doleful tone.
Additional provisions in the 1,000-page bill include changes to Obamacare, shelving tax credits for clean energy programs, sending over $300 billion for immigration enforcement and the military, and truncating student loan forgiveness programs. As if that weren’t enough, the CBO has estimated that the Big Beautiful Bill will add $3.4 trillion to the national debt by 2035.
It is easy to feel frustrated and hopeless because of the passage of and contents within the “Big Ugly Bill” – and rightfully so. The job of the government is to improve the lives of its citizens, yet the mercenary and heartless framers of this bill will only hurt the most vulnerable people in our society, while benefiting the most privileged. With that being said, at the time of writing, the United States is still a democracy, and fundamentally, the power in a democracy comes from the people, not our governors. Thus, it is in our power to use our collective voices, votes, and visions to repeal this bill, repair its adverse effects, and restart afresh.
