In mid-2025, Congress began debating one of the most ambitious and sweeping legislative packages of the year: the One Big Beautiful Bill Act. Often shortened to the Big Beautiful Bill or OBBB, the bill was introduced by House Budget Committee Chair Jodey Arrington and closely aligned with the priorities of President Donald Trump and his administration. At over 1,200 pages, HR 1 combines 25 separate bills into one reconciliation package, touching nearly every corner of federal fiscal policy, from taxes and student loans to discretionary spending and Medicare.
Supporters frame the bill as a necessary reset: a bold effort to reduce spending, overhaul the tax code, and limit the size of the federal government. Critics say it is a massive reallocation of public priorities that will shift burdens onto working families, cut core programs, and ultimately grow the deficit it aims to reduce. As the bill inches its way through the Senate, this week we’re breaking down what’s in these 1,200 pages, what its long-term implications could be, and where it currently stands.
What Is the Big Beautiful Bill?
The One Big Beautiful Bill is a budget reconciliation measure, meaning it can pass the Senate with a simple majority and is immune to the filibuster. This mechanism, established under the Congressional Budget Act of 1974, is typically reserved for legislation that directly impacts federal revenue or expenditures, making it an incredibly powerful tool for pushing through large-scale fiscal changes (usually, along partisan lines).
According to a section-by-section summary published by the House Ways and Means Committee, OBBB is designed to reduce the size and scope of the federal government, promote private-sector growth, and achieve long-term deficit reduction. (If some of this is giving you Project 2025 feelings, that’s because it is.) The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has released a preliminary analysis estimating that the bill would add $3.4 trillion to the deficit over ten years, despite its stated goals of fiscal discipline. If you are curious, in April 2025 the total debt owed by the government was reported at $36.2 trillion.
Key Provisions and What They Could Mean
The White House published a list of “50 Wins in the Big Beautiful Bill,” a summary of what the administration sees as the major accomplishments in the legislation. The list includes a wide array of initiatives, such as:
- Tax reforms targeting tips, overtime (check out some more on this here), and senior income
- Funding for ICE and continued construction of the southern border wall
- Protecting the usage of public programs for "Americans who truly need it"
- Expanded investment in U.S. energy production, described as ending "Biden’s war on American energy"
- Provisions to bolster domestic manufacturing (particularly timely with the Trade War currently raging on)
- Impacts student loan process, forgiveness, education funding, and more
These initiatives span nearly every domain of federal policy, from taxes and entitlements to education, energy, and immigration. But, let’s take a closer look at some of the most impactful provisions.
1. Tax Code Overhaul
The bill extends and deepens provisions of the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act:
- Makes individual income tax cuts permanent (which impacted high-income earners the most significantly)
- Lowers the corporate tax rate from 21% to 15%
- Repeals the estate tax by 2027
- Increases the standard deduction
According to the Tax Foundation, these changes could modestly boost GDP and investment in the short term but would significantly reduce federal revenue. Critics argue that the tax cuts heavily favor corporations and the wealthiest households, increasing inequality without generating enough economic growth to pay for themselves.
2. Medicare, Medicaid, and Social Security
The bill includes major revisions to entitlement programs:
- Medicare: It proposes increasing the eligibility age to 68 by 2032 and replacing traditional fee-for-service models with voucher-style premium supports.
- Medicaid: The bill would convert Medicaid to a block grant program, aiming to give states more flexibility but reducing overall federal funding by $700 billion over 10 years, according to estimates
- Social Security: While no structural reforms are proposed in this bill, it includes provisions that re-calculate cost-of-living adjustments (COLAs), effectively reducing benefit growth over time.
Opponents, including AARP and the American Medical Association, argue that these provisions would disproportionately impact low-income and elderly Americans. Democratic lawmakers have reportedly labeled these cuts as "drastic" and "inhumane," while some Senate Republicans are seeking to pare back the most aggressive provisions.
3. Student Loan and Higher Ed Reforms
Education provisions in the OBBB would:
- Eliminate all but one income-driven repayment plan
- Institute a flat 10-year repayment structure
- End interest accrual for students who complete their degrees
- Expand Pell Grants for vocational and technical programs
Proponents argue these changes would streamline repayment and encourage degree completion. However, groups representing traditional higher education institutions warn the reforms could make college less accessible and penalize those who do not graduate. It also could lead to more predatory offerings for people, further stressing the student loans crisis.
4. Spending Cuts and Enforcement Mechanisms
One of the most controversial parts of the bill is its automatic enforcement structure. If revenue or growth targets aren’t met, the following would be triggered:
- Across-the-board cuts to non-defense discretionary spending (up to 10% annually)
- Caps on federal workforce expansion
- Structural reductions to key agencies including the EPA and Department of Education
The CBO warns that these mechanisms could lead to substantial disruptions in public services, particularly in housing, education, and environmental protection.
Where Things Stand
The bill narrowly passed the House in late May on a 215-214 vote, with all Democrats and two Republicans voting against it. It now faces a steeper climb in the Senate, where key provisions (particularly the entitlement cuts and education reforms) have drawn bipartisan criticism from both in and outside of Congress.
Six Nobel laureate economists wrote a letter earlier this month on behalf of the Economic Policy Institute stating “Even with the safety net cuts, the House bill leads to public debt rising by over $3 trillion in coming years (and over $5 trillion over the next decade if provisions are made permanent rather than phasing out). The higher debt and deficits will put noticeable upward pressure on both inflation and interest rates in coming years."
Senate Finance Chair Ron Wyden has called for amendments to reinstate certain clean energy tax credits and restore full Medicaid funding. Meanwhile, a group of 13 House Republicans have urged the Senate to reduce proposed clean energy rollbacks, according to NBC News. Senator Rand Paul called the bill “wimpy and anemic” and had this to say on Face the Nation earlier this month, “One of the things this big and beautiful bill is, is, it's a vehicle for increasing spending for the military and for the border. It's about $320 billion in new spending. To put that in perspective, that's more than all the DOGE cuts that we have found so far. So, the increase in spending put into this bill exceeds the DOGE cuts.”
Adding to the drama is Elon Musk, who called the bill a "disgusting abomination" and has been lobbying against its passage, particularly provisions that impact clean energy subsidies and AI oversight. This comes after his exit from DOGE (more on that fiasco here). His opposition, public and direct, has interestingly created unusual alliances between tech CEOs and progressive lawmakers who otherwise may disagree on these types of policy fundamentals.
Broader Implications & What Comes Next
The One Big Beautiful Bill is more than a budget proposal, it’s a sweeping vision to restructure the federal government's priorities, shifting the balance of responsibility between federal, state, and private actors.
The Senate is expected to take up the bill in late June, with a vote possible before the July 4 recess. Key provisions remain under negotiation, particularly around healthcare and education cuts, and several swing votes could determine its fate. The White House has indicated openness to limited amendments but remains committed to the bill’s broader agenda.
If the bill advances, it could reshape federal policy for years to come. If it stalls, it will likely trigger a new round of negotiations around the federal budget, tax structure, and entitlement programs, and may set the stage for a high-stakes funding showdown later this year (read: yet another government shutdown).
However it ends, the debate over the One Big Beautiful Bill reveals a stark divide over the future of government in American life, and how much of that future is up for sale, subsidy, or sacrifice.
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