Assessments of the ‘Big, Beautiful, Bill’ Should Be Based on Fact, Not Hype
In a widely watched war of words on social media, President Donald Trump and Tesla Founder and CEO Elon Musk recently went toe-to-toe over what President Trump calls the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB, or OBBBA).
OBBB/OBBBA is a budget reconciliation package which seeks to do a few things.
First, and foremost, of these is to make permanent the tax cuts enacted during the president’s first term, as well as to implement much of the agenda that he campaigned on.
Mr. Musk stated his main problem with the bill is that it doesn’t cut spending enough.
Trump countered that Musk was aware of the contents of the bill and was fine with it until he learned that subsidies for electric cars, which are a benefit to Musk’s Tesla, are discontinued in the bill.
The Tesla founder is certainly correct that deficits and the debt are things that we should all be concerned about.
On the other hand, many agree that Mr. Trump is correct in his contention that failure to extend the tax cuts, which are set to expire next year, would result in the largest tax increase on the American people in history.
Although the main purpose of the legislation is to permanently extend tax cuts the Act also seeks to accomplish other goals.
It includes provisions which will:
- Beef up border and immigration enforcement.
- Add work requirements and some cuts to Medicaid over the next 10 years
- Transfer more responsibility for SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) expenditures to states
- Tax university endowments of wealthy private universities.
- Expand the state and local tax (SALT) deduction.
- Expand the Child Tax Credit.
- Boost defense spending.
- Raise the debt limit.
- Remove taxes on tips, and. . .
- Repeal EV (electric vehicle) tax credits.
Besides Elon Musk, Sens. Rand Paul, R-Ky., Ron Johnson, R-Wis., Mitch McConnell, R-Ky., and Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, have also expressed concerns that the bill would add to the debt.
Sens. Paul and Johnson have a history of concern for the debt, so they have some credibility on the issue; however, neither Sens. McConnell, nor Murkowski, have ever been thought of as Senate budget hawks.
It should be noted that the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and a few other organizations agree that this bill will add to the debt.
There are many on the other side who don’t believe the bill will increase the debt. Among these are President Trump and others in his administration, U.S. House Speaker Rep. Mike Johnson, R-La., and U.S. House Budget Committee Chairman Rep. Jodey Arrington, R-Texas.
Additionally, Russ Vought, Director of the Office of Management and Budget (OMB), believes that the bill will lower the debt. Per Vought, “If it (tax relief) were not to occur, it would be a major tax increase to the American people.
“So, when you adjust for that baseline . . . and this is putting aside the economic growth that we think that they also understate . . . it’s $1.4 trillion in reduced deficits and debt.
“That’s why this is such a paramount fiscally responsible bill, not withstanding the watchdogs here in town.”
Additionally, U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent noted that the CBO recently projected that new tariff revenue would slash the budget deficit by $2.8 trillion over the next 10 years.
He went on to say that this revenue, if included in CBO’s assessment of the OBBBA, would clearly put the bill in surplus.
However, he also said they refuse to take the tariff revenue into account.
One thing this writer has found interesting in all the reporting on the OBBBA, is that members of the media are all suddenly concerned about fiscal responsibility.
The same reporters who praised Joe Biden’s bloated spending have suddenly become concerned about the debt now that Trump is president.
The difference is that Trump is seeking to avoid a tax increase for working families, while Biden spent money on green energy boondoggles and waged war on traditional energy.
Although I’m greatly concerned about our debt and believe we need to develop a plan to pay it down, I don’t believe a huge tax increase would do much to help our economy or resolve our debt problem.
I also know that it certainly would not help working families still struggling to get by after the inflation of the Biden years.
Just as we can only guess as to the ultimate outcome of the Trump and Musk falling out, no one will know the impacts of the OBBBA on the debt until after the fact.
That does not seem to stop the opponents of the bill from acting as if they know.
Unfortunately, in Washington people have been acting as if they know the future for decades, and it seems to me they have been wrong far more often than they have been right.
Joe from Texas is a family man with children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren. He’s experienced tremendous success and lived the American Dream. His beliefs are both straightforward and deeply held. He believes in God, his family, and the United States of America. For more information, please visit www.JoeFromTexas.com. Read Joe Penland’s Reports — More Here.
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