Trump’s Big “Beautiful” Bill Passed. Now What?

The passage of H.R. 1, President Trump’s Big, Beautiful Bill, by Congress is an assault on Americans by its government.  

Americans who pay the largest percentage of income taxes - the poor and middle class - will see their tax burden increase while the wealthiest Americans will receive tax cuts. On average, the poor and middle class will pay $1,600 per year, but the rich will save $12,000 per year. 

Simultaneously, the Republicans’ H.R. 1 will slash social services that help the poor and middle classes when they have troubles. Fulfilling the basic human needs of food and health care will be very difficult. Food assistance for 42 million Americans through SNAP will be gutted, and an estimated 11.8 million Americans will lose Medicaid so they can’t get the health care they need to endure ongoing illnesses and survive terminal ones. These slashes in funding will close nursing homes and hospitals where Medicaid is heavily utilized. The effect this will have will be enormous on the everyday lives of Americans. It’s easy to believe it won’t affect you.  Here’s how it could look. 

This time two years ago, my mother had a stroke. It was a horrible time period. It wasn’t just watching the effects of the stroke; it was the fear of not being able to properly care for her and not knowing how we could afford the care she needed. All of her children work and own homes and were all willing to open those homes. But the care she needed was beyond our capacity. She needed full time care. None of us could afford to quit our jobs to provide round-the-clock care. We knew the only option we had was to get her on Medicaid and find a nursing home to care for her. In the end, we did not need to make that decision because she chose quality of life over quantity of days. She had the ability to do that by deciding to discontinue her dialysis treatment. She made the decision to take control of her life and of her death. But what if she didn’t have that option? What if we had to navigate life caring for a stroke survivor without access to Medicaid? What would we do? Would we have had to sell our homes? Quit our jobs? Accept third-world level care because we didn’t have any other options. I still suffer from not only grief, but PTSD  from the stress of that seven-month time period. I cannot imagine having to navigate this system for years. 

The truth is, this scenario is more common than not with families. The other truth is that VP Harris specifically spoke about an America where families faced with caring for their parents would have access to more support and even use Medicaid to bring services within the home. The truth is, we can choose how we spend our tax dollars. Whether we want to care for one another or whether we want a Hunger Games system where only the rich thrive. 

Americans — adults and children — will go hungry and die because of the cruel desertion of those basic human needs by the Republican-dominated Congress who bowed to President Trump’s demand that they pass H.R. 1.

We who decry the passage of H.R. 1 must work together to offset its terrible repercussions. We who believe in the vision of a just nation that works for all citizens must increase our political activity so we can overturn the Republican majority in the U.S. Senate and the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2026 elections. Our votes are our voices. And our voices must speak for justice for all Americans.

Our rallying cry will be “Restore an American government of the people, by the people, and for the people.”  In Denton County that starts today with Project 2026. It’s time to get started to shut this down. Can we count on you to volunteer, donate and or run for office? Join us.This could be our last chance.