The One Big Beautiful Bill is Now The Law of The Land
July 7th, 2025
Arnav Goyal
July 7th, 2025
Arnav Goyal
On July 4, 2025, President Donald Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB), his handpicked megabill containing campaign promise after campaign promise. However, the bill has not come without significant controversy over its provisions, implications and big size (Yes, it is big. 940 pages big). The bill combines tax breaks, spending cuts, Medicare, SNAP and SALT reforms with border security funding and other priorities. However, let’s go through the process and see how it passed into law.
How did it get Passed in the First Place?
The fight over provisions has not been light to say the least. After the House initially passed the bill—more information on the bill can be read in our weekly brief here—it moved up to the Senate. This is where the political calculus for the bill started to emerge. At the outset, it looked like it could not pass due to opposition from many Republican Senators, such as Lisa Murkowski (R-AK), Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Thom Tillis (R-NC). Backroom negotiations soon played out. Lisa Murkowski shunned the bill, lambasting the cuts to SNAP and Medicaid. However, after some baked-in Alaska-exclusive provisions essentially safeguarding her state from these cuts, she voted yes. Ron Johnson, even after being a staunch no, flipped his vote. However, Thom Tillis dissented. Even after a massive pressure campaign and threats about a primary from President Trump, he still voted no, at the cost of his re-election bid. His no vote was only exacerbated by a speech on the Senate floor railing against the bill.
However, in the end, the bill was passed in the Senate 51-50, with VP Vance serving as the tiebreaker vote. In the House, it was even worse. In an initial vote, 5 GOP holdouts were present, and they didn’t seem to budge. The opposition suddenly became even steeper. Representative Brian Fitzpatrick (R-PA) wanted further arms funding for Ukraine, while Representative Thomas Massie (R-KY) voiced major concerns about the spending in the bill. Due to this, Speaker Johnson vowed to keep the floor vote open for as long as possible. After amendments, the bill passed the House 218-214.
What are the Provisions that make it so Controversial?
This bill is not without controversy. Many of the provisions are priorities of the president, including, but not limited to:
A raise on the SALT deduction cap to $40,000 for those making under $500,000 a year
Work requirements for SNAP and Medicaid, alongside more stringent eligibility requirements
Funding for mass deportation, border security and defense initiatives, with ICE having a budget larger than most of the military
“MAGA” savings accounts for children, creating $1,000 per child savings accounts for parents
An increase in the child tax credit to $2,500 until 2028
An expansion of lower taxes on wealthy people, which experts have characterized as one of the largest transfers of wealth in American history
An AI provision that bans AI regulation for 5 years in states
A projected $3.3 trillion increase in the deficit due to this bill, supported by a $5 trillion debt ceiling increase, incentivizes “reckless spending.”
Little to no spending cuts in the bill to offset the deficit increase
Many of these points are especially controversial, especially those surrounding Medicaid and SNAP. This bill overhauls Medicaid and SNAP, setting work requirements for able-bodied adults to be 20 hours per week to receive Medicaid and SNAP benefits. Additionally, provisions for spending cuts to Medicaid have been hammered by Democratic opposition. Furthermore, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) calculated that the bill would increase the deficit by $3.3 trillion, prompting an increase of $5 trillion to the debt ceiling. This has drawn the ire of deficit hawks such as Representative Massie (R-KY), who has lambasted it.
Final Thoughts
Normally, legislation on the federal level is slow, neutral and generally unimportant to the majority of Americans in their day-to-day life (such as renaming post offices). Most meaningful legal change happens at the state level. The OBBB, however, represents a radical departure from that: it's massive, fast, and incredibly impactful to almost all Americans, with spending cuts across the board that also have the potential to significantly affect poorer Americans. This bill doesn’t change the underlying laws of the US. Rather, it manipulates them to fit Trump’s priorities and ensure that his campaign promises—such as no tax on tips—are fulfilled.
Extemp Analysis by: Jana Schodzinski
Question: To what extent does the OBBB fulfill Trump’s campaign promises?
AGD: Let’s be honest, we have to be funny. There is so much material.
Background: Obviously, there is a lot of background information necessary for this question. Narrow it down to fit the time restraints- what is the OBBB, when was it passed, what are some of the promises it fulfills, etc.
Answer: For this example, I’ll answer along the lines of “to a great extent, as it fulfilled countless promises within only one piece of legislation”. Naturally, there are no real right or wrong answers. Get creative!
3 Points:
1 - tax deduction and exemption
2 - Rollbacks on climate initiatives
3 - Border security
Each of these points open doors to speak not only on what these campaign promises are, but how the bill specifically targets them. Remember to order your points as so: first- basic, second- unique, and third- impactful. For instance, the OBBB has little influence on climate initiatives compared to many other matters, but the influence it has on these climate initiatives is commonly overlooked.
Analysis + Concluding Thoughts: The format of this question challenges the extemper to speak on a broad range of ideas within the allotted seven minutes. If this is an area you struggle with, try to prioritize the organization and delivery of your content rather than maximizing how much information you can provide. This will ensure that wide audiences can easily digest your speech. Keep up the grind, and happy extemping!
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