In an incredible conclusion to over a year of planning, pushing, and politicking, the One Big, Beautiful Bill “OBBB” (H.R. 1) was signed into law on Independence Day last week. Some are calling it the “biggest conservative victory in 30 years.” Eagle Forum praised its passage in a press release saying, “The One Big, Beautiful Bill reins in decades of reckless spending, secures our nation’s borders, protects the most vulnerable among us, and provides tax relief for all American families.” The OBBB went through several iterations during that time, losing and gaining policies in various committees and floor votes. Here is a breakdown of the key provisions of the law President Trump signed at the July 4th celebration at the White House.
Immigration
- Diverts $46.5 billion to finish building the wall at our Southern border.
- Gives $45 billion to fund detention facilities for illegal immigrants.
- Funds 10,000 new Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents who will be eligible to receive $10,000 sign-on bonuses.
- Imposes a minimum fee of $100 for those seeking asylum.
- Allocates $10 billion to the Department of Homeland Security to provide state grants for deportation and immigration enforcement and $1 billion to the Department of Defense for border security.
Medicaid
- Defunds big abortion giants such as Planned Parenthood for one year by placing a moratorium on payments through Medicaid.
- Increases the provider tax to 3.5% by 2032 while allocating $50 billion to rural hospitals to ease the impact of the Medicaid changes.
- Eliminates benefits for illegal immigrants.
- Protects Medicaid for the truly needy by ensuring that able-bodied adults without minor children are required to work, volunteer, or be in job-training programs to continue receiving benefits.
Taxes
- Permanently extends the tax cuts that President Trump implemented in 2017, thereby preventing the largest tax increase in history.
- Permanently raises the Child Tax Credit from $2,000 to $2,200 this year and then adjusts for inflation beginning in 2026. Requires that both the children and the parents have social security numbers, which will keep illegals from claiming the credit.
- Increases the tax credit for taxpayers who adopt a child to $5,000, which will be adjusted over time for inflation.
- Creates a permanent education scholarship tax credit, allowing taxpayers to receive a tax credit for donations to scholarship-granting organizations. These organizations then provide scholarships for eligible students to use for private school tuition, fees, tutoring, and other educational expenses.
- Creates a new category for tip earners to deduct taxes on amounts less than $25,000 through 2028.
- Overtime pay will be tax-deductible on amounts up to $12,500 until 2028.
- Senior citizens over 65 years old can deduct $6,000.
- Removes the “death tax” that kept families from inheriting family farms and ranches.
- Increases the state and local tax deduction from $10,000 to $40,000 for five years.
- Ends multiple energy tax credits for electric vehicles and energy-efficient home upgrades, as well as the Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund.
Welfare Programs
- Implements work requirements for able-bodied recipients of SNAP benefits. Recipients ages 19-64 will need to work or volunteer 80 hours per month.
- Beginning in 2028, states with error rates (over or underpayments) above 6% will be responsible for 5-15% of food stamp costs, rather than the federal government footing the entire program.
Higher Education Loans
- Saves taxpayers $349 billion in education reforms, according to the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
- Reduces the myriad of student repayment programs down to just two — the Repayment Assistance Plan or standard repayment plan.
- Places caps on borrowing for student loans. Parents who borrow for their children’s education are limited to $20,000 per year with a $65,000 lifetime maximum using the Parent PLUS loan program. Graduate students will be capped at $20,500 per year, with a lifetime maximum of $100,000. Medical and law students may borrow up to $50,000 per year, with a $200,000 lifetime total.
- According to Campus Reform, “to hold colleges accountable, federal aid will be tied to graduate earnings. Undergraduate programs whose graduates earn less than the median salary of a high school graduate in their state will lose access to federal loans.”
- Changes the tax rate on colleges based on the size of their endowments. Those who have $500,000 to $750,000 will be taxed at 1.4%, endowments between $750,000 to $2 million will be taxed at 4%, and those higher will be taxed at 8%.
Additional Initiatives
- Eliminates billions of dollars in “Green New Deal” tax credits, including immediately stopping those going to China. Repeals “green” corporate welfare programs from Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.
- Ends the Electric Vehicle (EV) tax breaks.
- Creates new “Trump Accounts” for babies born between 2025 and 2028. Sets up a low-cost index fund in which the federal government will give a one-time contribution of $1,000. Families will be able to contribute up to $5,000 per year, and the parents’ employers can contribute up to $2,500 per year tax-free. Once the child reaches the age of 18, the account turns into a Roth IRA. The money can then be accessed for higher education, business start-ups, or down payments on a home. Children born before 2025 who are under 18 years of age are eligible to set up the new account without the $1,000 investment from the federal government.
- Allocates $25 billion to build the “Golden Dome” missile defense system.
- Gives $40 million to the Secretary of the Interior to create the “National Garden of American Heroes.”
- Funds two space missions to the Moon and Mars at nearly $10 million.
Impact on the National Debt – CBO v CEA
A major complaint of the bill centered around its projected contribution to the national debt. While it cuts $1.5 trillion in spending, it also raises the debt ceiling to $5 trillion. The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has predicted that the OBBB would add $4.1 trillion to the national debt by 2034. However, the CBO is usually wrong. They do not consider the impact of lower tax rates on creating higher employment rates and economic growth. For example, they underestimated the revenue raised by the 2017 Trump tax cuts by at least $1 trillion. Shockingly, the CBO calculates cuts to Planned Parenthood as costing the government more money because they say a child that is born drains resources from the government for the first 10 years of life, but an aborted baby does not!
The White House’s Council of Economic Advisors (CEA) produced different findings. First, they pointed out that if the bill were not passed and the tax cuts had expired, that would have caused our national debt to increase by 117% of gross domestic product (GDP) by 2034. The CEA predicts that the OBBB will reduce the deficit by at least $755 billion. The White House believes that securing our border, eliminating many “Green New Deal” spending cuts, and allowing taxpayers to keep more of their money will have a positive effect on the economy.
While the bill isn’t perfect, it is a careful conglomeration of many pro-growth policies, including much of President Trump’s campaign agenda. Every House and Senate Republican had the opportunity to impact the bill through the various hearings and floor votes over the many months it took Congress to move this legislation.
The battle to reduce the size and scope of the federal government is not over, however. Eagle Forum also encourages lawmakers to continue the fight by enacting additional spending cuts and reforms in upcoming legislation. The Senate will soon take up the House-passed rescission bill to eliminate wasteful spending identified by the DOGE Commission — including defunding NPR. Funding for Fiscal Year 2026 must be completed by the end of September, and we want to see more waste, fraud, abuse, and unconstitutional spending eliminated from these annual appropriations bills as well.
Enacting the One Big Beautiful Bill was a significant achievement, but there is still more work to be done. We must stay engaged and make our voices heard for pro-life, pro-family, and pro-American causes. You can do that in person this September by joining us at Eagle Council, our 53rd annual conference. This year, we will be in Washington, D.C., where attendees will have the opportunity to speak with their lawmakers, consult with White House and agency officials, and collaborate with like-minded leaders in your state to advocate for legislation that affects you and your communities. To learn more, visit our website here!
