Big Beautiful Bill Puts Hardworking Families First
Congressional Republicans, with President Trump, delivered on our promise to extend tax relief for families and small businesses. The One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) puts more money back in families’ pockets, provides tax certainty for small businesses, secures our border, unleashes America’s energy potential, and strengthens our national security — all while producing the greatest savings of any reconciliation legislation in our nation’s history.
This legislation slows reckless spending and takes bold, pro-growth steps to help families recover after four devastating years.
Inflation, worsened by the Biden administration’s policies, made it difficult for families to get by and afford the basics. The average Pennsylvanian household spent an extra $28,000 just due to inflation during Biden’s four years in office.
In response to the pain felt by families, Congress locked in low rates and extended targeted tax relief.
The Child Tax Credit, used by 40 million families, is increased. The legislation raises the standard deduction for all filers, putting more money back in your pockets. It will also spur greater business investment by providing them with much-needed certainty in our tax code.
The OBBB advances real tax relief for seniors on fixed incomes, eliminates taxes on tips and overtime, and provides tax deductions on auto loan interest for purchases of American-made vehicles.
It protects vital programs like Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by implementing commonsense reforms which promote personal responsibility and root out waste, fraud, and abuse.
The legislation’s change to Medicaid requires able-bodied adults without dependents to take simple steps — like working, volunteering, pursuing education, or enrolling in job training — for just 20 hours a week to maintain eligibility. This is a reasonable expectation that aligns with the dignity of work — and it’s what taxpayers expect.
Importantly, the OBBB will hold states accountable for poor administration of the SNAP program.
The OBBB will make many states pay for part of their SNAP benefits if they continue to have high rates of payment errors. Pennsylvania’s payment error rate is nearly 11 percent, meaning one out of ten SNAP payments is wrong. That is waste that needs to be fixed. If states clean up their acts, the cost share goes away.
Instituting modest work requirements for taxpayer-funded programs is not cruel. The goal of programs like Medicaid and SNAP is to support individuals in times of need, not create long-term dependency.
The intense reaction to these measures, bordering on hysteria, appears driven more by political calculus than the truth.
One local state representative suggested, “thousands and thousands of deaths in this country that will not go counted. Because they will happen in nursing homes, immigration detention centers, prisons and to children who never made it out of infancy, because they could no longer get the care Medicaid provided them.”
That statement is profoundly untrue and deeply irresponsible.
No senior in a nursing home is losing Medicaid benefits because of the OBBB. In fact, there is no change to senior Medicaid eligibility, nursing homes are specifically exempted from changes to state provider tax structures, and medical providers in nursing homes will not see any changes to their reimbursement rates.
Incarcerated individuals in prison receive medical care paid for by the institution, due to the Medicaid inmate payment exclusion. Individuals in immigration detention centers receive medical care through the Immigration and Customs Enforcement Health Service Corps.
The suggestion that “children won’t make it out of infancy” due to changes in Medicaid is also a cheap attempt to fearmonger.
A child born to a mother on Medicaid is covered by Medicaid until age one. If the mother later becomes ineligible, the child can be insured through CHIP, employer coverage, or the state marketplace.
These responsible program improvements go hand-in-hand with the OBBB’s tax relief provisions that ensure working families keep more of what they earn.
Democrats have repeatedly mischaracterized the OBBB as a giveaway to the wealthiest Americans at the expense of the most vulnerable. This claim is not only inaccurate—it obscures the bill’s core purpose.
When Americans across every income level are empowered to keep more of what they earn, the results speak for themselves. Millions rise out of poverty, just as we saw in President Trump’s first term. After the passage of the TCJA, the poverty rate hit its lowest recorded rate, and the median household income jumped by over $6,000.
Compare those two statistics: the TCJA raised median household income by over $6,000 in the two years prior to the pandemic, and Biden-era inflation cost the average Pennsylvanian family $28,000.
This is not just about undoing past damage — it’s also about securing the American Dream for the next generation.
This legislation will be a first step in righting our fiscal trajectory, and I, along with my Republican colleagues, remain committed to the hard work ahead of addressing our $36 trillion— and growing— national debt.
Americans have always believed in hard work, personal responsibility, and the right to keep more of what they earn. The One Big Beautiful Bill delivers on that promise — providing relief for families, certainty for businesses, and a more secure future for our nation. We will keep fighting to rein in reckless spending and restore the American Dream.
United States Representative Lloyd Smucker serves Pennsylvania’s 11th Congressional District, including Lancaster County and southern York County. He serves as Vice Chair of the House Budget Committee and is a member of the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee.