On July 4, President Trump signed what is possibly the largest bill of his second term so far. The “One Big Beautiful Bill” is an outline of Trump-approved legislation put forth by the majority-Republican Congress. Many Democrats, however, have objections to the bill. The White House’s website lists some of the promises made by Trump, including border safety, economic growth, and more.
One of the most notable statements in this bill is the tax breaks. It states that there will be no taxes on salaries, like overtime pay or tips from customers, and no tax on Social Security contributions. While these sound great at face value, not-so-hidden in the bill are bigger tax breaks to the wealthy that would ultimately leave small businesses and low-income families broken. Many are skeptical of the bill, while others believe what the Trump Administration said. The bill not only promises more money in Americans’ pockets, but the bill supposedly helped over 124 thousand Minnesotans keep their jobs. But these are only a few of the effects the bill has had on the economy.
“The major problem with the Bill is that it decreased health benefits for average Americans without reducing the national debt,” Columbia Heights High School (CHHS) Social Studies teacher Dan Tschida said.
One of the more controversial changes in the bill is the Trump Administration’s attempt to get rid of funding in areas of green energy. According to The Hill, over $7 billion has been cut from green energy in states that former Vice President Kamala Harris won during the 2024 presidential election. While Trump has called green energy “Biden’s anti-energy agenda,” it’s necessary in order to minimize the damage that regular energy causes to the global climate. According to Earth.org, since Trump’s second inauguration, there has been a revival in fossil fuels as all efforts made by former President Joe Biden are slowly being undone and allowing more environmentally dangerous actions to be done.
One of the most notable threats to Minnesota is the possible mining of the Boundary Waters area. The Republican Party has stated there were efforts to repeal the 20-year ban of mining in the Boundary Waters. Experts say that allowing mining in this area would contaminate it with copper, which would cause irreversible damage to the water and the area around it. As a result, a petition to stop the mining has begun at Save the Boundary Waters.
Alongside environmental concerns are plans to secure the border of the United States. This is the most controversial plan of President Donald Trump, and it has many people scared for their own safety. Trump’s bill clearly aligns with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE), a government agency that seeks to enforce immigration laws throughout the country. The main stated goal of ICE is to secure the border and stop crimes like illegal immigration, human trafficking and drug trafficking, but it’s not just deportations and anti-crime measures that are being strongly implemented, as President Trump is promising to also further enforce security at the southern border (not to mention target individuals who may or may not be in America without documentation).
The Big Beautiful Bill specifically includes provisions to finish building the wall around the U.S.-Mexico border that Trump wanted in his first term and also use new technology to see who and what is coming towards the border at any given time. According to Trump, these new changes will protect children from exploitation and also stop the fentanyl flow. But this is misdirection too: undocumented immigrants are, in actuality, make up about 0.02% of the suppliers of fentanyl in America. These kinds of messages have caused immigrants both with and without documentation to fear for their future. Democrats are opposed to these changes and continue to fight them as they come.
“The bill reduces taxes for the wealthy but is not designed to be for the average American,” Elk Krueger (11) said. “It also slashes social aid programs, which will make the less wealthy have a more difficult time getting by.”
Trump’s bill lacked so much support that it led to a government shutdown from October 1 through November 10. Of course, while the republicans blamed democrats for the shutdown, the same is true for the democrats blaming republicans. A PBS news poll shows that more people blame the Republican Party rather than the Democratic Party for the shutdown. The shutdown not only impacted public opinion of these parties but also numerous jobs, with soldiers serving without getting a paycheck for their service and federal employees getting temporarily laid off until the government can pay them. This isn’t the first government shutdown that has happened either—during President Trump’s first term, there were three, already making him the U.S. leader with the most shuttered days in D.C. ever. Trump has stated that government shutdowns are good since they can act as leverage—an admission that shows the commander-in-chief’s unwillingness to show concern for struggling Americans.
While the “Big Beautiful Bill” outlines a lot of desirable but deceiving changes to legislation, such as tax breaks, a safer country and faster access to energy, these decisions don’t come without some flaws and opposition from Democrats. The bill seeks to undermine so much of what Joe Biden did while he was in office, making Trump’s promise of a better America feel more out of reach than ever before.
