OSHKOSH, Wis. (WFRV) – Throughout Northeast Wisconsin, there are a lot of different opinions on whether the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill’ is actually beautiful.
President Trump’s bill continues to make its way through Congress. The president has said he wants it on his desk to sign by the Fourth of July holiday.
The 940-page bill includes about $3.5 trillion worth of tax cuts with significant slashes to Medicaid, food assistance programs, and clean energy investments, offsetting the lost revenue from the tax cuts and other spending in the bill.
“This will make this country safer, stronger, and more prosperous,” said Senate Majority Leader John Thune.
The bill also includes no taxes on tips or overtime and renews Trump’s signature tax cut program that he signed during his first term. The White House has called it the ‘largest middle- and working-class tax cut in U.S. history.’
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An analysis published Monday by the Yale Budget Lab found that the bill positively impacts richer folks and corporations to a greater extent than more middle-class and poorer folks.
“This is the most egregious, immoral, hostile bill that our communities have ever faced,” said the executive director of ‘Fair Share America,’ Kristen Crowell.
Crowell and others in her group have been on a cross-country tour to voice their concerns about the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill.’ They stopped in Oshkosh on Monday afternoon, marking their 18th stop on the tour.
People had a chance to sign the bus and hear stories of how this bill would negatively impact community members if it were to be signed into law.
“Right now we’re taking all the support away from regular people and giving it to rich people,” said Gary Prost of Oshkosh, who attended the rally. “Not just rich people, but fat cats who don’t need any more money.”
Deep cuts to Medicaid and federal food assistance programs have drawn the ire of people all over Northeast Wisconsin. The impact of these cuts was a frequent talking point on the bus tour stop in Oshkosh. Up in Appleton at a forum designed for community members to learn about how legislation in Madison and Washington, D.C. impacts them at home, people there also said they were concerned about the cuts in the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill.’
According to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, at least 11.8 million Americans would lose their health insurance by 2034 if this bill were to pass.
“With the Medicaid cuts, the SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance programs) cuts, there are veterans who are on SNAP who are on Medicaid, I was on Medicaid,” said U.S. Navy veteran Alicia Saunders. “With these cuts, veterans are going to suffer along with their families.”
“What is happening here is we are scapegoating a lot of working families and working people and seeing that there’s going to be huge breaks for people on the tippy tippy top of that mountain,” said Emily Tseffos. ”We want to see the average Wisconsinite championed in those bills.”
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Republicans say they’re simply adding eligibility and work requirements for Medicaid recipients to weed out fraud and waste and make sure that only those who actually need it can access the programs.
The bill also invests billions of dollars in defense spending and immigration enforcement, including funds for the Trump administration’s deportation efforts. Republican lawmakers are largely in favor of this bill.
“For the last several months, Congressional Republicans have worked hand in hand with President Trump to craft One Big Beautiful Bill that will allow us to enact the America First agenda that the American people overwhelmingly voted for. I look forward to receiving the bill back from the Senate this week so my colleagues and I can work together to get this over the finish line to lower taxes for working families, secure the border, and rein in reckless federal spending.”
—U.S. Representative Tony Wied
“Biden and the Democrats left behind enormous messes that we are trying to clean up – an open border, wars, and massive deficits. After working for weeks with President Trump and his highly capable economic team, I am convinced that he views this as a necessary first step and will support my efforts to help put America on a path to fiscal sustainability.”
—U.S. Senator Ron Johnson
