How "beautiful" is Trump's new budget bill?
The US Congress passed the new tax and spending bill presented by President Trump as his "big, beautiful bill". Among other things, it provides for lower income tax rates, expanded tax breaks for businesses and higher child tax credits. These measures are to be partially offset by spending cuts, primarily in the areas of health and education.
Children will die
Aftonbladet fears grave consequences:
“The 'big, beautiful bill', as he calls it, is a jackpot for the country's high earners. Tax cuts for the rich, higher military spending and more deportations are some of the reforms he likes to talk about. But how is the additional spending to be financed? Mainly through cuts in Medicaid. ... More children will die if their parents can't afford medicine and healthcare. ... But Trump doesn't seem to care.”
This could prove costly for the Republicans
Hospodářské noviny criticises the counter-financing through savings in the healthcare sector:
“Every American knows that medical treatment can ruin them financially or have lifelong health consequences if they don't have the necessary money or insurance. About a tenth of Americans don't have health insurance, and if Trump's bill is passed in its current form, up to sixteen million more of the poorest in the country will lose their health insurance. The dispute over the Medicaid programme, which Trump wants to massively cut with his proposal, could prove to be the key to a Republican defeat in the 2026 Congress elections. According to polls, half of Americans are already against the law.”
Steamrolling his own camp too
The law was also controversial among Republicans, De Standaard points out:
“Trump showed little interest in the details of the bill, but demanded a text that was 'big and beautiful' and threatened to punish Congress members who refused to go along with it. With his combination of intimidation and charismatic influencing of the Republican base the president gets his party members to do things that go against the interests of their voters – as well as their own interests.”
A big beautiful bomb on its own economy
The US is doing itself a disservice with this bill, says The Daily Telegraph:
“Donald Trump's 'big beautiful bill' marks a wholesale retreat from swaths of advanced manufacturing and energy technology. It abandons a central front of the Sino-American superpower contest without a fight. ... The big bill is the latest in a series of Luddite measures that let China run away with the electro-tech revolution and much of the future global market for cars, trucks, short-haul aviation, home heating and cooling, smart grids, power storage and the products that deliver the cheapest energy ever known to man. ... America has just dropped a big, beautiful, bunker-busting bomb on its own economy.”