by Daniel Brouse
July 22, 2025
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has released its updated score for the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (H.R. 1), revealing the harsh reality behind the rhetoric: the bill will add a staggering $3.394 trillion to the federal deficit over the next decade.
This makes it the largest deficit-increasing bill in U.S. history, surpassing even the most aggressive tax cut and spending packages previously enacted. The bill’s massive fiscal hole is driven by a toxic mix of regressive tax cuts disguised as “relief,” unsustainable tariffs that slow economic growth while raising consumer prices, and a debt ceiling increase that fuels unchecked borrowing without a plan for repayment.
In addition to its fiscal recklessness, the CBO estimates that 10 million Americans will lose their health insurance coverage due to the bill’s provisions, including cuts and structural changes to the Affordable Care Act (ACA) and Medicaid. Many of those affected will be working families, children, the elderly, and individuals in rural communities where hospital systems are already under severe strain.
The bill’s healthcare provisions will trigger a ripple effect throughout the healthcare system, leading to hospital closures, increased uncompensated care, and additional costs shifted to those with private insurance. It will also force states to either cut essential services or raise taxes locally to fill the gaps left by federal retrenchment.
In another blow to the economy, the bill shifts over $100 billion to Homeland Security and ICE to expand mass deportation infrastructure, detention centers, and border militarization. This funding shift drains resources from productive sectors such as healthcare, education, and clean energy while providing no economic return. Instead, it actively reduces workforce availability, disrupts communities, and increases labor shortages, particularly in agriculture, healthcare, and service industries that depend heavily on immigrant labor. The mass deportation policies undermine consumption, slow GDP growth, and further strain local economies already grappling with inflation and rising interest rates.
Beyond healthcare and labor impacts, the bill weakens the long-term stability of Social Security and Medicare by reducing the tax base while the aging population continues to expand. Combined with anti-immigration measures that reduce the labor force and slow GDP growth, the economic drag from this bill will be far greater than its headline deficit figure suggests.
In short, while branded as “beautiful,” the bill is a fiscal and humanitarian disaster, prioritizing ideological goals and corporate giveaways over the stability and well-being of the American people. As interest payments on the debt soar, essential public investments in infrastructure, education, and climate resilience will be crowded out, ensuring future generations inherit not prosperity, but a weakened, debt-ridden nation.
The “One Big Beautiful Bill” is not only a policy failure but a clear sign of a government prioritizing short-term optics over the long-term health, economic security, and global competitiveness of the United States.