Republicans’ newly passed budget bill, promoted by former President Donald Trump as the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” would transfer billions of dollars in wealth from the nation’s poorest to its richest households, according to a new report from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO). The sweeping legislation—which narrowly passed the House on Thursday—features steep cuts to healthcare, food assistance, and student aid programs while delivering outsized tax benefits to corporations and the wealthiest Americans.
An analysis by the CBO reveals a stark redistribution of resources: “The agency estimates that in general, resources would decrease for households in the lowest decile (tenth) of the income distribution, whereas resources would increase for households in the highest decile.” Over the next ten years, households in the poorest 10 percent of the income spectrum are projected to lose 4 percent of their household resources. Meanwhile, the richest 10 percent—those making at least $170,000 annually based on 2021 data—stand to gain 2 percent, with projected gains reaching 4 percent in future years.
In total, the bill would add $3.8 trillion to the federal deficit over the next decade.
At the center of the legislation are deep cuts to programs critical to working-class families. The CBO estimates that at least 15 million people would lose health insurance coverage due to the bill’s $716 billion in cuts to Medicaid and Affordable Care Act (ACA) provisions. The Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), which currently helps feed 42 million Americans annually, would be slashed by nearly $300 billion.
The bill would also eliminate student loan aid plans and reduce funding for environmental programs, while allocating $150 billion in new funds to the Pentagon and expanding Trump’s mass deportation agenda.
These policy changes are paired with a broad package of tax cuts that disproportionately benefit the wealthiest Americans. According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), two-thirds of the tax relief would go to the top 20 percent of earners—those making $157,000 or more per year. The richest 1 percent alone would receive 24 percent of the tax cut’s total benefits.
ITEP’s analysis echoes findings from Americans for Tax Fairness, which noted that since the passage of Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, U.S. billionaires have seen their collective wealth double to $5.8 trillion. A separate analysis by RAND found that since 1975, the richest 1 percent of Americans have extracted $79 trillion in wealth from the bottom 90 percent.
Critics of the bill have called it a deliberate act of economic plunder. “Let’s call this what it is—theft,” said Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.), ranking member of the House Rules Committee. “Stealing from those with the least to give to those with the most. It’s not just bad policy, it’s a betrayal of the American people.”
Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, echoed the condemnation. “Republicans just voted for the largest cuts to healthcare in American history—cuts to Medicare, Medicaid, and the Affordable Care Act,” he said. “At least 13.7 million will now lose their healthcare as a result. And why? To pay for tax cuts for billionaires and special interests. This is a betrayal of the middle class.”
Rep. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) issued a statement denouncing the legislation as a “$7 trillion handout to billionaires,” saying, “This budget makes $880 billion in cuts that will decimate Medicaid, nearly $300 billion in cuts to food assistance, but increases the Pentagon war machine by $150 billion. It’s tax cuts for billionaires, and healthcare cuts for our families. It will take food out of the mouths of hungry kids. Nearly 14 million Americans will lose their healthcare, and thousands of people will needlessly die. We will not stop fighting to block this budget from being signed into law.”
In a dramatic floor speech just after midnight on Thursday, Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) described the bill as a theft perpetrated not in secret, but in the halls of power. “At least here tonight, the people stealing from Americans are not folks with tattoos and hoodies—it’s people wearing suits and ties and congressional pins, sitting in this Capitol right now. Not in some random alley wrapped in darkness,” he added as Republicans booed, “but in the United States Congress wrapped in the flag. It is disgusting, and we will never forget this.”
Republicans secured final passage of the bill following late-night negotiations and pressure from Trump, who pushed House leadership to bring far-right members of the party into line. The final vote passed by a margin of 215-214, with two Republicans opposing it and Rep. Andy Harris (R-Md.), chair of the House Freedom Caucus, voting “present.”
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), one of the two Republican dissenters, criticized the timing of the vote as symbolic of its political dishonesty. “If something is beautiful, you don’t do it after midnight,” he said, referencing the bill’s name.
The legislation now heads to the Republican-controlled Senate, where it is expected to face revisions. But even in its current form, analysts and lawmakers warn that the bill’s core architecture—massive transfers of public wealth to the rich and simultaneous gutting of public support systems—reflects a political strategy that prioritizes elite interests at the expense of low-income Americans.
As inflation, housing costs, and stagnant wages continue to erode basic living standards, the bill’s passage signals a deeper shift in federal policy. While many Americans struggle to afford food, shelter, and healthcare, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act accelerates an economic model critics say has long favored the ultra-wealthy.
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