Lewiston Tribune: Don’t Believe All the False Claims About the Big Beautiful Bill
Opinion by Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), Chairman of the U.S. Senate Finance Committee
In response to the July 11 Lewiston Tribune opinion piece “What Mike Crapo did with his vote” by Marc Johnson: I was proud to stand next to President Donald Trump when he signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act into law because it will greatly benefit Idahoans by preventing the largest tax increase in history, making pro-growth tax policies permanent to improve the economic outlook for Idaho families and businesses, and providing additional tax relief to hardworking Idahoans and job creators. It also ensures a more responsible use of taxpayer dollars by eliminating waste, fraud and abuse in federal spending programs and reducing deficit spending.
Despite the significant benefits the law will deliver for everyday Idahoans, critics have repeatedly put forward false claims that the law overwhelmingly benefits the wealthy, shreds the social safety net and puts rural hospitals at greater risk of closure. Opponents of President Trump’s bill have steadily launched the misleading narrative that the new law is “tax cuts for billionaires and corporations” to try to hide the fact that it prevents massive across-the-board tax hikes — to the tune of more than $4 trillion — and provides targeted tax relief that overwhelmingly benefits low- and middle-class families and workers.
According to the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation — which previously estimated the bill provides more than $600 billion in new tax relief to middle-class households — the largest proportional benefits in new tax relief go to workers and families making less than $50,000. New policies like a standard deduction boost, an increased child tax credit, enhanced child care affordability, no taxes on tips, no taxes on overtime, additional tax relief for seniors and savings accounts for children are hardly benefits for “billionaires.”
Where Medicaid is concerned, opponents of curbing federal government spending have engaged in the politics of fear, warning that hospitals will close, people will lose coverage and lives are at risk.
The truth is curbing waste, fraud and abuse in the Medicaid program provides past-due and desperately needed improvements to the program and does not jeopardize rural hospitals.
While Medicaid was created to help pregnant women, children, seniors and Americans with disabilities, in recent years, Democrats have incentivized states to enroll healthy Americans and noncitizens into the Medicaid program, driving up costs for taxpayers and risking the program’s sustainability for those who need it most. As a result, Medicaid spending has ballooned, with outlays increasing 50% since 2019. This rate of expansion is unsustainable and puts the future of the program at risk.
Rural hospitals have faced ongoing issues for many years, including outdated technology, an inadequate workforce and inappropriate reimbursement structures. There are multiple federal programs designed to support rural facilities and the One Big Beautiful Bill does not alter any of these programs.
It does, however, establish a $50 billion Rural Transformation Fund to provide additional relief to rural hospitals, 50% of which will be divided equally among states. This means Idaho’s rural hospitals will receive significant, immediate financial assistance. And because rural hospitals’ vulnerabilities are unique, it allows the states — which know the issues in their communities better than the federal government — to work with providers to determine the best use of funds.
At the same time, the bill ends the gimmicks and loopholes that other states have used to get higher Medicaid payments from the federal government. These changes do not affect Idaho, which has been a responsible steward of federal taxpayer dollars. But for the states that need help re-focusing their Medicaid programs, the aforementioned rural hospital fund can serve as a bridge, allowing them to establish the tools necessary to stabilize vulnerable facilities in the short-term while creating a long-term rural transformation plan.
A far cry from gutting health care, the bill arguably makes the single largest investment in rural health care since the Medicare Modernization Act of 2003. It is an efficient way to direct federal taxpayer dollars that ensures the sustainability of our rural health care facilities while protecting Idaho taxpayers from waste, fraud and abuse.
The law also takes commonsense steps to ensure Medicaid payments are not going to certain noncitizens, beneficiaries who have died or are enrolled in multiple states, and increases the frequency of eligibility verifications for able-bodied adults. It establishes work requirements for able-bodied adults and asks them to work, enroll in school or volunteer for 20 hours per week in order to receive taxpayer-subsidized Medicaid coverage. This does not apply to anyone who is disabled, pregnant or caring for young children, among other exemptions.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act is significant and sweeping, and I expect questions from Idahoans to better understand its impact. But it is important that the facts do not get buried by the many false narratives and misleading rhetoric being advanced. I continue to maintain extending pro-growth tax policy, delivering targeted tax relief for middle-class families and workers, and reining in wasteful spending is the best way to restore economic prosperity and opportunity for Idahoans, and this law takes necessary and overdue steps to do just that.
Crapo, R-Idaho, represents Idaho in the U.S. Senate, where he chairs the Finance Committee.
