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CBO Confirms With Trump-GOP 'Big, Ugly Law,' Working Families Lose 'And Billionaires Win'
"This isn't shared sacrifice—it's class warfare," said one policy expert.
Aug 11, 2025
Congressional Democrats and policy experts blasted U.S. President Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers' recently signed megabill on Monday in response to a new nonpartisan analysis about its varied impacts on American households.
U.S. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.), House Budget Committee Ranking Member Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.), and Senate Budget Committee Ranking Member Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.) requested the report from the Congressional Budget Office (CBO).
The analysis "confirms that the deeply unpopular One Big Ugly Law is also deeply unfair. It rips food and healthcare from children, veterans, and seniors, hurting the most vulnerable among us in order to enact massive tax breaks for billionaire donors," Jeffries said in a statement. "The American people deserve better than this cruel Republican budget scam."
"Hardworking families pay the biggest price while billionaires reap the reward."
The CBO said last month that the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act would add $3.4 trillion to the national deficit and cause at least 10 million people to lose health insurance over the next decade—though the latter figure ticks up when accounting for other GOP attacks on healthcare.
The agency said Monday that under the GOP law, the richest 10% of households are set to see $13,600 more annually, mainly attributable to tax cuts. Meanwhile, the poorest 10% will lose about $1,200 per year, mostly due to "reductions in in-kind transfers," such as Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP). CBO estimates that roughly 4 million Americans, including 1 million children, will see significant cuts to food aid due to the law's new restrictions.
"Trump and congressional Republicans continue to falsely claim that their Big, Ugly Betrayal of a bill is a windfall for working families. In reality, hardworking families pay the biggest price while billionaires reap the reward," declared Merkley. "It is truly unfathomable that Trump and Republicans in Congress are championing a bill that gives the top 10% $13,600 more per year—while the least affluent 10% will lose $1,200 per year. This is families lose, and billionaires win."
Also noting the projected losses and gains for the bottom and top 10% of households, Brendan Duke, senior director for federal budget policy at the progressive think tank Center on Budget and Policy Priorities (CBPP), said that "this isn't shared sacrifice—it's class warfare."
As Katie Bergh, a senior policy analyst on CBPP's food assistance team, detailed on social media Monday:
Slashing federal funding for SNAP and imposing those costs on most states will eliminate or reduce SNAP benefits for about 300,000 people in a typical month, CBO estimates. And 96,000 kids will also lose free school meals when they're cut off SNAP.
But the impacts could be far greater than CBO projects if more states slash SNAP—or opt out of the program altogether—in response to the deep cut in federal funding. The risk of these drastic cuts would increase during recessions, when state budgets are more strained.
CBO also estimates that 2.4 million people will be cut off SNAP by the dramatic expansion of SNAP's existing harsh, ineffective, and red tape-laden work requirement. Research consistently shows this policy doesn't increase employment or earnings. It just takes food away from people...
But the harm of the work requirement won't be limited to the 2.4 million adults who will be cut off SNAP. When this policy cuts an adult off SNAP, it also dramatically reduces food benefits for everyone else in the household—including kids, seniors, and people with disabilities.
The megabill will also end SNAP eligibility for tens of thousands of immigrants with a lawful status based on humanitarian need, including refugees, people granted asylum, and certain survivors of labor or sex trafficking. Again, many of those losing food assistance are children.
"Bottom line: At a time when low-income families are increasingly struggling to afford groceries, the Republican megabill means millions of them will soon be losing some or all of the help that they need to put food on the table," Bergh added.
With the president waging a tariff war on the rest of the world, polling released earlier this month shows that Americans are having a hard time with the costs of necessities, including groceries, and are stressed about it. The advocacy group Unrig Our Economy recently launched an interactive tool to help Americans see exactly how much the price of essentials has gone up in their state under Trump and Republican control of Congress.
"Prices keep rising, and American families are struggling. So what are President Trump's Republicans doing to help? They passed a law that will make things worse by stealing from working families to give billionaires a tax break," Boyle said Monday. "This nonpartisan report confirms the GOP's Big, Ugly Law is a total betrayal of the middle class. I won't let the American people forget who sold them out."
While the analysis is new, Schumer stressed that GOP lawmakers knew what they were doing when they passed the legislation.
"Today, yet another nonpartisan analysis of Trump and Republicans' 'Big, Ugly Betrayal' lays out the cold hard facts: While multimillionaires get $300,000 per year in tax breaks, the least wealthy will lose $1,200 a year," he said. "The reality is Republicans knew this when they passed it. They just don't care. They sold out American families all to line the pockets of their billionaire donors and special interests."
CBO: Trump Law Will Add $3.4 Trillion to Deficit, Boot 10 Million Off Health Insurance
"The 'Big Beautiful Bill' will cost more than it saves, and working families stand to lose the most," said one union.
Jul 21, 2025
A nonpartisan federal agency estimated Monday that the Republican megabill signed into law by U.S. President Donald Trump on July 4 will add $3.4 trillion to the national deficit and cause at least 10 million people to lose health insurance over the next decade.
Warnings about the law's impact on the national debt and the healthcare of millions—particularly Americans on Medicaid—were prominent during the GOP effort to pass the budget reconciliation package by Trump's Independence Day deadline, but they did not stop Republicans in Congress from sending the so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act to the president's desk.
When asked about the new Congressional Budget Office (CBO) analysis on Monday, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt claimed the package was "a great bill for the American people," and "a fiscally responsible bill."
Meanwhile, critics of the law used the CBO release as an opportunity to call out the GOP. In a Monday floor speech, U.S. Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) highlighted that "the number of people who will lose health insurance could be higher—as many as 15 million," when accounting for other attacks, including on the Affordable Care Act (ACA), or Obamacare.
"It betrays every family worried about paying for groceries, the mortgage, the rent, prescription drugs—all going up because of Donald Trump and his administration."
"This finalized independent analysis from the CBO confirms it: Republicans' signature bill is the ultimate betrayal of the American people," Schumer declared. "It betrays every single family who will lose health insurance. It betrays our financial future. It betrays our children and grandchildren who will pay for these billionaire tax breaks, as the debt rises and rises."
"It betrays every family worried about paying for groceries, the mortgage, the rent, prescription drugs—all going up because of Donald Trump and his administration. And it betrays every rural community that benefits from good-paying energy jobs," he continued. "Republicans' supposed signature bill betrays everyone outside of the billionaire class and the special interests."
Sarah Lueck, vice president for health policy at the progressive think tank Center on Budget and Policy Priorities said on social media that "the latest CBO estimates make clear that the so-called 'Big Beautiful Bill' is anything but—it would cause widespread harm with more than $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid and ACA marketplaces and higher costs for families trying to afford healthcare and groceries."
Lueck explained that the 15 million estimate factors in the 10 million due to health cuts in the package, 4.2 million because the legislation didn't extend expiring ACA tax credits, and more marketplace losses under Trump administration rule changes.
"The new law will take Medicaid away from people enrolled via the expansion if they don't meet a work requirement, harming parents, people with disabilities, and those with chronic illnesses. Protected groups and working people will lose coverage due to red tape," she warned. Due to the ACA expirations, Lueck added, "self-employed people, gig workers, early retirees, and low-wage workers are among those who will face steep hikes; some will end up uninsured."
The GOP package contains the biggest-ever cuts to not only Medicaid but also the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), noted Bobby Kogan, senior director of federal budget policy at another think tank, the Center for American Progress. He stressed that it will lead to "untold amounts of human suffering among the poorest people in the country."
U.S. House Budget Committee Ranking Member Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.) said in a statement that "President Trump and his Republican lapdogs can't hide from the truth. This final nonpartisan CBO estimate confirms their Big Ugly Law adds $3.4 trillion to the deficit to fund tax breaks for billionaires."
"It's one of the most expensive bills ever passed," he said. It's also one of the cruelest. More than 15 million Americans will lose their healthcare because of the law's assault on Medicaid and Republican plans to dismantle the ACA. I was proud to lead the fight against this disastrous law and will continue working to remind the American people who sold them out, and who's still fighting for them."
Unrig Our Economy campaign director Leor Tal responded to the CBO's findings by pointing to recent CNN polling that shows roughly 6 in 10 Americans oppose the new Republican law.
"It's easy to see why the vast majority of Americans oppose this pro-billionaire agenda," said Tal. "Republicans in Congress just jeopardized health coverage for millions of Americans, SNAP benefits for millions of children and families, and the existence of hundreds of rural hospitals across the country—all so they could give another tax break to the richest of the rich. We will continue to hold Republicans' feet to the fire for voting for this massive betrayal of American families."
'Extra Cruel': Trump Admin Ends Job Program for Seniors as Work Requirements Loom
"Many of our participants are living on the edge of poverty," said the head of one organization impacted by the termination of the Senior Community Service Employment Program.
Jul 20, 2025
The Trump administration has reportedly terminated the Department of Labor's only job training program for low-income seniors, a decision that came as older Americans braced for new work reporting requirements under the Republican budget law enacted earlier this month.
Bloomberg Law reported Friday that the Labor Department "quietly ended" its Senior Community Service Employment Program (SCSEP), which helped low-income Americans aged 55 or older find part-time employment or job training at nonprofits and government agencies. The program, described as a bridge to full-time employment, served tens of thousands of people across the country.
Groups that received funding under SCSEP, such as the National Council on Aging and Goodwill Industries, "say the program stopped giving them money after June 30," according to Bloomberg Law, which reported that the Labor Department "hasn't made available the roughly $300 million set aside for national grant recipients."
The Trump White House has proposed zeroing out funding for SCSEP in its budget request for fiscal year 2026, smearing the program as an "earmark to leftist, DEI-promoting entities."
In a July 17 letter to Labor Secretary Lori Chavez-DeRemer and Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought, a group of Democratic lawmakers led by Rep. Judy Chu (D-Calif.) warned that the withholding of SCSEP funds has already had "devastating impacts," pointing to program grantees in several states that have been forced to furlough thousands of low-income seniors.
Clayton Fong, president and CEO of the National Asian Pacific Center on Aging, said earlier this month that the funding delay "is not just a bureaucratic issue—it's a crisis for tens of thousands of older adults who depend on SCSEP to survive."
"Many of our participants are living on the edge of poverty," said Fong. "SCSEP gives them purpose, dignity, and the ability to put food on the table. The longer this delay continues, the deeper the harm is."
Bloomberg Law noted that the impact of the ending of SCSEP "could be particularly dire for the thousands of participants who will have to find work or volunteer hours to keep their public health insurance coverage."
"The cruelty is the point," former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich wrote on social media in response to Bloomberg Law's reporting.
Just piling up the bad news today...Our nationwide job training program for low-income seniors has had bipartisan support for decades.It's extra cruel to end it right on the heels of new work requirements to access Medicaid and food assistance.
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— Alt U.S. Department of Labor (@alt-dol.altgov.info) Jul 18, 2025 at 10:15 AM
Millions of older Americans receive health coverage through Medicaid. The AARP Public Policy Institute has estimated that 9 million Medicaid recipients between the ages of 50 and 64 will be subject to the Trump-GOP budget law's work requirements, which mandate that certain enrollees engage in work, job training, or other qualifying activities for at least 80 hours per month—or lose coverage.
The mandates are set to take effect late next year, after the 2026 midterm elections.
The Republican law also expands work requirements for recipients of federal nutrition assistance, raising the age limit for the mandates from 55 to 64. Millions of older adults are enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program nationwide.
"We believe every American deserves to age with dignity—and that requires affordable access to the basics of life such as food and healthcare," Ramsey Alwin, president and CEO of the National Council on Aging, said earlier this month after Republicans pushed the budget measure through Congress. "This act would put that further out of reach for millions of older Americans in need."
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