Unraveling the Big Beautiful Bill Spin
President Donald Trump asked for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act to reach his desk by Independence Day, and congressional Republicans delivered. On July 3, the House of Representatives passed the final version of the massive budget bill, which now goes to the president for his signature.
As proponents and opponents of the legislation worked in recent days to sway their colleagues to vote for or against the bill, lawmakers on both sides ramped up the rhetoric about what would happen if it became law. Six of our fact-checkers addressed some of the competing claims from Republicans and Democrats.
Republican Sen. Markwayne Mullin said “the average household of four is going to bring home pay over $10,000 more a year” because of the bill, and Trump said it would be "at least $13,000." But both were citing the high end of optimistic estimates from the White House's own Council of Economic Advisers, estimates that the nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget said were based on "fantasy growth assumptions."
Meanwhile, Democratic Sen. Mark Warner cited the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office when he claimed “this bill will kick about 16 million Americans off of health care." But he exaggerated the CBO's estimate, which was that 11.8 million more people would become uninsured in 2034 because of the Senate's version of the bill.
Our team also explained why Democrats and independent analyses said the Senate bill will add at least $3.3 trillion to the federal deficit, while the White House said it will reduce the deficit by $1.4 trillion. It depends whether the bill's extension of expiring tax cuts is counted as new spending.
For the full analysis of those and other claims, read: Unraveling the Big Beautiful Bill Spin.
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