Here’s 12 Things Republicans Hid in Their Big Ugly Bill
By New Dem Leadership Member Andrea Salinas (OR-06)
Congresswoman Andrea Salinas represents Oregon’s 6th district, and serves as a New Dem Leadership Member in the 119th Congress.
Republicans’ Big Ugly Bill is also a Big Bloated Bill. At nearly 1,000 pages long, it’s packed with harmful policies that will make everyday Americans less healthy and less wealthy, all while giving tax breaks to the ultra-rich.
New Dems have joined hundreds of lawmakers and news outlets in emphasizing the major consequences of this legislation, from ripping healthcare away from 17 million Americans to cutting food assistance and adding trillions to the national debt.
But that’s just part of the story. This week, I joined the Fly-In podcast, hosted by my colleagues Reps. Greg Landsman and Marc Veasey, where we talked through some of the lesser-known provisions Republicans included in this bill.
Following up on that conversation, I’m sharing the full list of 12 policies Republicans jammed into the bill under the radar, and why they matter to everyday Americans:
1. Tax cuts for private jet purchases.
While the lowest-income households lose money thanks to this bill, billionaires will be getting even more tax cuts on their private jets and company cars. Republicans added a provision that restores the major corporate tax break known as 100% bonus depreciation, so Bezos et al. can buy a $50 million jet and deduct the entire sum from their taxes the year of the purchase (rather than distributing it over several years).
That means everyday Americans who lose their healthcare or their food assistance while facing higher taxes and higher prices will be subsidizing billionaire spending sprees to the tune of $378 billion over the next 10 years.
2. Student loans will skyrocket.
The bill includes several provisions that not only force students to pay more by gutting loan forgiveness and eliminating all but two repayment plans, but also cap lifetime borrowing limits for graduate school at $100,000 and medical and law school at $200,000. These maximum borrowing amounts won’t cover the cost of many graduate degrees, including medical and law degrees, exacerbating the existing shortage of doctors (already expected to reach 86,000 by 2026). As if that weren’t enough, the bill also sets a cap on what parents can pay for dependent undergraduate students...
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