Congress Enacts Tax Bill Cutting Medicaid, SNAP Coverage

President Trump signed the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," a sweeping budget and tax package that enacts significant Medicaid and Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) cuts, potentially stripping approximately 16 million Americans of health insurance and imperiling rural hospitals. The legislation also includes provisions targeting reproductive rights, such as banning federal Medicaid payments to providers offering abortion services, which threatens to close about one-third of Planned Parenthood clinics nationwide. While Democrats uniformly opposed the bill, only a handful of Republicans joined them in dissent. The bill enshrines permanent tax cuts favoring the ultra-wealthy, including provisions such as tax breaks for private jets and expanded depreciation rules for business investments, while limiting benefits for working- and middle-class Americans. Analysis shows that over 70% of the net tax cuts will benefit the richest 20% of Americans, with the top 1% receiving disproportionately large benefits that far exceed those for the bottom 60%. Meanwhile, tariffs imposed by the Trump administration are expected to negate much of the tax relief for lower-income groups, further exacerbating economic disparities.