As Republican lawmakers race to pass President Donald Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” by July 4, some of its supporters are giving dire warnings if it fails, like Sen. John Kennedy (R-LA), who on Tuesday warned that the economy would crash like “a fat guy on a seesaw” were the bill’s tax cuts – largely enjoyed by the wealthiest Americans – not extended.
“If we don’t pass this bill, you raise taxes $4.3 trillion on 300-plus million Americans, and you’ll watch this economy go down like a fat guy on a seesaw,” Kennedy said, speaking on the Senate floor. “We don’t have a choice.”
Under the sweeping budget reconciliation package known as the "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," tax cuts implemented during Trump’s first term, known as the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, would be extended indefinitely at a cost of more than $4 trillion over 10 years.
Extending the tax cuts is estimated to save Americans with annual incomes of more than $500,000 approximately $1.1 trillion, per estimates from the Congressional Budget Office, with the majority of tax benefits going to the top 20% of income earners.
The bill also outlines significant cuts to non-defense spending, including approximately $1.1 trillion in cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, and Medicaid.
Kennedy characterized not passing the bill as effectively a tax hike, the largest in history, and pushed back on the notion that it disproportionately benefits wealthier Americans.
“There are two doors here,” he said. “Door number one, pass it, largest tax cut in the history of America, door number two, don’t pass it, largest tax increase; $4.3 trillion, that’s how much taxes will go up on ordinary Americans, and not just (on) the rich, I know they’re going to tell you that.”