The Big Ugly Betrayal: How Trump's Senate Bill Shreds America
GOP Pushes Through Devastating Legislation with Tie-Breaker from VP J.D. Vance—The Poor Pay, the Rich Rejoice
Washington, D.C., July 1, 2025 — The U.S. Senate today sealed the fate of millions of Americans by passing what is now widely referred to as “Trump’s Big Ugly Bill,” a draconian piece of legislation with catastrophic consequences for healthcare, the social safety net, environmental protections, and the nation’s economic health. Vice President J.D. Vance, fulfilling his loyalty oath to Donald Trump rather than the Constitution, cast the deciding vote in a deadlocked 50–50 Senate, giving this monstrous bill a green light to march toward final passage.
This bill is not just “ugly”—it is a legislative act of economic violence, the likes of which we have not seen in a generation.
Senate Version: Even Uglier Than the House's Disaster
While the House version passed last week drew immediate fire for gutting essential services and lavishing tax cuts on the ultra-wealthy, the Senate version is somehow worse. It deepens the cuts and broadens the cruelty, expanding the attack on Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security, while also slashing veterans’ healthcare funding, women’s reproductive health, environmental enforcement, food security, and disability protections.
Compared to the House version, the Senate bill:
Cuts an additional $300 billion from Medicaid over the next 10 years.
Raises the Social Security retirement age to 70.
Caps Medicare spending growth below inflation, effectively slashing benefits.
Defunds Planned Parenthood entirely and strips Title X funding nationwide.
Guts the EPA’s enforcement capabilities and eliminates 43 climate programs.
Eliminates Section 8 housing expansions and freezes SNAP benefits.
Imposes “means-testing” and work requirements on disabled Americans.
According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), the bill will add $2.4 trillion to the national debt over the next decade due to massive tax breaks for the richest 0.1% and large corporations. Meanwhile, it would reduce taxes for the bottom 60% of Americans by a mere $28 dollars annually on average—barely enough to buy a tank of gas under Trump-era inflation. That means, according to projections similar to those made during the original 2017 Trump tax cuts, the bottom 60% of earners (which includes low-income and middle-class Americans) would see, on average, a total tax reduction of just $28 over the course of an entire year under this new Senate version of the bill.
This estimate is in stark contrast to the $170,000+ annual savings projected for the wealthiest 1% and large corporations. The $28 figure—about 54 cents a week—is not enough to meaningfully offset rising costs in healthcare, food, housing, and fuel, all of which are exacerbated by policies in the very same bill.
The Republican Senators Who Opposed It—Barely
Only four Republican Senators broke ranks to vote against the bill:
Lisa Murkowski (R-AK)
Susan Collins (R-ME)
Mitt Romney (R-UT)
Bill Cassidy (R-LA)
But even their defiance was tinged with political calculation. Murkowski reportedly extracted a multi-billion-dollar oil and gas expansion deal in the Arctic in exchange for her support in committee, only to vote against the bill on the floor when she was assured it would pass without her.
As for Senator Susan Collins, her routine performance played out exactly as expected: she voted to advance the bill out of committee and onto the floor, but ultimately cast a “No” vote—after receiving the wink and nod from Senator John Thune and the Trump war room that her vote wouldn’t jeopardize passage. Her vote was meaningless symbolism masquerading as moral conscience.
Democratic Amendments Crushed Without Debate
Over 38 amendments proposed by Democratic senators were tabled or defeated in near party-line votes. Among them:
Senator Adam Schiff’s Amendment to restore full SNAP benefits and remove work requirements for seniors and disabled Americans was voted down 51–49. GOP senators called it “fiscally irresponsible” even as they handed corporations another $600 billion in breaks.
Senator Tammy Baldwin proposed protecting funding for rural hospitals and telehealth expansion—rejected.
Senator Raphael Warnock’s amendment to shield veterans' healthcare and suicide prevention programs from cuts? Defeated.
Not a single Democratic amendment was adopted. Not one.
The Human Toll: Cruelty by Design
The impact will be swift and merciless:
Over 18 million Americans are projected to lose Medicaid coverage in the next 18 months.
6 million seniors will face higher Medicare premiums and out-of-pocket costs.
Nearly 800 rural hospitals, already on the brink, will face immediate closures, and independent physician practices will be swallowed up or shuttered entirely.
7.5 million children and disabled Americans on SSI and SNAP will see drastic reductions in benefits.
This is not governance. It is structural abandonment of the most vulnerable.
Tax Cuts for Billionaires, Austerity for Everyone Else
The Senate version extends and expands Trump’s 2017 tax cuts—making permanent the top-bracket and capital gains reductions and doubling corporate deductions for outsourcing jobs overseas. The top 1% of earners will see tax windfalls averaging $170,000 annually, while the bottom half of Americans will save less than $40. This is Robin Hood in reverse, turbocharged.
Republican senators defending the bill claimed the tax cuts would “pay for themselves”—a lie disproven by the CBO’s projection of $2.4 trillion in added debt. But the real reason is simpler: fear of Donald Trump.
Even though he is a convicted felon and constitutionally barred from taking office again without legal miracles, Trump wields his cultish base like a cudgel. GOP senators are so terrified of his wrath, his social media insults, and potential primary challengers that they abandon their oaths and sacrifice their integrity with ritualistic obedience.
What Happens Next: House GOP on the Hot Seat
Because the Senate bill differs significantly from the House’s, it now returns to the lower chamber for either:
1. Reconciliation in conference, which could take weeks and ignite further chaos within the fractured GOP caucus.
2. Straight-up House acceptance, which Elise Stefanik and Majority Leader Jim Jordan are now scrambling to push, fearing Trump’s fury more than public backlash.
Already, members of the House Freedom Caucus are warning of a “sellout” if any Senate compromises are diluted.
But make no mistake: any member of the U.S. House who votes for this atrocity in its current form will be complicit in economic cruelty, systemic disenfranchisement, and legislative malfeasance.
A Final Word: The Worst Is Yet to Come
This bill is not about helping the American people. It is about consolidating wealth, feeding corporate greed, punishing the vulnerable, and appeasing the shadow rule of a man obsessed with vengeance and power.
This is not conservative governance. It is economic sadism.
Every Representative and Senator who supports this abomination should remember: the oath of office is to the Constitution, not to Donald J. Trump. The American people will not forget who stood with the oppressed—and who stood with the oppressors.
The Big Ugly Bill is not just a legislative package. It is a moral disgrace.
And it’s just the beginning.