Tag Archive for: one big beautiful bill act

Real Wage Growth and Bigger Refunds: GOP Touts ‘One Big, Beautiful Bill’ on Tax Day

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President Donald Trump and Republicans are hoping to cash in politically on the extra amount of cash in Americans’ wallets this Tax Day.

Across the country, Americans are cashing in on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s tax provisions and receiving a boost from real wage growth in the Trump economy.

“This tax season, nearly half of all filers have claimed tax cuts that every single congressional Democrat voted against,” House Majority Whip Tom Emmer, R-Minn., told The Daily Signal.

The financial relief from the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, now commonly referred to as the Working Families Tax Cuts by Republicans in Congress, has become a major talking point for the GOP in recent months, as the party argues that strong economic fundamentals have helped soften the economic impact of the war in Iran.

Key Provisions Target Workers, Families, and Seniors

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent recently announced that “nearly half of all filers” have benefited from at least one of the benefits included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act’s tax cuts. More than 4.6 million have claimed no tax on tips; nearly 20 million have claimed no tax on overtime.

The largest provisions included in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act include the child tax credit, no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, senior deductions, and deductions on car loan interest.

Daniel Kowalski, director of the Grover M. Hermann Center for the Federal Budget, noted to The Daily Signal other provisions that are making an economic impact. “OBBB provisions, such as permanent full expensing of business equipment, stimulate business investment and drive increased productivity, which leads to higher real wages for workers,” Kowalski said.

According to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, even though inflation is rising, wages are also increasing. From February 2025 to February 2026, average wages increased faster than inflation, resulting in higher real wages.

The IRS reported that cumulative refunds reached $221.7 billion at the start of March, a 13.6% increase from 2025, and almost a 20% increase since Joe Biden was in office in 2024. The average refund is set to be over $3,500, an 11% increase from last year.

“The Working Families Tax Cuts show, once again, that Republicans are putting hardworking Americans first, while Democrats obstruct and make life harder for the American people,” Emmer continued.

Sen. Ron Johnson, R-Wis., told The Daily Signal he thinks the rebrand of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act to the Working Families Tax Cuts is worthwhile. “People are very pleasantly surprised at the amount of refunds they are getting, and it’s made a big difference,” Johnson said.

“What’s been made pretty obvious is Republicans now are the party of working Americans and Democrats the party of illegal immigrants,” Johnson claimed.

Iran War and Energy Costs Cloud Economic Outlook

The war in Iran, the closing of the Strait of Hormuz, and increasing oil costs will “probably have a pretty big impact” on the economy, Johnson also claimed.

But Johnson believes the tax cuts “will certainly counteract any of the negatives of the war in Iran.”

Johnson reiterated that without the tax cuts, there would have been “a massive automatic tax increase” because the Tax Cuts and Jobs Act was set to expire. The staved-off tax hike was expected to cost Americans trillions of dollars in taxes.

“Whether it’s no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, the increased child tax credit, or the Social Security tax deduction, everyday Americans are the real winners of Republicans’ historic tax cuts,” Emmer concluded.

AUTHOR

Virginia Grace McKinnon

Virginia Grace McKinnon is a journalism fellow at The Daily Signal. Send an email to Virginia Grace. Virginia on X: .

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Democrats Plan To Shutdown ICE Funding Has Already Been Foiled

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The Democrats’ effort to block funding for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) as part of a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) appropriations fight has so far failed to derail ICE funding.

In July, Congress passed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, setting aside roughly $170 billion for immigration enforcement and border security, including about $75  billion in supplemental funding for ICE, making it one of the most heavily funded federal law enforcement agencies.

Even if parts of the federal government shut down at the end of the week, ICE and CBP operations in Minneapolis and across the country are expected to continue uninterrupted. ICE agents are classified as “excepted” workers, allowing them to remain on duty during a funding lapse, and the agency still has substantial carryover funds from last year’s Trump-backed appropriations.

Although Democrats’ attempt to curtail ICE funding has not prevailed, outrage over the fatal shooting of Alex Pretti — a U.S. citizen and intensive care nurse killed by a Border Patrol agent in Minneapolis over the weekend — has escalated tensions in Congress.

Pretti’s death incident has sparked intensified scrutiny of ICE and CBP operations nationwide, with Senate Democrats warning they will oppose the DHS funding bill unless it is reworked to include meaningful limits on immigration enforcement — a standoff that could help trigger a partial government shutdown as the funding deadline looms. (RELATED: Minnesota Judge Threatens To Hold ICE Head In Contempt)

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer announced Saturday in a post on X that Democrats will withhold the votes needed to advance the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) funding measure unless it is revised to address concerns over ICE and other immigration enforcement practices, highlighting growing resistance within his party to including DHS funding in the broader appropriations package.

Although ICE would continue operating during a shutdown, Democrats, including Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer and head of the Congressional Progressive Caucus Texas Rep. Greg Casar, have argued since the fatal Alex Pretti shooting that the funding bill goes beyond immigration enforcement and have demanded changes to DHS and ICE policies as a condition for their support.

On Jan. 13, Casar, urged Senate Democrats to insist on reforms to ICE before they vote for a major spending bill.

Casar laid out a series of nonnegotiable demands for changes to ICE’s operations as part of any DHS funding bill, calling for federal immigration agents to withdraw from Minneapolis and halt similar operations in other cities and for independent investigations into any deaths involving federal agents, according to an interview with The Guardian.

The White House and Republicans both contacted Senate Democrats late Sunday, but no realistic solutions have been proposed so far, according to a PBS News report, citing an anonymous Senate Democratic leadership aide.

Although the shooting has sharply escalated tensions in Congress, Republicans have resisted separating DHS funding from the larger spending package, and operations by ICE and U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) are still expected to continue uninterrupted — in part because both agencies are funded as “essential” through carryover appropriations.

The legislation also provides funding for agencies like Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) — especially important as 12 states remain under disaster declarations — and the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), which is already grappling with major travel disruptions. As a result, failing to pass the bill could have serious consequences for essential government services unrelated to immigration.

A spokesperson for Republican Senate Majority Leader John Thune, when asked about the ongoing talks with Democrat leadership, told the Daily Caller that Democrats have already acknowledged ICE would continue operating even if part of the government shuts down. He reiterated that the funding covers more than just immigration enforcement.

“Democrats themselves have said for weeks that ICE would still continue its operations during a shutdown. But the DHS bill includes so much more than that — FEMA, with 12 states under disaster declarations, and TSA, while airports are dealing with the most cancellations since the Schumer shutdown, will be greatly impacted. What Democrats want are policy changes, yet they themselves negotiated these appropriations bills, and there were House Democrats who supported homeland security appropriations in the House even after the Renee Good shooting,” the spokesperson said.

The Caller reached out to Schumer’s office to ask whether he has had any discussions with the White House or Senate GOP leadership, but did not receive a response prior to publication.

AUTHOR

Ashley Brasfield

Reporter

RELATED ARTICLES:

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RELATED VIDEO: President Trump Delivers Remarks, Jan. 27, 2026

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

EXCLUSIVE: John Thune Shares His ‘Big, Beautiful’ GOP Sales Pitch For The Midterms

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Senate Majority Leader John Thune is working on his pitch to persuade voters to turn out for the Republican slate of candidates during the 2026 midterms.

Following a major victory in passing President Donald Trump’s One Big, Beautiful Bill Act, the majority leader is turning his focus to selling the public on the president’s landmark law, one of several prongs in his midterms success playbook to expand Senate Republicans’ 53-seat majority. Though Democrats are hitting the stump to argue the legislation is harmful to most Americans, Thune is calling on Republicans to defend their “record of accomplishment” and articulate a compelling message about the law’s benefits that will motivate voters to go to bat for Republicans in 2026.

“You’ve got to have a very targeted, focused way of turning voters out, and be able to deliver your message to them so that they’re motivated and have a reason to turn out,” Thune told the Daily Caller News Foundation from his office Wednesday, previewing his midterms strategy. “It will be a full on effort to make sure that the American people fully understand what was in the ‘big, beautiful’ bill and how it impacts and benefits them.”

Both Republicans and Democrats’ early messaging ahead of the midterms suggests Trump’s tax and immigration law could be a defining issue of the 2026 election cycle. Whether Republicans are successful in winning the messaging battle could determine the course of Trump’s final two years in office.

Republicans may have more work to do in informing voters of the law’s benefits given recent polling showing a majority of those surveyed viewing the president’s signature legislative accomplishment unfavorably. Opposition to the law outweighed support by ten percentage points, according to a Wall Street Journal poll published Thursday. The survey also found the legislation is viewed unfavorably by 54% of independents.

However, Thune and other Republicans are betting that voters will be open to persuasion and that many of the bill’s individual components will ultimately be viewed as popular. No Democratic lawmaker backed the president’s signature law and many dubbed the measure the “one big, ugly bill.”

A majority — 54% — of Americans said the law’s provisions permanently extending the 2017 Trump tax cuts, temporarily shielding certain Americans from taxation on tips and expanding tax relief for seniors and parents were more of a reason to support the bill than oppose it, according to a July CNN poll.

One Nation, a public advocacy organization linked to Thune, began running an eight-figure advertisement campaign in six states Wednesday emphasizing the law’s tax components.

“America is back — thanks to President Trump and Leader John Thune’s working family tax cuts,” an ad running nationally says in part. “Real relief for every American up early and home late.”

“That I think is probably the first message out of the gate,” Thune said regarding the outside groups’ “working family tax cuts” messaging. “But there’s a lot of stuff in the bill that you can talk about,” Thune said, mentioning a $1,000 tax-free contribution to a savings account for children born between 2025 and 2028, slowing the rate of spending in entitlement programs and a new tax maneuver subsidizing private school tuition.

Some Senate Republican hopefuls are already highlighting how the tax provisions will put more money back into the pocketbooks of their constituents.

“Our waitresses and waiters all across the state just got a huge lift by not having to pay taxes on their tips,” former Republican Michigan Rep. Mike Rogers, a Trump-backed candidate running to flip Michigan’s open Senate seat red, told the DCNF on Saturday. “These are direct things that impact working families.”

Senate Democrats who opposed the law could be vulnerable to attack lines claiming they voted to raise taxes, according to recent polling. Just 12% of voters in four battleground states opposed “working family tax cuts” messaging, a July poll commissioned by One Nation found.

The group launched a $5 million ad campaign torching Democratic Georgia Sen. Jon Ossoff’s vote against the president’s tax relief and immigration law on July 17. Ossoff is viewed as the most vulnerable Democratic incumbent running for reelection in 2026 due to the state’s Republican tilt and Trump carrying the state in November.

Democratic lawmakers are planning to use the August recess to make their case for why the president’s bill will hurt everyday Americans. Some have pledged to travel to Republicans’ backyards and hold rallies in GOP districts and states.

Thune hinted that Republicans will need to leave Washington for at least part of August to counter Democrats’ messaging.

“The month of August, historically, has been an opportunity for our members to criss-cross their states and hit the events and interact with people and be out there on the stump delivering the message,” Thune told the DCNF. “So we want to make sure that opportunity is available to them — whatever we do in terms of nominations.”

Thune has threatened to keep the Senate in session during August to grind out the president’s nominees awaiting floor consideration if Democrats do not agree to a deal to fast-track confirmations.

The majority leader is also making strides in the other buckets of his midterms strategy: raising an avalanche of cash to tout Senate Republicans’ record across a variety of platforms and recruiting “quality candidates” to face off against Democratic challengers.

The National Republican Senatorial Committee, Senate Republicans’ campaign arm, outraised its Democratic counterpart by roughly $8 million during the first six months of the year. The Senate GOP leadership-aligned Senate Leadership Fund and its affiliates also smashed a fundraising record for the first half of 2025, bringing in roughly $85 million.

Thune is also working with the president to ensure electable candidates are positioned to win the Republican nomination in key swing states.

The majority leader will head to North Carolina this fall to fundraise for RNC chairman Michael Whatley in an effort to hold the seat in 2026, Axios first reported. Whatley, who is expected to announce a Senate bid for the open seat as early as this week, will enter the race with the president’s endorsement.

AUTHOR

Adam Pack

Reporter

RELATED ARTICLE: Key GOP-Aligned War Chest Overflowing With Cash As Midterms Loom

EDITORS NOTE: This Daily Caller column is republished with permission. ©All rights reserved.

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