Congressman Cohen Statement on Senate Passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act

WASHINGTON, DC — Congressman Steve Cohen (TN-9) issued the following statement today after Senate Republicans passed President Trump’s so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill,” a massive giveaway to the ultra-wealthy that slashes Medicaid and health care, makes the largest cuts to food assistance in American history, reverses clean energy investments, and more. 

“The Senate’s version of Trump’s One Big Ugly Bill is even more extreme than the House bill. It includes the same historic cuts to SNAP—gutting food assistance for millions of children, seniors, and people with disabilities—but somehow manages to sink even lower on health care,” said Congressman Cohen. “It slashes over $1.1 trillion from Medicaid and the ACA, threatening to eliminate coverage for 17 million Americans. They’re not even pretending it’s about the deficit anymore—this bill explodes the debt by $4 trillion, all to finance massive tax breaks for Trump’s Mar-a-Lago base: the millionaires, the billionaires, the AI and tech elite, the multinational corporations funding his military parades. It’s indefensible. This is likely the worst bill that has ever been presented for the citizens of Memphis and Tennessee’s Ninth Congressional District, and I will vote a resounding ‘no’ when it comes before the House this week.”

The Senate passed its version of the One Big Ugly Bill today in a party-line vote of 51-50, advancing legislation originally approved by House Republicans in May. Congressman Cohen voted against the House version previously and plans to oppose the bill again when it returns to the House for final consideration.

The Senate-passed version of the One Big Ugly Bill would make even deeper cuts to essential programs than the House’s, slashing SNAP, Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act (ACA) subsidies by more than $1.3 trillion. According to the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) and independent health experts, the Senate’s bill would end health care coverage for 17 million Americans and impose new out-of-pocket costs on low-income Medicaid recipients. It also includes a backdoor abortion ban and eliminates all federal funding for Planned Parenthood. 

The bill would also eliminate clean energy tax credits for working families and gut American investments in climate resilience. Despite all the cuts, the CBO estimates that the bill would add $4 trillion to the national debt—a result of tax giveaways to millionaires, billionaires, and individuals earning more than $500,000 each year, wealthy multinational corporations, and others in President Trump’s donor base. 

The Senate’s One Big Ugly Bill would: 

• End health coverage for millions — Slashes over $1.1 trillion from Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act, resulting in at least 17 million Americans losing their insurance, according to CBO projections.
• Cut SNAP at historic levels — Cuts more than $190 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), the largest in cut in the program’s history, wiping out nutrition assistance for millions of children, seniors, veterans, and people with disabilities.
• Impose new costs on the poor — Requires Medicaid recipients earning as little as $16,000 per year to pay out-of-pocket co-pays of up to $35 for each doctor visit.
• Put rural hospitals and clinics at risk — Cuts funding for community health centers, nursing homes, and rural hospitals that rely heavily on Medicaid to serve low-income and elderly patients.
• Strip access to care from low-income communities — Defunds Planned Parenthood and decreases access to women’s health services such as contraception and other reproductive care, cancer screenings, and more, especially in low-income communities.
• Punish clean energy while rewarding Big Oiland Gas — Strips tax incentives for wind and solar, imposes new taxes on clean energy projects, and redirects climate program funds to give oil and gas companies new tax breaks and subsidies.
• Kill clean energy tax credits and raise costs — Eliminates clean energy tax credits for working- and middle-class homeowners and small businesses (e.g. rooftop solar, efficiency upgrades), phases out clean energy incentives for wind, solar, and EVs, and slashes investments in climate resilience, reversing critical sustainability gains.
• Divert national security funds to Trump’s private benefit — Allows national security funding to be used for retrofitting the luxury Qatari jet procured by Donald Trump, which some experts estimate could cost taxpayers up to $1 billion—for a plane he is unlikely to use while in office, but which could become a taxpayer-funded centerpiece of his presidential library to boost visitor traffic.
• Boost military spending while slashing social safety net programs — Hikes the Pentagon budget by $150 billion—a 15% increase—while slashing health care, nutrition assistance, and other critical services for working families.
• Give billionaires a massive inheritance tax break — Eliminates the estate tax for the wealthiest 0.2% of Americans, delivering $211 billion in tax breaks on inheritances over $30 million
• Shower big corporations with tax breaks — Delivers $918 billion in tax breaks to large corporations, including those that ship jobs overseas or replace American workers with AI.
• Explode the national debt to benefit the wealthy — Adds $4 trillion to the federal deficit, according to the Congressional Budget Office, to finance tax breaks for billionaires, Big Oil, and multinational corporations. 

The bill must now return to the House for a final vote, which is expected to take place later this week, before it can head to the President’s desk. Click here for more information from the House Ways and Means Committee Democrats. 

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