The debate over the Big, Beautiful Bill went next-level last week when Elon Musk sent out a series of rage posts on X targeting President Trump that were more personal than substantive. But for all the wailing and gnashing of teeth about the bill from the likes of Elon, Rand Paul, Thomas Massie- evenAndy Biggs, who felt the need to commiserate with Rocket Boy about voting forit – therereally is nodebate. SenateRepublicans get to pass this bill. Thats right, and for the pleasure of getting to pass it, they can also feel a certain amount of pride in codifying Trumps campaign promises, a concept which is in short supply these days. Most politicians will lie to get elected. Not Trump.He actually fully intends to keep his promises,which makeshim one of the mosthonorablepeople in the public arena.
But let me explain why Republicansshould be eagerto pass thisbill: theirown self-preservation, which is one of the most motivating forces for the overwhelming majority of them. The Big, Beautiful Bill makes the Trump tax cuts permanent. That alone, right there, should be more than enough incentive to pass thebill, becauseif they dont, Republicans will trigger upwards of a 60% tax increase, and, according to Russ Vought,head of the Office of Management and Budget, also trigger a recession. Now Ive been in D.C. for 25years, with a dad whoserved in Congress for a decade. Ive seen Republicans in D.C. up close for many years, and Ive reached the conclusion thatmany of them are intellectually impaired and will go out of their way to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory.But not passing this bill and raising taxes and triggering a recession, going into a midterm year? That would be viciously stupid.
There are other reasons to pass the bill:from no taxes on tipsto work requirements forable-bodiedpeople on welfare to eliminating 1.4 million illegal aliens from Medicaid to defunding the Green New Deal. And the list could go on and on. But one of the otherreasons Republicans must absolutely pass this bill is that it is one of the most incredible immigration and deportation bills weve ever seen in our history. That alone would be a single reason to vote for the bill: it will bring about structural change andcreatemassive savingsforthe American people.
Let me explain.There is $175 billion in this bill for deportations of up to a million illegals a year, 10,000 new ICE agents, the doubling of ICE detention facilities, and heres the best part: funding for 701 miles of the border wall. InTrumpsfirst term, we couldnt even get $25 billion for the wall, and now we get funding for over 700 miles AND massive funding for deportation? If this is a dream, dont wake me up because that right there is incredible. Think about it. Illegal aliens cost the taxpayer no less than $150 billion a year. If, in theory, we can remove most, if not all, of that financial drain on the American people, we could be looking at a cost savings of well over a trillion dollars in the next decade (with the caveat it has to be fully ramped up beyond a million deportations and Democrats cant be allowed to have political power to open up the floodgates again and import their new voters). But think about that as part of the savings brought about by this bill, in addition to the $1.6 trillion in mandatory savings thats already in the bill.
And while the Trump tariffs arent part of the bill, it should be noted that the CBO, which isnt exactly a friendly resource for Trumpor any Republican administration for that matter, announced yesterday that Trumps tariffs could reduce the federal deficit by $2.8 trillion over the next decade. When you start to add the mandatory savings, the savings fromseriously addressing illegalimmigration and then the tariffs, you are talking aboutvery serious savings and deficit reduction. Throw in rescission bills and then the strategy of pocket rescissions, and youre talking hundreds of billions more in cuts.I willbe the first to tell you we have to have a serious conversation about spending and cutting the size and scope of government, butI think most semi-intelligent people who know how this works understand you save that conversation for a budget bill and not a reconciliation bill, which is what the Big, Beautiful Bill is.
So while I applaud the Ron Johnsons and Rick Scotts of the world, who are serious people and want to get the best bill possible, it is incumbent on Senate Republicans to make their tweaks to the bill, pass it, reconcile it with the House bill and send it on toPresident Trump for him to sign it into the law. The Republican Party will be better for it, but more importantly, the country will be as well.
Ned Ryun is the founder and CEO of American Majority.
