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President Donald Trump says that his sweeping domestic policy bill that squeaked through both houses of Congress this week along near-party-line votes is “very popular” with Americans.
Asked about a slew of national polls conducted last month which indicated that most Americans were far from thrilled with the massive spending and tax cut bill, the president told reporters early Friday morning, “I think it’s very popular. It does many things, but one of them is the biggest tax cuts in our country’s history. And that alone makes it very popular.”
The president spoke as he returned home from a July 4th-eve event at the Iowa State Fairgrounds where he headlined a kickoff celebration of next year’s 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence.
‘BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL ON WAY TO WHITE HOUSE AFTER NARROWLY PASSING FINAL HURDLE IN CONGRESS
“There could be no better birthday present for America than the phenomenal victory we achieved just hours ago,” Trump told the large crowd in Des Moines, Iowa, as he referred to the move by House Republicans in a 218-214 vote hours earlier to lift the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill” to final congressional passage.
Earlier in the week, Vice President JD Vance broke a tie in the Senate to pass the measure 51-50.
WHAT’S ACTUALLY IN TRUMP’S ‘BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL’
Trump noted that “not one Democrat voted” for the bill in either chamber of Congress, adding that “they hate Trump. But I hate them too.”
The president had repeatedly insisted to the Republicans who control Congress that the bill reach his desk by July 4th, and Trump got his way. He’s expected to sign the measure at the White House at 5pm ET.
The bill is stuffed full of Trump’s 2024 campaign trail promises and second-term priorities on tax cuts, immigration, defense, energy and the debt limit.
It includes extending his signature 2017 tax cuts and eliminating taxes on tips and overtime pay.
By making his first-term tax rates permanent – they were set to expire later this year – the bill will cut taxes by nearly $4.4 trillion over the next decade, according to analysis by the Congressional Budget Office and the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget.
HOW MUCH THE ‘BIG BEAUTIFUL BILL’ WILL CUT YOUR TAXES
The measure also provides billions for border security and codifies the president’s controversial immigration crackdown.
As Democrats criticize the bill, they’re highlighting the GOP’s restructuring of Medicaid — the nearly 60-year-old federal program that provides health coverage to roughly 71 million low-income Americans. Additionally, Senate Republicans increased cuts to Medicaid over what the House initially passed in late May.
The changes to Medicaid, as well as cuts to food stamps, another one of the nation’s major safety net programs, were drafted in part as an offset to pay for extending Trump’s tax cuts. The measure includes a slew of new rules and regulations, including work requirements for many of those seeking Medicaid coverage.
Ken Martin, chair of the Democratic National Commnitte, called the measure “one of the worst bills in our nation’s history.”
“Today, Donald Trump and the Republican party sent a message to America: if you are not a billionaire, we don’t give a damn about you,” Martin argued.
Overall, the $3.4 trillion legislative package is projected to surge the national debt by $4 trillion over the next decade.
By a 21-point margin, voters questioned in the most recent Fox News national poll opposed the bill (38% favored vs. 59% opposed).
HEAD HERE FOR THE LATEST FOX NEWS POLLING
The bill was also underwater in other national surveys conducted last month by the Washington Post (minus 19 points), Pew Research (minus 20 points) and Quinnipiac University (minus 26 points).
About half of respondents questioned in the Fox News poll said the bill would hurt their family (49%), while one quarter thought it would help (23%), and another quarter didn’t think it would make a difference (26%).
Sixty percent felt they had a good understanding of what is in the measure, formally known as the One, Big, Beautiful Bill, and while those voters were more likely to favor the legislation than those who are unfamiliar with it, more still think it will hurt rather than help their family (45% vs. 34%).
The latest surveys all indicated a wide partisan divide over the measure.
According to the Fox News poll, which was conducted June 13-16, nearly three-quarters of Republicans (73%) favored the bill, while nearly nine in ten Democrats (89%) and nearly three-quarters of independents (73%) opposed the measure.
But Republicans are shining a spotlight on a poll conducted by a GOP-aligned public policy group that indicates strong support for the bill due to the tax cut provisions.
A release earlier this week from the group, One Nation, argued that “polling shows that the public supports the Republican plan to cut taxes for families, eliminate taxes on Social Security, overtime, and tips, and reign in waste and abuse in the federal budget.”
Fox News’ Dana Blanton contributed to this report.
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