A sweeping budget and tax package recently signed into law by President Donald Trump has sparked sharply divided reactions among San Diego’s congressional delegation.
Formally titled “The One Big Beautiful Bill,” the legislation was described by the White House as a “once-in-a-generation” measure that delivers major tax cuts, expands immigration enforcement, increases military funding and enacts wide-ranging domestic policy reforms.
According to the White House’s official website, the law includes what it calls the largest tax cut in American history for middle- and working-class families. It eliminates federal taxes on tips, overtime pay, and Social Security income, and permanently increases the Child Tax Credit for more than 40 million families.
The administration also touted the bill’s creation of new “Trump Accounts” for every American newborn and a tax deduction for interest on Made in America auto loans.
The bill includes $12.5 billion to modernize the nation’s air traffic control system, expands domestic oil and gas production, and directs funding to complete the border wall and hire additional ICE and Border Patrol agents. It also includes measures to restrict Medicaid access for undocumented immigrants, and the White House says it will cut $1.5 trillion in federal spending over time while strengthening Medicaid by eliminating waste, fraud and abuse. Additional funding is allocated for a Golden Dome missile defense system and for military modernization.
East County congressman Rep. Darrell Issa praised the bill’s passage, saying it will strengthen the economy and bolster national security.
“The One Big Beautiful Bill will unquestionably drive our economy, advance our national security, and uphold the fundamental fairness of right and wrong,” he said in a statement. “It is right to put money back in the pockets of the American people. It is wrong to finance and promote illegal immigration.”
Issa also criticized Democrats for opposing the measure.
“The truth is that every Democrat in Congress today voted against historic tax cuts on tips, overtime, social security, car loans, families with kids and small businesses – while promising billions in benefits for illegals,” he added. “That’s how Democrats flunked the test of determining the right policies from wrong.”
Democrats representing the San Diego region, however, voiced strong opposition to the legislation, warning that it will harm working families and vulnerable communities.
Rep. Sara Jacobs, D-San Diego, called the bill “a betrayal of our community and our country.” She said it will increase poverty and food insecurity and remove critical health care access.
“It will kick 17 million people off their health insurance and close rural hospitals, nursing homes, and health clinics,” Jacobs said in a statement. “It will take away health care from kids in San Diego like 5-year-old Delilah and 2-year-old Cesar, who rely on Medi-Cal to navigate and pay for their many health conditions.”
Jacobs also criticized what she said were historic cuts to SNAP, the federal nutrition assistance program.
“The San Diego Food Bank already serves 400,000 San Diegans every single month,” she added. “This bill would leave four million children without access to nutrition assistance and put 18 million kids at risk of losing school lunches.”
She added that the legislation would increase the federal deficit while giving disproportionate benefits to high-income earners.
“This bill will explode our deficit and reward the richest Americans and the biggest corporations that don’t need any government help,” Jacobs said.
Rep. Juan Vargas, D-San Diego, also voted against the bill, calling it “one of the worst pieces of legislation I’ve ever seen.”
“This bill is a gross transfer of wealth from working families to billionaires,” Vargas said in a statement. “It guts health care for millions of children and families, strips food assistance from our neighbors, funnels huge amounts of funding to Trump’s mass deportation agenda, and takes from the most vulnerable – all to give tax cuts to the ultra-wealthy and big corporations.”
According to an estimate from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office, the law is projected to add more than $3 trillion to the federal deficit while cutting $1.1 trillion from Medicaid.
“It’s an absolute betrayal. Shame on them. This won’t be forgotten,” Vargas said.
