Op-Ed: Rep. Mike Simpson: Why it’s time to send the One Big Beautiful Bill to President Trump’s desk
Opportunities like this don’t come around often. Right now, Congress has the chance to pass legislation that delivers on the American First agenda that Idahoans and millions of Americans voted for last November. The One Big Beautiful Bill Act is a substantial opportunity we have in front of us, and it is of the utmost importance we get this passed and to President Trump's desk.
The budget reconciliation package — the One Big Beautiful Bill Act — is the legislative vehicle to advance President Donald Trump's full commonsense policy agenda. To put it simply, this package is truly one big, beautiful bill that reflects the promises President Trump campaigned on and won with.
The mainstream media has made a lot of noise, which we have heard since this reconciliation process began. However, if there is one thing sure, more than 77 million Americans voted for the legislation standing before us in Congress.
For Idahoans, two of the biggest concerns in 2024 were getting our economy back on track and securing the southern border. This bill tackles both.
It includes the largest tax cut in history for working and middle-class families, boosting their take-home pay and wages. If passed, this would deliver up to a $12,200 increase in annual take-home pay for a typical Idaho family of four.
And let me be clear: failing to extend the 2017 Trump Tax Cuts would stick Americans with the largest tax hike in history — Idahoans would face a 24 percent tax increase. Rest assured, I’m working alongside my colleagues to prevent that from happening.
Border security is just as important. We all witnessed what happened to the border during the Biden administration, and the One Big Beautiful Bill works to ensure a crisis like that never happens again.
I view the One Big Beautiful Bill as a national security investment. The Biden administration’s open-border policies allowed millions of illegal immigrants to flood through the southern border. The result? A catastrophic wave of violent crime that plagued our nation.
For anyone who argues that the open border did not affect Idaho, every state was a border state under the previous administration. Idahoans felt the consequences. Ask any law enforcement officer about the rates of fentanyl overdoses and the amount of illicit drugs that poured into our state over four years.
The One Big Beautiful Bill reverses this course. It provides funding to help finish President Trump’s border wall and provides our brave Border Patrol and ICE agents with the resources they need to keep our communities safe. These historic investments will strengthen America’s border security for years to come.
This is more than just a reconciliation package — it's the only way to get our country back on track.
Congress has a real opportunity here — a chance to deliver the America First agenda Idahoans and Americans nationwide voted for in November. We cannot afford to let it slip by. The time to advance President Trump’s policy agenda by passing the One Big Beautiful Bill is now.
Rep. Mike Simpson represents Idaho’s 2nd District in Congress.
