In a midterm election largely shaped by struggles with affordability, Republicans are hanging many of their hopes on President Trump’s signature domestic policy law, the sprawling package of spending increases and tax breaks dubbed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
But to partially offset its largess, which totals more than $3 trillion, the law also cut social services, including Medicaid, health care subsidies and food assistance, known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program. How voters view the law depends largely on which side of the federal ledger they find themselves — recipients of tax cuts or beneficiaries of programs that have been cut.
“This legislation touches everything,” said Ashley Whitlock, a substitute teacher from Belmont, N.C., who lost her SNAP benefits in the summer. “If it doesn’t impact you, it impacts someone you know.”
More than a year after passage of the Big Beautiful Bill, public opinion about its impact is entrenched mostly along partisan fault lines. But personal experience is beginning to come into play.
Some praise larger tax refunds and tax breaks that allowed them to take home more money earned from tips and overtime. But at a moment when the cost of living is rising faster than wages, many say the law has plunged Americans into financial uncertainty with the law’s cuts to programs that helped put food on the table and provide affordable health care.
“Can you imagine going from a monthly premium of zero to $850?” asked Dina Rose Friedman, 64, who lives in Irvington, N.Y., and lost her health insurance subsidy. “I remember freaking out.”
For more than a decade, Ms. Friedman has worked as an early childhood educator and Sunday school teacher. The work is gratifying, she said, but does not command a high salary. She felt lucky to have found affordable insurance through the New York State of Health exchange, established by the Affordable Care Act, which provided comprehensive care for her diabetes.
But in July, she joined the nearly half-million New Yorkers who lost their low-cost health coverage, known as the Essential Plan, after expanded federal subsidies signed by President Joseph R. Biden Jr. were allowed to lapse.
Now, Ms. Friedman’s health care coverage takes a significant bite of her combined salary of about $41,000. To her, the changes felt like an attack on people who earn lower wages.
Losing insurance and trying to replace it with an affordable plan “has been overwhelming,” said Ms. Friedman, who now relies on help from family and her savings to pay the monthly premium.
The Big Beautiful Bill was supposed to be the Republican answer to frustrations with the rising cost of living. When Mr. Trump signed it, he said it would “turbocharge our economy” and “bring back the American dream.”
Kush Desai, a White House spokesman, says it has.
“Tens of millions of Americans took advantage of at least one of President Trump’s signature tax provisions: no tax on tips, overtime or Social Security,” he said in a statement. The tax provisions, he added, were “fueling investment and private-sector job growth — creating opportunities for Americans to get off government coverage with meaningful employment that provides health benefits.”
Last year, about 29 million workers claimed the law’s deduction for overtime, while about 7.5 million claimed the tip deduction, according to the Treasury Department. More than 35 million seniors claimed an enhanced deduction, which was passed to come close to making good on Mr. Trump’s promise to end taxes on Social Security, and nearly 40 million took advantage of an expanded child care credit.
Jeff Zepp, 67, a small-business owner, said he benefited from the new senior deduction, which lowers taxable income by up to $6,000 for individuals 65 and older or up to $12,000 for married couples filing jointly. He paid about $1,200 less in federal taxes in 2025.
“I think the One Big Beautiful Bill is wonderful,” said Mr. Zepp, who lives in Kittredge, Colo., a mountain community near Denver. “If it weren’t for the law, we would have paid a lot more in taxes.”
The savings helped reaffirm his support of Mr. Trump and the Republicans, he said.
“The Democrats really only have one platform, and that is that the orange man is bad and that the One Big Beautiful Bill was cruel,” Mr. Zepp said.
The legislation also made significant cuts, which Republicans said were necessary to combat government bloat, fraud and abuse.
About $1 trillion in federal spending was cut from Medicaid through 2034, and eligibility was tightened. New Medicaid mandates on work and volunteer requirements do not begin taking effect until January 2027, months after the election. Millions of people will eventually have to prove they meet the work, school or volunteer requirements to remain eligible.
About five million people in the country have already lost SNAP benefits — the government’s primary anti-hunger tool — because of tighter requirements enacted in the legislation, according to the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities, which analyzed U.S. Department of Agriculture and state data.
One retiree in Ohio, who spoke on condition of anonymity to not bring attention to her situation, described SNAP benefits as a “lifeline.” Her benefits dropped to $44 from $250 in March.
Last year, Matti Puistolahti, a student at College of Lake County in suburban Chicago, relied on about $200 in monthly SNAP benefits. In October, he received a letter stating that he was no longer eligible; he did not meet the work requirements.
“I was working as a tutor for 12 hours a week at $15 per hour, but that wasn’t enough hours,” Mr. Puistolahti, 27, said. “You would think they would give some kind of leniency as a student, but they don’t.”
“All of a sudden,” he continued, “I had to think about food a lot more and be more cautious about what I was buying.”
Eventually, Mr. Puistolahti received a federal grant and scholarships, which freed up more of his part-time pay for living expenses.
Out of work and struggling, Ms. Whitlock, 46, the North Carolina substitute teacher, lost about $300 in SNAP monthly benefits in July because she didn’t meet the new work requirements. She found a substitute teaching job at a high school in April and worked a short time before the end of the school year.
She did not return to work until August. Since the benefits were cut, Ms. Whitlock has scrambled to find food.
“I have been going to churches and food pantries to survive,” she said.
She said she hopes the benefits will be restored after she submits her 2026 paychecks to document her work hours.
But another possible hurdle looms next year — Medicaid work mandates.
“This has been so confusing, trying to figure out how the legislation works and to make sure everything is documented,” Ms. Whitlock said. “I believe it is going to hurt a lot of people.”
The post The Big Beautiful Bill Is Starting to Bite Before the Election appeared first on New York Times.
