Sen. John Hoeven (R-ND)
WASHINGTON (North Dakota Monitor) — Amid national controversy over Congress’ “big, beautiful bill,” U.S. Sen. John Hoeven, R-N.D., promised the legislation will bring tax relief to North Dakota residents.
The nearly 1,000-page bill was approved in the Senate on Tuesday. The House now must reconcile the Senate’s version of the legislation with the package it passed in May.
Hoeven and other Republican members of Congress have cheered the bill for its tax cuts, protections for farmers and investment into immigration enforcement and deportations.
Hoeven highlighted that the Senate version of the bill will reduce taxes by more than $4 trillion over the next 10 years. Higher-income Americans and corporations would see the largest tax cuts, though both chambers’ packages also propose tax reductions on tips.
“These are the fundamentals that make our state stronger,” he said at a Wednesday press conference with Gov. Kelly Armstrong in Bismarck. “Now we’re getting these things implemented at the federal level.”
Critics of the “big, beautiful bill” argue it would push millions of Americans off of Medicaid, undermine other social safety net programs like food stamps and grow the national debt.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office in an analysis published Tuesday said the bill would add $3.4 trillion in deficits over the next decade.
Armstrong, a former member of Congress, said he is generally skeptical of the office’s numbers and that its analysis of the bill low-balls the positive effects it would have on the economy.
“I think they drastically, drastically underestimate the impact for North Dakota,” he said.
A Legislative Council analysis of the bill published last week also estimated that it would reduce Medicaid enrollment in North Dakota by roughly 18% within the next 10 years, in part due to proposed changes to eligibility requirements that would force all able-bodied Medicaid recipients to work.
Hoeven said the only people who would lose access to Medicaid under the bill are people who can work but choose not to.
“For all the traditional Medicaid population, nobody loses their Medicaid,” he said.
The reconciliation bill has also caught criticism for proposing changes to SNAP, the nutrition program formerly known as food stamps. The House bill would require states to pay a percentage of food benefit costs for the first time. The Senate proposes only implementing this change for states that can’t get their error payment rates below a certain percentage. Error payment rates measure how accurately states determine who qualifies for SNAP and how much assistance to give them.
Hoeven also said that both chambers’ bills increase the child tax credit, which currently is $2,000 per child. The House proposed increasing the credit to $2,500, while the Senate proposed increasing it to $2,200.
North Dakota’s two other Congressional delegates, Sen. Kevin Cramer and Rep. Julie Fedorchak, also voted in favor of the package.
The North Dakota Democratic-NPL Party in a statement earlier this week criticized the package as potentially devastating for people who rely on federal social programs.
“North Dakota taxpayers will be left holding the bag when our elected officials rubber stamp this disastrous bill,” Rep. Zac Ista, House minority leader for the North Dakota Legislature, said in the announcement.
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