The One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) has passed through Congress and will be signed this day, July 4, into law by President Donald Trump. While the bill might not be totally beautiful, it is certainly a step in the right direction towards reorienting our government to a better place.
I
experienced a heavy case of Déjà Vu as I watched every single Democrat in the
Senate and House vote against this legislation.
It took me back to March of 2010, when the House of Representatives
passed the Senate version of the Affordable Care Act (ACA/Obamacare) without a single Republican vote. This was the infamous bill that prompted
Nancy Pelosi to remark “we have to pass
it to find out what’s in it”.
Without a doubt, the same principle applies to the OBBB inasmuch as few,
if any, elected Congress members know what is contained in all 900-plus pages
of the legislation. This, my friends, is
how sausage is made in Washington, DC.
Without
jumping into the weeds that are way over my head, I will simply say that
one…this was critically necessary legislation that had to pass in this fashion
in order to become reality and two…for all the rhetoric about savings and cutting the size of government, this bill was mainly about the
spending priorities that would rule the future appropriations of our tax
dollars. We can only hope that in the
near future, subsequent legislation will be considered and passed that will
address the pervasive bloat and fiscal gluttony of our annual federal budget…driven mainly by out-of-control entitlements
that both political parties are too cowardly to address.
While
recognizing the monumental heavy lifting performed by the Trump Administration,
John Thune and his Senate Republicans (excepting
three), and Mike Johnson with his House Republicans (excepting two), this action of addressing federal spending
priorities is only half of the equation. They must now seek to accomplish additional and
remarkable legislative achievements in future bills. Additionally, the details of the OBBB must be
codified in the upcoming twelve federal appropriation bills. The OBBB is a great start and kudos are
deserved; but the time for celebration should be short, the pencils should be
sharpened, and the size of our government and how it operates must soon be
addressed to complete the conservative promises made by so many Republican
candidates. The window of opportunity
for President Trump and Republican control of Congress is limited…time is of the essence.
For
the sake of discussion, I want to propose the next big issue (subordinate to the overriding concerns of
federal fiscal performance) that I feel should be addressed by our
government. That issue would be national immigration policy reform. In short order, and to the surprise of
most people, the Trump Administration has secured our borders and brought that
specific area of government responsibility under control. The sensible OBBB investments in the
Department of Homeland Security should help guarantee this far into the
future. But the elephant in the room is
the 10-20 million illegal aliens that have entered our nation under the four
years of President Joe Biden’s open border policies. The bleeding has been staunched, but we must
now heal the wound.
The
low hanging fruit of this issue are the criminal elements of our illegal alien
populace. A large majority of Americans
understands and agrees that they should be removed from our country. And while there is serious disagreement about
how that removal should be
implemented, the removal itself is a
foregone conclusion. It appears that
this issue is…through legal fits and starts…working itself out. The larger and more complex question is how
do we deal with the significant portion of those 10-20 million illegal
immigrants who do not have a criminal record?
The
issue of birthright citizenship aside, the fact is that many of the remaining portions
of immigrants have not been in America for very long and have not established
either a career, family, or home in these United States. One would expect that the overwhelming majority
of these folks live in the shadow of knowing their status is illegal and is facing
the hard choice of either self-deporting or continuing to hide from government
entities charged with their incarceration and deportation. While some of these work and pay taxes, many
others are enjoying municipal/state/federal benefits while contributing little,
if anything, to our federal treasury.
Once again…this issue will work itself out through fits and starts. The process is in play.
The
segment of our illegal immigrant population that merits the most thoughtful and
difficult-to-reach remedy are the ones who have been in these United States for
decades and have not applied for or obtained legal citizenship. Many of these
people are essentially threads in the societal and cultural fabrics that make
up our cities, towns, and communities.
While a valid argument can be made that they should have long ago actively
sought legal status and proactively moved in that direction, the reality is
that they did not and have yet proven themselves to be good neighbors and worthy
members of our nation’s collective. It
is true that their illegal status is an affront to those other immigrants who
responsibly applied for and completed the necessary actions to achieve legal
citizen status; but once again…that
argument is far enough removed from the present as to be impractical. What is the time period we should require for
this class of immigrants to have completed in order to receive special
consideration? Would it be 10 years…15
years…perhaps even more? I don’t know
the answer to this question, but I firmly believe that it must be asked…and
answered. The elements of compassion and
human consideration cannot be removed from this calculus that pertains to
legality and simple justice.
That
answer will lie in comprehensive national immigration reform legislation. By any reasonable measure, this legislation
should be bi-partisan and apolitical in its conception. Is this
even possible in today’s poisonous political environment? This I do not know. In June of 2013, early in Obama’s second
term, the Senate managed to pass an immigration reform bill on a bi-partisan vote: https://www.politico.com/story/2013/06/immigration-bill-2013-senate-passes-093530
. The bill then moved over to the
Republican-controlled House where it died. The Senate bill simply did not address many of
the concerns held by U.S. Representatives.
Notwithstanding the merits of this particular bill, this episode
demonstrated that compromise was possible between the Democrat’s concern with pathways to citizenship and the
Republican concerns with border security
and illegal status.
Here
is a comprehensive summary of that 2013 legislation: https://www.americanimmigrationcouncil.org/report/guide-s744-understanding-2013-senate-immigration-bill/
. If nothing else, it provides a draft
blueprint to begin once again the
effort to reform, revise, and bring our nation’s national immigration policy up
to a standard that will responsibly, effectively, humanely, and equitably address
the complex issue of illegal immigrants both entering and residing in our
nation today.
Like
all national issues of import, this area of governance contains the elements of
political demagoguery and hypocrisy. It
will take courage and statesmanship by both political parties in order to
achieve a positive outcome. It will also
require a president who is willing to stake a good portion of his or her legacy
on the outcome of such impactful legislation.
I fervently hope that Donald Trump and the members of Congress are
willing to confront this issue and bring some semblance of order and
reasonableness to the festering issue of illegal immigration in America today. It is
interesting to note that the mentioned Senate bill from 2013 had as one of its
Republican co-sponsors none other than Marco Rubio…the current Secretary of
State serving President Donald Trump.
The
context of the OBBB was almost entirely domestic in nature. Of course, our President must simultaneously
deal with foreign affair issues on a 24/7 basis. That is another area that needed course-correcting
action and is now being addressed.
https://americanmind.org/memo/a-foreign-policy-for-americas-golden-age/
https://www.powerlineblog.com/archives/2025/07/what-an-america-first-foreign-policy-looks-like.php
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/21725/qatar-role-gaza
Education…Education…Education
https://americanmind.org/memo/a-student-visa-policy-that-puts-america-first/
https://www.nationalreview.com/2025/07/a-blow-to-trans-insanity-a-victory-for-common-sense/
https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/is-the-higher-ed-industry-good-for-america/
https://www.nationalreview.com/corner/transferring-college-credits-shouldnt-be-so-hard/
A
quick note on the SCOTUS…
https://www.nationalreview.com/bench-memos/a-strong-finish-to-a-transformative-term/
A
quick note on the Federal Reserve…
https://lawliberty.org/duplicity-at-the-fed/
A
quick note on national health care issues…
https://americanmind.org/memo/how-to-replace-obamacare/
A
quick note on the filthy corruption that existed within the Obama and Biden
Administrations…
