President Donald Trump visited the Iowa State Fairgrounds on Thursday to tout his recent legislative accomplishment, his “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” and kick off a series of celebrations across the country to celebrate the U.S.’s 250th anniversary. 

Trump was joined by Iowa’s Republican Congressional delegation, which hours earlier voted for the massive spending and tax cut bill that is estimated to raise the deficit by $3.4 trillion over a decade and increase the debt limit, or the amount the U.S. can borrow before defaulting on their credit, would increase by $5 trillion. 

The U.S. House of Representatives voted 218-214 on Thursday afternoon to approve the bill, with all four of Iowa’s Congressional Representatives voting for the bill. The U.S. Senate approved the bill Tuesday, 51-50, with Vice President JD Vance casting a tie-breaking vote, with Iowa Sens. Joni Ernst and Chuck Grassley voting for the bill. 

The bill makes large cuts to Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act, food assistance programs, and other spending to the tune of $1.5 trillion of dollars and leaves millions without health insurance. 

The bill also makes $4.5 trillion in tax cuts by making Trump’s 2017 bill, the “Tax Cuts and Jobs Act,” permanent, increasing the child tax credit, increasing the standard deduction, rolling back green energy tax credits, and limiting taxes on tips and overtime. 

The bill also includes an increase in military spending, funds a “golden dome” missile defense system funding to finish the border wall, and an increase in funding for border protection and immigration law enforcement. 

Trump is expected to sign the bill into law on Friday, July 4, in the White House. 

During his remarks to a group of roughly 2,000 supporters, Trump said, “there could be no better birthday present for America” than the reconciliation package that House Republicans passed on Thursday afternoon. 

“This [bill] is a declaration of independence from national decline,” Trump said on Thursday evening. “We were a laughing stock all over the world. We have independence now from the over taxation — where we’re being taxed out of our lives —independence from over regulation, we have independence now from Radical Left bureaucrats, and independence from the largest alien invasion that I think any country has ever seen.” 

Trump’s remarks came at an event billed as a kickoff to a series of 56 celebrations across the country, culminating in a celebration on the National Mall, for America’s 250th anniversary on July 4, 2026. 

Iowa’s congressional delegation applauds tax changes, spending cuts in reconciliation bill 

Iowa’s Congressional delegation voted to pass Trump’s reconciliation bill, and during remarks at the AMERICA250 celebration on Thursday, they lauded the accomplishments of the bill. 

U.S. Sen. Joni Ernst, R-Iowa, said the extension of Trump’s tax cuts will help middle-class families and “prevent the largest tax hike in history” if they were to expire. 

However, Ernst also applauded the more than $1.5 trillion in spending cuts in the bill and said it was cutting “waste, fraud, and abuse” in the federal budget. However, a New York Times fact check found that there is no evidence that the spending cuts only cut “waste, fraud, and abuse.” 

Ernst also hailed the inclusion of her bill that would change the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, or FAFSA, to exclude the calculation of assets for small businesses and family farms in aid calculations. 

“So we are on the path to unleashing the Golden Age, not just for America, but for Iowa and every other state,” Ernst said during remarks at the AMERICA250 celebration on Thursday. “With President Donald J Trump leading the charge, we’re going to accomplish so much more.” 

U.S. Sen. Chuck Grassley, R-Iowa, is the chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, which has jurisdiction over immigration and border security in the budget reconciliation process. 

Grassley oversaw increases in immigration and border law enforcement spending, appropriating funds to finish building Trump’s famed border wall, and building detention centers for holding before deportations. 

“We’re going to finish the wall, we’re going to add tremendously to the number of people patrolling that border, but more importantly, the number of people that are going to enforce the immigration laws interior, not just the border,” Grassley said during remarks at the AMERICA250 celebration on Thursday.“If I had to sum up what the Judiciary Committee did that I have the pleasure of chairing is going to make America safe again.” 

U.S. Rep. Mariannette Miller-Meeks, R-Iowa, sat on the House Energy and Commerce Committee, which had jurisdiction over medicaid spending. 

During the drafting process, she lobbied to add her “Medicaid Improvement Act,” which would require states to verify applicants’ addresses before providing benefits. The bill was included as a provision in the reconciliation package. 

In a statement Thursday, after voting for the bill, Miller-Meeks said that the bill would return Medicaid, “whose it was intended to serve: children, pregnant women, seniors, veterans, and people with disabilities.” 

“This is a once-in-a-generation victory for the American people,” Miller-Meeks said in a statement Thursday. “I was proud to vote for it and look forward to President Trump signing it into law just in time for Independence Day.”

The bill also includes the elimination of the estate tax, or “Death Tax,” so that family farms are able to be passed down without a large tax bill.

Iowa advocates decry reconciliation bill, point to local impacts 

Iowa advocates and politicial organizations reacted Thursday to the bill’s passage condeming the bill that advocates say will hurt rural hospitals, increase traffic at local food pantrys, and strip health coverage from more than 113,000 Iowans. 

The Iowa Hunger Coalition, a coalition of anti-hunger advocates and food pantries, released a statement Friday following the signing of the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” by President Trump. 

“And despite the historic need at food banks and food pantries, despite the fact that food insecurity is increasing in every single county in the state, despite the fact that this bill will harm our state budget and rural communities,” the written statement read. “Iowa’s elected officials decided it was necessary to vote for the largest cut to SNAP in the history of the program.”

Eric Kusiak, the leader of Indivisible Johnson County — a local chapter of a national organization looking to “resist the Trump agenda” — pointed to medicaid cuts as the most drastic of all the cuts made in the bill. 

“House Republicans from Iowa just turned their backs on the people they were elected to serve,” said Eric Kusiak of Indivisible Johnson County. “This bill isn’t just cruel, it’s dangerous. Tens of thousands of Iowans will suffer as hospitals close, insurance premiums skyrocket, and essential services vanish. All so billionaires can buy another yacht.”

Iowa Democrats Chair Rita Hart criticized Iowa’s Congressional delegation for voting for the bill and said “Now, you deserve to lose your job.” 

“Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Zach Nunn, Randy Feenstra and Ashley Hinson — you said yourselves this bill cuts Medicaid,” Hart said in a statement Thursday. 

Hart said that Iowa’s delegation failed to listen to their communities, rural hospitals, and medical professionals when they were told cuts to medicaid would have disatrious consequences. 

“You didn’t listen,” Hart said in the same statement. “You gave away tax breaks to your wealthy donors and racked up more debt for our kids. You went back on your promises. You betrayed your constituents.”

U.S. Senate approved the bill Tuesday with heavy revisions, House rubber stamps

The “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” has taken a long journey with a long list of changes since the budget reconciliation process, which allows the bill to pass with only a simple majority, began.

The bill passed the U.S. House of Representatives in late May with a 215-214 vote and was sent to the U.S. Senate. 

Senate lawmakers drastically reshaped the bill and deepened cuts to Medicaid spending, and increased the debt ceiling. 

The bill embroiled tensions among House Republicans and led to more than 24 hours of floor action in the U.S. House as Republicans worked to get moderates and fiscal hardliners in line for the vote. 

Attendees excited for tax cuts, border security in “One Big Beautiful Bill”  

Thousands of attendees lined up in 90-degree heat on Thursday to watch Trump’s remarks, most of them donning “Make America Great Again” hats and other Trump memorabilia. 

Steve and Theresa Hager, from La Porte City, Iowa, said they have been very satisfied with Trump’s presidency, and are excited for the tax cuts as farmers. 

“They’re getting rid of the criminals and just plain trash that came in through the border,” Steve Hager said. “I’m glad he’s putting more security at the border and going to put more wall up — if we don’t have a border, we’re not going to have a sovereign country.” 

Hager is looking forward to the more than $4 trillion in tax cuts, which White House economists say will boost the economy and create growth and more tax revenue. 

“I’m looking at the tax cuts — It’ll help small businesses,” Steve Hager said. “We’re farmers, so it’ll help farmers. If it goes away, he’s talking, it’s going to spur the economy, and it’s going to be a big change to keep everybody kind of on the upside.” 

Elizabeth Hook, from Cowgill, Missouri, said she is “beyond satisfied” with Trump’s policy so far and said she is excited to see the tax cuts in Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill.” 

“I’m hoping to see the lower taxes for people on social security,” Hook said. “I know they didn’t give the no tax, but they’re gonna get a tax break — all the tax credits — It’s gonna supercharge the economy.”