One Big Bullshit Bill
On May 22nd, 2025, House Resolution 1 (H.R. 1), otherwise known as Donald Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," was passed by a narrow margin of a single Republican vote. The bill is the American right-wing's newest assault on the working class and our communities, and a disgraceful display of the state's dedication to the further immiseration of the diverse people of the U.S. Among the myriad objectives of the bloated bill are anti-trans provisions that deny care to our already historically oppressed queer communities, tax cuts which will further enrich the wealthy at the expense of the already economically disadvantaged, the removal of healthcare coverage for millions of Americans, and much, much more.
The bill is slated to prohibit all federal funding towards gender-affirming care for trans patients of all ages. This blatantly malicious policy by the U.S.'s fanatical right-wing is engineered to specifically target non-cisgender individuals, as the stated language makes clear exceptions for cisgendered patients. The bill restricts funding for Hormone Replacement Therapy (HRT), puberty blockers, and categories of surgery or care that are identified as "changing the body of an individual to no longer correspond to their sex.” This provision satisfies a duality of purpose; it preserves gender-affirming care for cisgender men and women who are prescribed testosterone or estrogen, and also enables the American right-wing to continue to abuse the queer community by means of systemic violence. One in five trans Americans reportedly rely on Medicaid and will be subject to these cuts, which will also affect private insurance plans offered via the Affordable Care Act, and will have additional downstream effects on all private insurance coverage as the industry adjusts to these new standards.
Although trans Americans are the most visibly targeted in the language of this bill, many other types of care for queer people are likewise subject to federal funding. As reported by Michelle Falci at Clinical Advisor, "If the funding prohibitions in the reconciliation bill become law, LGBT+ patients on Medicaid may no longer have access to services like sexually transmitted infection (STI) screening, HIV treatment, or mental health care." Barriers to the accessibility of healthcare and the acquisition of basic necessities for queer folk continue to be deployed by an increasingly prejudiced and conservative state. As a result of the aforementioned cuts, it's estimated that 13.7 million Americans could become uninsured. New work requirements included in the bill will serve as an additional barrier to healthcare, excluding non-working Americans under the age of 64 without dependents younger than seven years of age.
Our corrupt legislature pretends that medical care is a frivolity and not a necessity just as essential as our access to food, water and shelter, which are also under attack and subject to $128 billion in SNAP cuts and likewise work requirements. These policies will cause the further immiseration of those in the U.S. who struggle under the weight of capitalism, and help no one other than private shareholders and their executives who cut costs only to line their own pockets.
As our necessities become more expensive by the day, the project to strangle the proletariat with further impoverishment is steadfastly proceeding. According to CNBC, the tax breaks preserve rules that shield the already wealthiest Americans from having to pay capital gains taxes and provide nearly all of the tax relief to the upper 20% of households. “The Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan federal scorekeeper, estimates income for the bottom 10% of households would fall by 2% in 2027", and that attrition will worsen to "4% in 2033 as a result of the bill’s changes." Although, this decrease in income doesn't exist in isolation as that money will be redistributed to the capitalist ruling class, where the wealthiest "10% would get an income boost from the legislation: 4% in 2027 and 2% in 2033, CBO found."
The purpose of this bill is clear: steal from the poor, give to the rich, and further abuse the most vulnerable groups of our population in the process. The American public has been sold this disastrous bill under the pretense of cost savings in the form of tax exemptions for tips, overtime pay, and car loan interest. If those few changes are viewed in isolation, the illusion that this is a positive development for the working class is maintained. The reality of the extreme wealth redistribution outlined above refutes the bourgeois lie that these policies are made to benefit the working class. Simply put, the Big Beautiful Bill is a trojan horse, dressed to hide its sinister underbelly and execute an unpopular political maneuver that puts the queer community and the poor and working class as a whole on the back foot.
Shortly before this bill was scheduled to be voted on, Republicans made last minute amendments to the bill that dramatically expanded the scope of its attack. Prior to the last minute changes, the language related to the restrictions on federal funding to gender-affirming care were specifically applied to people under the age of 18. The Republican legislature used "protecting children" as the bait to lure in "moderate" liberal Democrats, and the sudden expansion of that rule switched to people of all ages.
The bill's fate now lies in the hands of the Senate, whose Democrats are far less united in their opposition to the right wing and its fascist agenda. It's safe to assume that if it does pass, there will be some degree of support from members of the Democratic party. In January 2025, the Laken Riley Act which provided the legal basis for the kidnapping and removal of obscene numbers of people from America without due process (and is supported by Cincinnati's very own U.S. Representative Greg Landsman), was passed in the Senate with the help of 12 votes supplied by Democrats. By this point, the devastating effects of the passage of this policy is clear to everyone, as it has marked a horrifying acceleration of our country's collapse into fascism. Among the 12 Democrats who joined the Republicans in their unanimous support for the act, you'll find names like John Fetterman (PA), Elissa Slotkin (MI), and Raphael Warnock (GA). If it wasn't damning enough that Pennsylvania Democrat John Fetterman co-sponsored the bill, Democrats like Slotkin praised the bill as opposition to "petty partisanship." With friends like these, who needs enemies?
We can imagine this future with some degree of confidence because it's natural, and endemic to our mode of production. Our representatives who betray us by voting for actively harmful policies are the product of a political system built within the confines of capitalism. All things that are possible electorally, are only possible within the bounds of capitalism, our mode of production. So long as we dictate policy within that mode of production, our representatives will always exist as a parasite within the capitalist class who sustain themselves with funds via lobbying and donations.This is to say,
The queer community is targeted because it is profitable to do so.
The poor and working class is immiserated because it is profitable to do so.
Democrats and Republicans will continue to work together to enact harmful policies in the name of "bipartisanship" because it is profitable to do so.
We must destroy the chains of capitalism because it is right to do so.
This bill exemplifies the continued officiation of the malicious intent of the capitalist ruling class. Wherever profit can be extracted, the capitalists hold the inhumane belief that individuals of the diverse and numerous proletarian masses are expendable. It's our responsibility to rally to the defense of the queer community and, in defiant solidarity, resist the bourgeoisie's plan to discard trans people as the next casualties of consolidation. We assert that queer people are worth more than any profit, and that the attempted exclusion of their right to gender-affirming care is unjustifiable. To the queer community and the poor and working masses in their entirety, we pledge our resistance in the struggle against capitalism towards a socialist future that provides freedom from oppression for all.