LETTER TO THE EDITOR: How MA Must Respond to Trump's "Big Beautiful Bill"

To the Editor:

A month ago, Trump and Congressional Republicans passed the Big Beautiful Bill. But this bill is ugly: containing one of the biggest rollbacks of health care access in US history, cuts to food assistance and public education, and escalated funding for ICE.

Through this bill, the Trump administration wants states like Massachusetts to do their dirty work for them. Bay Staters need to be clear that we won’t.

Massachusetts needs to better protect our essential services from federal cuts. The extreme cuts to health care access, food assistance, education, and other vital programs will hit state budgets hard. Indeed, we are already seeing the impact of the unilateral cuts that Trump made earlier this year.

Rather than making cuts that will fall on the backs of the most vulnerable, we should be making sure that the most profitable corporations in our commonwealth are paying their fair share. That’s why we need to pass the Corporate Fair Share bill (H.3110 / S.2033), which would ensure that large multinational corporations like Amazon and Walmart pay more in taxes using a federal formula called Global Intangible Low-Taxed Income (GILTI).

Fun Fact: if Massachusetts started charging these corporations fifty percent of their GILTI, it would be the same percentage of their GILTI that Maine, Vermont, Rhode Island, and New Hampshire already do.

Beacon Hill also needs to tap into the state’s $8 billion rainy day fund. The looming cuts that Bay Staters face under the “Big Beautiful Bill” are why the rainy day fund was created.

Second, Massachusetts needs to better protect our immigrant communities by not being complicit with Trump’s mass deportation agenda. Trump’s $45 billion increase in ICE funds means that the administration will be looking for more people to work as immigration agents. Scaling up means that they will want states to offer existing personnel to do their dirty work. We must be clear that we won’t. Bills like the Safe Communities Act (H.2580 / S.1681) and the Dignity Not Deportations Bill (H.1588 / S.1122) would ensure that our state and local law enforcement are not being deputized as ICE agents.

Our legislators on Beacon Hill speak of doing the best for their constituency. Bay Staters should push for them to pass these three bills to help them do their best and reject the President’s agenda.

Heather T. Ford
Westwood, MA

Thanks to Heather Ford, Westwood resident, for sharing these comments and opinions with Westwood Minute. 

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