President Donald Trump signed his so-called “Big Beautiful Bill” into law on July 4, 2025. Most public discourse surrounding this controversial legislation has focused on its simultaneous lowering of taxes for America’s wealthiest individuals and dramatically cutting social programs such as Medicaid. However, there is another important dynamic of this legislation that has gone virtually unnoticed.
Dating back to Franklin Delano Roosevelt’s “New Deal,” most government spending bills have provided funding for infrastructure improvements. This accomplished two purposes. First, it helped to maintain and enhance America’s roads, bridges, and dams. Second, it provided meaningful employment opportunities.
Notwithstanding this history, infrastructure improvements appear absent from Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill.” Unless you count building more walls at the U.S.-Mexican border or building more detention centers (such as the so-called “Alligator Alcatraz” in the Florida Everglades) as infrastructure improvements.
During his first term in office, President Trump despairingly referred to some nations, beset with economic difficulties, as “s*** hole” countries. Ironically, Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” (which will dramatically increase both inflation and the nation’s budget deficit), coupled with his dysfunctional tariff policies, may soon lead the U.S. into “s*** hole” country status. Maybe I’m missing something, but history suggests that this isn’t a viable spath to making “America Great Again.”
