“In virtually every single area, this bill takes us in precisely the wrong direction.”
—Senator Bernie Sanders (I–Vt.)1
On July 4, America celebrates its independence from the harsh and unreasonable laws of a British king. One would think that a country born of such revolutionaries would take more care in drafting laws that are respectful of the rights of Americans and consider the welfare of all its residents.
Yet, during the almost 250 years of its existence the U.S. Congress has repeatedly passed immoral bills and acts that infringed on the rights of its citizens and residents or placed horrific punishments on some of its people.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R. 1) is another such bill.2 It might even qualify, as Senator Bernie Sanders (I–Vt.) wrote on June 29, as “the worst piece of legislation in modern American history.”
This multi-trillion-dollar legislation is set to unlock tax cuts mainly for the wealthy and funding boosts for national security. Both are largely paid for by borrowing $3 trillion–$6 trillion (depending on the reference) and by instituting the largest cuts to the federal safety net in decades.4
The brutally harsh and cruel Republican bill has been given several popular names: “Take from the Poor, Give to the Rich Budget Bill,” “Betray America, Billionaires First Budget,” and “Big, Bad Betrayal Bill, among others.
On July 3, House Minority Leader Hakim Jeffries (D–N.Y.) used his “magic minute” to make a marathon eight hour and 44-minute speech opposing the Republican budget bill. Jeffries said that “this reckless Republican budget is an immoral document…[that] attacks children, seniors and everyday Americans, and people with disabilities.”
The bill will definitely impact many aspects of life for large numbers of Americans. By cutting taxes for the wealthy and removing benefits from middle-class and working-poor Americans, the bill affects
- Healthcare by cutting Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act to the point that at least 11.8 million will lose health insurance, according to estimates from the Congressional Budget Office.
- Food security as 3.2 million–4.7 million people, mainly children, would lose SNAP (food stamp) benefits.
- Hospitals, especially rural hospitals, which could be forced to close due to lack of adequate reimbursement because of Medicaid cuts.
- Education as costs will soar and student loans will be more difficult to repay.
- Social Security and Medicare as those trust funds will head toward insolvency a year earlier in 2034.
- Environment/Climate as rollbacks of Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, which increased good-paying jobs, will result in job losses in green renewable energy jobs, mainly in Red States.
- Climate protections with rollbacks of regulations that protect us from polluters. Those rules helped safeguard our air, water, food and health.
- Future generations by saddling them with $3 trillion–$6 trillion of debt in order to give the wealthy tax cuts. It is the most expensive reconciliation bill in history, adding at least $4.1 trillion to the national debt through 2034, which will make borrowing more expensive for people to buy houses, cars and the like.
- Immigration policy by increasing military spending to “secure our border.” The bill gives ICE the largest budget of any law enforcement agency in the federal government so it can continue to terrorize immigrant communities and build internment camps across the country.
- The ability to buy gun silencers by removing suppressors (silencers) from the National Firearms Act. There will no longer be a tax on silencers.
Without question, this Republican budget bill ranks among the worst bills in our nation’s history.
Horrendous Bills in U.S. History
Based on a review by experts, the following is a list of some of the other horrendous bills passed by the U.S. Congress.6 Fear of Native Americans, enslaved people and immigrants, along with suppression of free speech, are common themes in these bills.
These federal laws are listed in order of when they were passed rather than the degree of depravity or immorality.
- The Alien and Sedition Acts of 1798. To stifle domestic opposition to his administration, President John Adams and his Federalist Party felt the need to suppress dissent among both Americans and “undesirable aliens.”
The Act suppressed free speech and dissent by making it a criminal offense to publish “false, scandalous and malicious writing” against the government, its agents or officials. It also gave the government broad powers to deport foreigners.
The Supreme Court has never directly ruled on its constitutionality. The Alien Act expired in 1800 and the Sedition Act in 1801. Even though many legal scholars believe that it to be unconstitutional, the Alien Enemies Act remains on the books.
- Indian Removal Act of 1830. Supported by President Andrew Jackson, this bill enabled the United States to forcibly relocate Native American tribes from their ancestral lands. The removal resulted in immense hardship, loss of life (e.g., the Trail of Tears) and generational trauma that Native people still have not recovered from.
- The Fugitive Slave Act of 1850. Passed as part of the “Compromise of 1850,” the act was meant to assuage Southerners’ fears and diminish their threats of secession.
An incredibly harsh, proslavery measure, it required citizens to help capture and return runaway slaves. Failure to do so would result in a $1,000 fine and six months in jail. It also denied enslaved people the right to a jury trial. Congress removed the act in 1864.
- Chinese Exclusion Act of 1882. This act prohibited all immigration of Chinese laborers for 10 years. The Geary Act of 1892 renewed and strengthened the act. It was made permanent in 1902 before finally being repealed in 1943.
- Dawes Severalty Act of 1887. This law aimed to assimilate Native Americans by breaking up tribal lands into individual plots for Native American families and selling the remaining “surplus” land to non-Native settlers. This was followed by the Curtis Act of 1898 that abolished the governments of the “Five Civilized Tribes” (Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek (or Muscogee) and Seminole) and took more land.
- Espionage Act of 1917/Sedition Act of 1918. Passed shortly after the U.S. entry into World War I, the Sedition Act expanded the range of the Espionage Act. Under the Sedition Act, it was a crime to make false claims that hindered the war effort or to disrupt the manufacture of items necessary for the war. It was illegal to insult the U.S. government, the flag, the Constitution or the military. Defending these actions as legal was also a crime. The Sedition Act of 1918 was repealed on Dec. 13, 1920, though parts of the Espionage Act of 1917 remain in place today.
- Prohibition Amendment (18th Amendment) to the U.S. Constitution. Passed by Congress in 1917 and ratified by the states in 1919, the amendment, designed to eliminate alcohol consumption and its associated ills, established a nationwide ban on the manufacture, sale and transportation of alcoholic beverages but not on the consumption of alcohol itself.
The amendment was difficult to enforce and resulted in the rise of organized crime, increased illegal alcohol production and consumption, and a general decline in respect for the law. Prohibition lasted until 1933 when the 21st Amendment was ratified, repealing the 18th Amendment.
- The Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act of 1930. This act raised significant U.S. tariffs on more than 20,000 imports. More than 1,000 economists signed a petition denouncing the act.
European countries responded by hiking retaliatory tariffs on products manufactured in the United States. American imports and exports declined by about 50%. There was a sharp decline in international trade, which deepened the Great Depression.
Some experts say this nativist tariff act inspired the nationalism that contributed to the rise of Adolf Hitler.
- Alien Registration Act of 1940. This act made it a crime to either advocate for the overthrow of the government or be a member of a group for which its main goal was to topple the government.
In addition, all aliens (noncitizens) living inside the country had to register with the government, get their fingerprints taken and filed, keep identification papers on their person at all times and inform the government of their living situation each year.
Lastly, an alien could be deported if found to have any sort ties to a “subversive organization.”
Though it has never been repealed, the act has been amended several times after parts were found to be unconstitutional by the Supreme Court.
Public Law 503: Codified Executive Order 9066. Enacted in March 1942, this law led to the forced removal and incarceration of Japanese Americans during World War II. Ultimately, it was repealed in 1980. Due to its immorality and unlawfulness, in 1988, the United States offered a formal apology and reparations of $20,000 to each surviving internee.
