ICYMI: Big Beautiful Bill Delivers Big for Kentucky

One week ago, President Trump signed the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA) into law. I voted for and helped rally the votes in the U.S. House of Representatives for the OBBBA. 

This law stops the largest tax increase in history, and in turn, provides across the board tax cuts and investments in national security that will make our economy stronger, our communities safer, and our future brighter. Here is a breakdown of some of the key victories for Kentucky.   

Workers Win Big

This is not a tax cut for the wealthy. OBBBA is a historic tax cut for American workers. Some of the major provisions included for hardworking Kentuckians include:

• Ending federal taxes on tips.
  • Kentuckians working at restaurants, bars, hotels, and barbershops keep more of their money.
• Eliminating federal taxes on overtime work.
  • Democrats have wanted to defund police, we reward our law enforcement who often work overtime to keep our communities safe by getting rid of federal taxes on overtime. Firefighters, emergency medical technicians (EMTs) and other frequent overtime workers benefit greatly.
• 2017 tax cuts made permanent.
  • Stops a $4T tax increase that would hurt Kentuckians still recovering from four years of Bidenflation.

Putting Kentucky Families First

I promised to make life more affordable for Kentucky families, and this tax package does just that by:

• Boosting the Child Tax Credit up to $2,200 and improvements for the Adoption Tax Credit.
• Establishing the Trump Investment accounts which will provide $1,000 for every child at birth from 2024-2028 that will become available to the child at age 18 to further education, start a business, or continue saving for retirement.
• Car loan deduction for up to $10,000 per year for U.S. assembled cars through 2028.
• Flexibility for 529 savings plans to cover K-12 expenses, vocational trainings, and even to roll over unused funds into a Roth IRA account.
• Across the board tax cuts resulting in estimated increase in take-home pay by $10,600 for Kentuckians.

Helping Kentucky Seniors Enjoy the Retirement They Earned

Seniors living on fixed incomes have been impacted more by Bidenflation than almost any other group of Americans. That’s why seniors are one of the fastest growing demographic of Americans entering or reentering the workforce. I worked to include key provisions for our seniors to give them economic relief, such as:

• New $6,000 senior tax deductions will help seniors to enjoy their well-deserved retirement without having to worry about what’s in the bank.
  • This tax deduction will result in 88% of all seniors, particularly lower- and middle-class seniors, to enjoy effectively no tax on their Social Security benefits.
• Car loan deduction for up to $10,000 per year for U.S. assembled cars through 2028.
  • Deducting interest on these payments from federal taxes will reduce the taxable income of our seniors.
• No changes to Social Security and Medicare, these benefits are untouched by this legislation and totally preserved for our seniors.

Support for Small Business Owners and Manufacturers

OBBBA is the best tax cut for small businesses and manufacturers in history. Among other key provisions, this bill includes:

• Full expensing for new factories and upgrades, enabling rapid growth for Made in America manufacturing.
• 100% bonus depreciation and R&D expensing incentives included in the law
• New Opportunity Zones for rural and distressed communities, unlocking over $100 billion in investment and many new jobs.

Protecting Kentucky Energy from Radicals

Kentucky’s natural resources will be unleashed with commonsense energy policy and American agriculture will benefit from provisions that help support our farmers across America:

• The Green New Scam is defunded, reclaiming funds from this wasteful initiative.
• Permitting restrictions will no longer be weaponized, allowing a large expansion of American energy programs.

Key Victories for Kentucky Farmers, Equine Industry

President Trump and I promised to look out for our farmers, and in this bill, we secured major victories for our farms and equine industry.

• Expansion of crop insurance to farmers and additional market access enabling American farmers to compete globally.
• Eliminated the death tax on an estimated 2 million family farms throughout the United States.
• Permanent 100% Bonus Depreciation. As I mentioned above, the final bill locks in full expensing for eligible business investments—including horses, breeding stock, vehicles, and farm equipment—permanently. This immediate deduction will encourage reinvestment and growth throughout rural America.
• Restored Net Operating Loss Carryover. Horse owners and small farm operators will now be able to carry forward excess business losses as net operating losses—ensuring they receive the full tax benefit from bonus depreciation.

Preserves and Strengthens Medicaid

The biggest lie being told is that all of these victories come at the expense of Kentuckians who are on Medicaid. Nothing could be further from the truth. Here’s how we strengthened Medicaid for Kentuckians who need it:

The only change to Medicaid eligibility requirements is a part-time work responsibility for able-bodied adults without dependents. Medicaid is protected through the One Big Beautiful Bill by instituting common-sense reforms that prevent runaway spending which could destroy the program:

• Instituting a part-time work responsibility for able-bodied adults ages 19-64 without dependents.
• Ban coverage under Medicaid for illegal immigrants.
• Refocus Medicaid to the original purpose, prioritizing Kentuckians in need such as the disabled, dual-eligible elderly, and women with dependent children in need.

Making America Safe Again

Finally, the One Big Beautiful Bill helps Make America Safe Again with much needed funding to modernize our military and protect our border.

• Fully funds President Trump’s Golden Dome program, protecting America from advanced missile threats.
• Modernizes the US Coast Guard to help them in their mission to stop deadly fentanyl trafficking.
• Funds expansion of the US Navy to counter Communist Chinese aggression.
• Fully funds President Trump’s border wall to establish a long-term border solution.
• Expands funding to ICE and Border Patrol to hire new agents and assist with their mission of keeping dangerous illegal aliens out of our country.

I’m proud to have supported and helped guide this package to law and I look forward to seeing the great improvements this law will make for so many Kentuckians throughout our Commonwealth.