Lamalfa and the one big beautiful bill
The “One Big Beautiful Bill” LaMalfa Backed—And What It Takes From his constitutents
Doug LaMalfa voted for the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” (OBBB). The law extends and expands tax cuts skewed to higher-income households while paying for them with deep cuts to Medicaid and SNAP and new work/reporting rules that knock eligible people off coverage and food aid (CBO, 2025; KFF, 2025; CBPP, 2025). In California’s 1st District (CA-01)—older, poorer, and more rural than the state average—those cuts land hard: at least 53,000 residents are on Medicaid/Medi-Cal (KFF, 2025), poverty is ~15–16% (DataUSA, 2025), and child food insecurity runs ~12% (KidsData, 2025). That’s who pays, so the wealthy can keep bigger tax breaks (CBO, 2025; Tax Policy Center, 2025).
What LaMalfa Supported
LaMalfa publicly urged support for OBBB and cheered its passage in the House (Western Caucus, 2025; LaMalfa, 2025). The final package (P.L. 119-21) passed using budget reconciliation (Congress.gov, 2025; CBO, 2025). It:
- Extends/expands significant 2017 tax cuts, plus new carve-outs (e.g., tips) (CBO, 2025; Tax Foundation, 2025; UPenn Wharton, 2025).
- Cuts and restructures Medicaid with national work/reporting mandates (80 hours/month) and other limits (KFF, 2025; ASTHO, 2025; JHU Public Health, 2025).
- Tightens SNAP (CalFresh) rules and limits waivers, reducing benefits and eligibility (CBPP, 2025; USDA FNS, 2025).
Bottom line: The bill shifts resources upward while reducing basic supports that many CA-01 families rely on (CBO, 2025; Yale Budget Lab, 2025).
Who Gets the Tax Cuts?
Independent distributional analyses show the gains flow disproportionately to high-income households:
- CBO: lowest-income households lose about $1,600 per year in overall resources, while the richest gain around $12,000 (CBO, 2025; AP News, 2025).
- Tax Policy Center: the top 0.1% (≈$5M+ income) get ~$300,000 average annual tax cuts in 2026; upper-income groups receive the most significant shares (Tax Policy Center, 2025).
- Yale Budget Lab: combining OBBB with tariffs leaves the bottom 80% worse off on average, while the top gains (Yale Budget Lab, 2025).
Translation: The wealthy get the biggest slices. Lower-income families see smaller gains—or outright losses—once the Medicaid/SNAP cuts and new hurdles are factored in (CBO, 2025; Yale Budget Lab, 2025).
How the Bill Pays for It: Medicaid (Medi-Cal) Cuts
What changes:
- National “community engagement” (work) requirement: most adults 19–64 must document 80 hours/month of work, volunteering, or school to enroll and stay covered (KFF, 2025; ASTHO, 2025; JHU Public Health, 2025).
- Verification/reporting increases, which historically cause eligible people to lose coverage due to red tape (KFF, 2025).
What it costs people:
- CBO/analysts project ~10–11 million more uninsured by 2034, largely from Medicaid losses (Commonwealth Fund, 2025; CBO, 2025).
- Health coverage cuts and cost shifts total about $1.1 trillion across Medicaid and ACA marketplaces (CBPP, 2025).
Why this hits CA-01: It’s older, poorer, rural, and at least 53,000 residents in every district are on Medicaid, with many districts far higher (KFF, 2025). Losing Medi-Cal or getting bounced by paperwork means delayed care, unpaid hospital bills, and stress for rural providers already on thin margins (Commonwealth Fund, 2025).
In addition, the bill shifts more Medicaid costs onto states by reducing federal support for insurance subsidies and state Medicaid program enhancements, meaning states must pick up a larger share of costs (JHU Public Health, 2025; KFF, 2025). Because state budgets are strained, many states will respond by raising premiums and co-payments, or by restricting benefits for those enrolled in Medicaid or ACA marketplace plans (Commonwealth Fund, 2025; KFF, 2025). That raises costs for everyone—not just low-income people—because insurers will demand higher rates across the board to make up for shrinking public subsidies (Keith & Collins, 2025; Hussein, 2025). Indeed, suppose enhanced health insurance (ACA) premium tax credits expire or are cut. In that case, KFF estimates that many enrollees’ out-of-pocket premium costs could more than double—rising by an average of ~$1,016 in 2026 (KFF, 2025). When this reduction in subsidies became a flashpoint in spending negotiations, the impasse over health care funding helped trigger the government shutdown—lawmakers couldn’t agree on whether to extend these subsidies, among other conflicting priorities (ABC News, 2025; Medicare Rights, 2025).
How the Bill Pays for It: SNAP (CalFresh) Cuts
What changes:
- Tighter ABAWD rules (Able-Bodied Adults Without Dependents), fewer area waivers, and new limitations shift costs and reduce benefits/eligibility (USDA FNS, 2025; CBPP, 2025).
What it costs people:
- CBO-based estimates show ~$92 billion less in SNAP over 10 years and about 3.2 million people losing food assistance entirely (CBPP, 2025).
Why this hits CA-01: Child food insecurity in CA-01 is ~12.2% (KidsData, 2025), and district poverty runs ~15–16% (DataUSA, 2025). Cutting CalFresh while raising paperwork barriers means more empty pantries and more strain on food banks.
The District Profile LaMalfa Overlooked
- Population: ~762,487 (DataUSA, 2025).
- Poverty: ~15.4%–16.3%, well above California’s average (DataUSA, 2025; Census Reporter, 2025).
- Medicaid (Medi-Cal): at least 53,000 enrollees in every U.S. district, often far more in rural/low-income areas like CA-01 (KFF, 2025).
- Child food insecurity: ~12.2% in CA-01 (KidsData, 2025).
These are precisely the people most exposed to the bill’s Medicaid and SNAP cuts (KFF, 2025; CBPP, 2025).
The Price Tag LaMalfa Signed Onto
- Deficit impact: ~$3.4 trillion higher deficits over 2025–2034 (CBO, 2025). Even dynamic estimates do not show broad, lasting gains for the bottom (CBO, 2025).
- Hospitals & jobs: Coverage losses mean fewer insured patients and fewer dollars for rural providers, with analysts warning of state-level job losses and hospital revenue hits (Commonwealth Fund, 2025).
So yes—this is about “giving more tax cuts to the wealthy,” and paying for them with program cuts and hurdles that fall on LaMalfa’s own constituents (CBO, 2025; Tax Policy Center, 2025; CBPP, 2025; KFF, 2025).
Call It What It Is
LaMalfa’s vote for OBBB wasn’t about “working families.” It was a choice to protect high-end tax breaks while shrinking health care and food aid in a district where tens of thousands rely on Medi-Cal and CalFresh to get by (CBO, 2025; KFF, 2025; CBPP, 2025). That’s not looking out for CA-01—that’s politics at your expense.
References
American Public Health Association / Association of State and Territorial Health Officials. (2025, July 9). One Big Beautiful Bill law summary. https://www.astho.org/advocacy/federal-government-affairs/leg-alerts/2025/one-big-beautiful-bill-law-summary/
Center for American Progress. (2025, March 11). Medicaid and CHIP coverage mapped by 119th congressional districts. https://www.americanprogress.org/article/medicaid-and-chip-coverage-mapped-by-119th-congressional-districts/
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. (2025, June 6). 2025 budget impacts: House bill would cut assistance for children, raise hardship (SNAP analysis incl. $92B cuts, 3.2M losing aid). https://www.cbpp.org/
Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. (2025, July 22). Medicaid work requirements will take away coverage from millions. https://www.cbpp.org/
Commonwealth Fund. (2025, June 23). How Medicaid, SNAP cutbacks would trigger job losses and coverage losses under OBBB. https://www.commonwealthfund.org/
Congressional Budget Office. (2025, May 20). Preliminary analysis of the distributional effects of the 2025 reconciliation bill (No. 61422). https://www.cbo.gov/
Congressional Budget Office. (2025, June 4). Estimated budgetary effects of H.R. 1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (No. 61461). https://www.cbo.gov/
Congressional Budget Office. (2025, June 12). Distributional effects of H.R. 1, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (No. 61387). https://www.cbo.gov/
Congressional Budget Office. (2025, July 21). Estimated budgetary effects of Public Law 119-21 (net deficit +$3.4T, 2025–2034) (No. 61570). https://www.cbo.gov/
Congress.gov. (2025). H.R. 1 — One Big Beautiful Bill Act (texts, actions). https://www.congress.gov/bill/119th-congress/house-bill/1
DataUSA. (2025). Congressional District 1, CA — profile (population, poverty). https://datausa.io/profile/geo/congressional-district-1-ca
Georgetown University Center for Children and Families (CCF). (2024, December 11). Medicaid/CHIP coverage in California congressional districts, 2023 (ACS-based district shares). https://ccf.georgetown.edu/2024/12/11/medicaid-chip-coverage-in-california-congressional-districts-2023/
Gomez, J. (2025, September 30). The US government has shut down. Here’s what to know. ABC News. https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/us-government-shut-midnight/story?id=126067361
Hussein, F. (2025, June). AP News. GOP tax bill would cost poor Americans $1,600 a year and boost highest earners by $12,000, CBO says. https://apnews.com/article/trump-tax-bill-hurts-poor-helps-rich-cbo-f3d9d46ca3e829d6b850dca30b91a2b6
Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health. (2025, July 30). The changes coming to the ACA, Medicaid, and Medicare (expert Q&A). https://publichealth.jhu.edu/
Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF). (2025, March 11). Medicaid enrollment by eligibility group — congressional district interactive (district-level floor of ≥53,000 enrollees). https://www.kff.org/
Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF). (2025, July 8). Tracking the Medicaid provisions in the 2025 budget law (summary & timeline). https://www.kff.org/
Kaiser Family Foundation (KFF). (2025, July 30). A closer look at the Medicaid work requirement provisions (80-hour rule). https://www.kff.org/
Keith, K., & Collins, S. (2025, August 5). How loss of insurance subsidies raises premiums for everyone. The Commonwealth Fund. https://www.commonwealthfund.org/
KidsData (Lucile Packard Foundation). (2025). Children living in food-insecure households, by congressional district (CA-01 ≈12.2%). https://www.kidsdata.org/
LaMalfa, D. (2025, May 22). Statements on budget reconciliation package (press release). https://lamalfa.house.gov/
Medicare Rights Center. (2025, October 2). What the shutdown means for health care funding and insurance subsidies. https://www.medicarerights.org/
Tax Foundation. (2025, July 4). One Big Beautiful Bill Act tax policies: Details and analysis. https://taxfoundation.org/
Tax Policy Center. (2025, June 3). Final House budget bill cuts average taxes mostly for high-income households (TaxVox). https://taxpolicycenter.org/
U.S. Department of Agriculture, Food and Nutrition Service. (2025, September 4). SNAP provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act — implementation (ABAWD/time-limit changes). https://www.fns.usda.gov/
University of Pennsylvania Wharton Budget Model. (2025, July 8). President Trump–signed reconciliation bill: Budget, economic, and distributional effects. https://budgetmodel.wharton.upenn.edu/
Western Caucus (U.S. House of Representatives). (2025, May 21). Chairman LaMalfa urges support for the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (press statement). https://westerncaucus-gosar.house.gov/
Yale Budget Lab. (2025, July 10). The economic distributional effects of the 2025 budget law. https://budgetlab.yale.edu/
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