We must get "One, Big, Beautiful Bill" signed into law

One, Big, Beautiful Bill.”

That’s what President Donald Trump and Republicans in Congress have dubbed our legislation to honor the mandate given to us by the American people and deliver on our promises to families, farmers, workers, manufacturers, and businesses.

Since the last election, we have worked to put together this package of tax cuts, border security, manufacturing revival and energy dominance to unleash American economic prosperity and bring investment to our country.

Fortunately, on the morning of Thursday May 22, we passed, with my strong support, this pro-growth, pro-family, pro-worker bill to prevent the largest tax hike in American history. With the first Trump tax cuts slated to expire at the end of this year, there is no time to waste to get this signed into law.

As the only member of Congress serving on both the House Ways and Means Committee and the House Agriculture Committee, I was at the negotiating table when the tax cuts and agricultural investments of this legislation were considered and drafted into legislation.

With the input of Iowans back home, I secured provisions like additional death tax relief for our farmers and business owners, paid family and medical leave for employees of small businesses, affordable crop insurance policies for young and beginning farmers, and investments in foreign animal disease prevention.

But these policies are just a few examples of the positive provisions that we included.

For families, we increased the standard deduction to $16,000 for individual filers and $32,000 for married couples, reducing taxable income, and increased the child tax credit to $2,500 per child to ease the financial pressures of raising children.

We also made permanent the lower tax rates and tax brackets from President Trump’s Tax Cuts and Jobs Act back in 2017, established $1,000 savings accounts for newborns, and expanded 529 Education Savings Accounts to allow parents to choose the best educational experience for their kids.

These policies will let families keep more of their hard-earned money and steward their dollars toward their own priorities. In fact, the Council of Economic Advisers found that, thanks to this bill, take-home pay for an average family of four would be anywhere between $7,800 to $13,300 higher.

For workers, we eliminated taxes on tips and overtime and ended taxes on car-loan interest for American-made cars. We also stopped the Democrats’ radical attempt to tax transactions over $600 on payment apps like Venmo and PayPal. Again, the Council of Economic Advisers forecast that the provisions of our bill will push wages anywhere between $6,100 and $11,600 higher.

For farmers, we increased the death tax threshold to preserve our rural traditions, keep American farmland in the hands of American farmers, and protect family farms and family-owned businesses from paying massive tax bills and going out of business.

We also extended opportunity zones to drive private capital and investment into rural communities and included a provision to lower the cost of administering and securing agricultural business loans. Additionally, we doubled Section 179 expensing to help farmers finance new equipment purchases and other farm assets.

For small businesses and manufacturers, we increased the small business deduction from 20 percent to 23 percent and made it permanent, letting small businesses invest in their employees and grow their operations, and restored immediate research and development expensing and 100 percent bonus depreciation to rebuild domestic manufacturing, create jobs and bring investment to Rural America.

We also authorized new immediate expensing for the construction of American factories, manufacturing plants, and agricultural facilities.

We further increased the gross receipts threshold for small manufacturers from $31 million to $100 million to avoid burdensome reporting requirements. These provisions will drive investment up and down our Main Streets, encourage investment in our rural communities, and power economic growth now and into the future.

Passing our “One, Big, Beautiful Bill” was the first step. Now, the U.S. Senate must act quickly so that President Trump can sign this legislation into law to supercharge our economy and deliver tax relief for families, farmers, workers, manufacturers, and businesses. This is what America First looks like — and the American people will undoubtedly benefit.

This op-ed was originally published in the Northwest Iowa Review on June 1, 2025.