Leaders in Alabama react to President Donald Trump’s ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (WIAT) — Leaders in Alabama have a lot to say on what President Donald Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” could mean for the state.

The bill features a tax cut on overtime and a cut in funding to Medicaid and SNAP programs.

Sen. Tommy Tuberville (R-AL) said he supports the bill, but he said it needs some changes in the Senate.

“The way to grow this country is to get the tax cuts done,” Tuberville said. “And the tax cuts are in this bill. And we need to make them permanent, and there are a lot of things in there that are really, really good, and there’s some things in there that are very questionable.”

State Rep. Sam Jones (D-Mobile) said the whole bill is questionable. He said changes to Medicaid will have implications for healthcare in the state.

“There are people with intellectual disabilities, there are people who are- have serious, serious issues,” said Rep. Jones. “And when they’re not on Medicaid, they have no medical services at all.”

The Cover Alabama Campaign advocates for those medical services. Debbie Smith, director of the campaign with Alabama Arise, said 170,000 Alabamians could lose healthcare with Medicaid changes.

“It doesn’t matter if you have Blue Cross Blue Shield, or some type of private insurance coverage,” Smith said of premiums. “You aren’t insulated from this bill. Everybody’s gonna be impacted if this bill goes through.”

That bill also influences education, allowing Pell Grants to be used for short-term workforce training programs, according to the White House.

Gordon Stone, executive director of the Higher Education Partnership, said they are watching the bill closely.

“We’re watching the Pell Grant. We’re watching what it does to our graduate school programs and others, other student access points through the loan rewrite,” Stone said. “There’s a lot of things happening right now at the federal level that are important for all of our institutions.”

The bill passed the U.S. House of Representatives and is now moving through the Senate. President Trump has said on social media that he wants to sign the bill into law as soon as possible.