One Big Beautiful Bill
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBB) is a 940-page substitute for H.R. 1 in the 119th Congress, 1st Session, as debated in the U.S. Senate at the end of June 2025.
The U.S. Senate restored the funding of abortion and transgender-treatment Planned Parenthood for all except the first year, after the House had defunded Planned Parenthood for ten years. The Senate version also encourages state regulation of AI, by which liberals are expected to impose their viewpoints and censor conversion therapy.
In the House version the phrase "artificial intelligence" is mentioned 33 times. This bill conditions federal grants to states and local entities on their not regulating AI:
| “ | (q) TEMPORARY PAUSE.— ‘‘(1) IN GENERAL.—Except as provided in paragraph (2), no eligible entity or political subdivision thereof to which funds made available under subsection (b)(5)(A) are obligated on or after the date of enactment of this subsection may enforce, during the 10-year period beginning on the date of enactment of this subsection, any law or regulation of that eligible entity or a political subdivision thereof limiting, restricting, or otherwise regulating artificial intelligence models, artificial intelligence systems, or automated decision systems entered into interstate commerce.[1] | ” |
Procedural Record
Late on June 28, 2025, a Satuday night, the U.S. Senate advanced this Act on a 51-49 party-line vote, with only Sens. Rand Paul (R-KY) and Thom Tillis (R-NC) voting "No" (for their very different reasons) among Republicans.[2]
This bill passed in the U.S. Senate on July 1 with Vice President JD Vance casting the tiebreaking vote, 51-50.
Criticism
The Jacobin website states, "It was designed and paid for by big businesses and their benefactors,"[3] and singles out Big Pharma and private equity as having spent millions of dollars for special benefits to them in the OBBB.