Felonious Punk’s “Big Beautiful Bill” Under Fire for Debt, Inequality, and Devastating Health Cuts

President Felonious Punk’s signature legislative effort, a sweeping tax and spending package Republicans have dubbed the “One Big Beautiful Bill,” is facing a barrage of criticism as it heads for a contentious battle in the Senate. Concerns are mounting that the over 1,000-page bill, which many lawmakers may not have fully read, will trigger a cascade of negative consequences, from exploding the national debt and exacerbating income inequality to decimating vital global health programs. These issues, coupled with broader economic instability stemming from the administration’s other policies, like controversial tariffs, paint a grim picture for critics.

A formidable group of six Nobel laureate economists, including Joseph Stiglitz and Paul Krugman, issued a stark warning this week via the Economic Policy Institute. They project that the bill, passed by the House in May, would cause U.S. public debt to soar by over $3 trillion in the coming years, potentially exceeding $5 trillion in a decade if its tax cut provisions are made permanent. The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget echoes this, estimating a $3.1 trillion debt increase, including interest. Such a surge, the laureates cautioned, “will put noticeable upward pressure on both inflation and interest rates,” further unsettling financial markets already alarmed by the nation’s rising deficit.

Beyond the macroeconomic fallout, the economists slammed the bill for its impact on social equity. They argue that deep cuts to key safety-net programs like Medicaid and food stamps (SNAP), paired with tax reductions disproportionately benefiting high-income households, amount to an “extremely large upward redistribution of income.” This directly contradicts the administration’s portrayal of the package as a “once-in-a-generation opportunity” to drive economic growth and benefit workers by extending the 2017 tax cuts.

The human cost of the budgetary priorities reflected in and accompanying this legislative push is particularly stark in the realm of global health. The administration’s proposed FY2026 budget, ideologically aligned with the “America First” tenets of the “Big Beautiful Bill,” calls for the elimination of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s global health unit. This would effectively shutter its $230 million immunization program, including $180 million dedicated to polio eradication and funds for measles and other vaccine-preventable diseases. Financial support for Gavi, the international vaccine alliance, crucial for children in developing countries, is also slated to be withdrawn.

Public health experts have labeled such cuts as dangerously shortsighted, emphasizing that infectious diseases like measles and polio routinely cross borders and pose a direct threat to Americans. Recent U.S. measles outbreaks and a 2022 polio case in New York were all linked to imported viruses. Dr. Sania Nishtar, Gavi’s CEO, warned, “There is so much at stake,” evoking images of graveyards once filled with children who died from now-preventable diseases. The World Health Organization (WHO) has stated that the “scale, scope, and abrupt nature of the U.S. cuts will lead to more disease and death,” with polio eradication efforts facing a 40% budget deficit and a risk of global resurgence.

Funding for the U.S. President’s Malaria Initiative is also proposed to be cut by 47 percent, and the renowned U.S. President’s Emergency Plan for AIDS Relief (PEPFAR), credited with saving over 20 million lives, faces a budget of less than half its previous funding, signaling an intent to “wind down” this historic global health campaign. An OMB spokeswoman defended the overall budget by stating it “prioritizes lifesaving global health activities… to prevent infectious diseases from reaching our homeland,” while eliminating programs deemed not to serve Americans directly or where other donors should increase contributions.

The “Big Beautiful Bill” itself is not without Republican detractors in the Senate. Senator Rand Paul, for instance, has criticized its $320 billion in new spending for the military and border security, noting this figure surpasses all the cuts identified by Elroy Muskrat’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Paul’s primary objection, however, is the bill’s inclusion of a massive increase to the debt ceiling, which he and a few other Republicans oppose on fiscal conservative grounds, despite Felonious Punk’s pressure for a swift passage before July 4th.

Adding to the climate of economic uncertainty are the administration’s aggressive trade policies. While distinct from the budget bill, controversial “Liberation Day” tariffs, recently deemed illegal by the U.S. Court of International Trade (though that ruling is currently paused pending appeal), have been criticized by entities like Bloomberg for creating chaos, “crushing investment, destroying consumer confidence,” and weakening the U.S.’s negotiating stance. While the White House Council of Economic Advisers claims such tariffs will help “supercharge growth,” this is sharply contested by those who see them as another source of instability.

As the “Big Beautiful Bill” awaits its fate in the Senate, the growing chorus of warnings from economists and public health experts underscores the profound and potentially devastating long-term consequences of Felonious Punk’s current economic and budgetary agenda. The combination of soaring national debt, increased inequality, critical cuts to global health infrastructure, and volatile trade policies suggests a period of significant economic and social challenge ahead.