Two Conservatives Debate: Is the Big, Beautiful Bill a Disaster?

Open to Debate

Education, Society & Culture, News, Government, Politics

4.5 • 2.1K Ratings

🗓️ 18 July 2025

⏱️ 52 minutes

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Summary

President Trump has officially signed the One Big, Beautiful Bill Act into law. There is debate among conservatives about whether it will end up driving economic growth or increasing our debt. One side argues that ordinary Americans will pay the price and the long-term fiscal outcome is terrible. Another side argues these policies will encourage investment, growth, and job creation. Now, two conservatives debate: Is the Big, Beautiful Bill a Disaster? Arguing Yes: Jessica Riedl, Senior Fellow at the Manhattan Institute Arguing No: Diana Furchtgott-Roth, Director of the Center for Energy, Climate, and Environment and the Herbert and Joyce Morgan Fellow in Energy and Environmental Policy at The Heritage Foundation Emmy award-winning journalist John Donvan moderates Visit OpentoDebate.org to watch more insightful debates. Subscribe to our newsletter to stay informed on our curated weekly debates, dynamic live events, and educational initiatives. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

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0:30.9	This is open to debate. I'm John Donvan. Hi again, everybody. So after a lot of drama,
0:35.4	it finally passed. Congress's one big beautiful bill,
0:39.3	or maybe more correctly, the Republican's big beautiful bill. Or even more correctly, Donald Trump's
0:44.1	big beautiful bill because he's the one who came up with the name. The big beautiful bill does a lot
0:49.0	on immigration, on Medicaid funding, on taxes, and that's just for starters. And we know it's divisive because the Democrats hated it, not a single Democrat voted for it.
0:58.6	But what has been interesting is how much the big, beautiful bill also divided the right.
1:04.1	Why?
1:04.9	Well, that's what we're going to be getting at in this episode with two debaters who are generally on the same page as conservatives,
1:10.3	but they're on opposite sides for as conservatives, but they're on
1:11.0	opposite sides for this one, which we're officially titling two conservatives debate, is the big,
1:16.4	beautiful bill, a disaster. So let's meet our two conservative debaters answering yes to the question,
1:22.2	saying it's a disaster. I want to welcome Jessica Riedel. Jessica is an economist and currently
1:26.9	senior fellow at the Manhattan Institute,
1:28.7	where she focuses on budget and tax and economic policy. Previously, she worked as chief
1:33.2	economist as Senator Rob Portman from Ohio and as staff director of the U.S. Senate Finance
1:37.7	Subcommittee on fiscal responsibility and economic growth. Jessica, welcome to open a debate.
1:42.3	So great to have you here. Thank you, John.
	...

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