President Donald Trump’s One Big, Beautiful Bill was passed on July 4, 2025, becoming the One Big, Beautiful Act. The law is a budget reconciliation act, a special type of legislation used to expedite budget-related measures, especially changes to taxes, spending, and the federal debt limit. The reconciliation process is controversial because it allows for sweeping policy changes with no bipartisan support, thereby reshaping national priorities solely through the majority party’s votes.

The Act is usually passed through the U.S. Senate and only requires a simple majority (51 votes) instead of the usual 60-vote threshold. The Republican Party used it to combine tax cuts, spending reductions, and policy rollbacks (e.g., Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion (DEI) and environmental rules) that had a budgetary impact. Debate in the Senate is also capped at 20 hours, reducing the chances of prolonged obstruction. 

The Act brought about several changes that affect both U.S. citizens and non-citizens. It offers massive tax cuts to the wealthy, disproportionately benefiting high-income earners and corporations and worsening inequality. The bottom 50% of earners see minimal to no tax benefits. This is a typical policy pattern of the Republican Party, which argues that it stimulates investment, job creation, and entrepreneurship. According to its tax philosophy,  lower corporate tax rates make American corporations more competitive globally. Republicans have traditionally been known to favour a smaller size of government and to reduce social welfare spending, arguing for personal responsibility and private sector solutions. Past American presidents such as Ronald Reagan and George Bush also offered tax cuts, so Trump is no different. 

 The Act eliminates federal student loan forgiveness programmes. It ties new loans to stricter repayment conditions and also makes deep cuts to Medicaid, food assistance, and housing risk, by USD$2.2 trillion, leaving millions of vulnerable Americans without support. USD$170 billion has been set aside for border enforcement, deportation machinery, and funding to deport up to one million undocumented immigrants per year.

The new law opens federal lands to fossil fuel extraction, repealing most climate regulations set under President Joe Biden’s administration in keeping with Trump’s sceptical views on climate change. President Trump withdrew the U.S. from the Paris Climate Change agreement in 2017. He rolled back over 100 environmental rules during his first term (2017–2021) and is known to prioritise oil, gas, and coal over renewable energy. This change led to a dramatic fallout between President Trump and Elon Musk, who saw massive cuts to electric vehicle (EV) incentives and clean-energy policies that benefited Tesla.

Musk criticised the Bill on X before it was passed, saying, “This massive, outrageous, pork-filled Congressional spending bill is a disgusting abomination.” He has threatened to form a third party, the ‘America Party’, which would cut government waste and corruption, advocate for the “80% middle ground”, and promote fiscal discipline.

But how does the Act affect Kenyans? It introduces 1% tax on all remittances sent abroad from the United States. Kenya received approximately USD$4.94 billion in remittances in 2024, reflecting an 18% increase from 2023. The United States remained the leading source, accounting for 51% to 56% of the total inflows.

In addition to remittances, the likelihood of Kenyans being deported is high, with the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) placing 1,282 Kenyans on its national “non-detained docket” with final removal orders in November last year. This figure represents 0.75% of the Kenyan diaspora in the U.S. The figure refers to legal residents and does not include undocumented Kenyans, whose numbers are less well-documented. While 1,282 individuals are a relatively small share of the Kenyan diaspora (under 1%), each case could have a profound personal and community effect back home. So many families in Kenya are likely to feel the effects of reduced remittances and increased deportations, and they’ll also lose their breadwinners. 

 In addition to the fold-up of USAID, many Kenyans who had pegged their livelihoods on American programmes have had to seek new employment, and the effects are still being felt. Suppose one tallies these effects against the loss of jobs of the roughly 35,000 to 40,000 Kenyans who were employed, both directly and indirectly, by USAID-funded programmes in Kenya before the agency’s shutdown. In that case, one can see the impact of recent American policies in the country, particularly in the health sector. 

 A noticeable impact on Kenyan livelihoods is evident in reduced household incomes and heightened economic vulnerability for families that rely on diaspora support since Trump’s return to the White House.

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