My former boss, Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY), and the House Freedom Caucus have been excoriated for pushing for some fiscal sanity in the Big Beautiful Bill Act. But for the pressure put on House and Senate leadership by conservatives, the legislation would have been molded by centrist senators and House members in a way that both busts the budget and violates President Donald Trump‘s promise to cut taxes. It is outrageous that the handful of politicians standing up for Americans are the ones being politically abused by legacy media and a whisper campaign by leadership.
Trump wanted legislation that extended the personal income tax cuts and provided deductions for tips and overtime while increasing spending on border security and defense. These were all achieved in the bill, yet it carried a big debt limit increase (the House’s original proposal for a $4 trillion debt limit increase was boosted by another trillion dollars by the Senate) that was a bridge too far for a handful of members. Furthermore, the bill was loaded with horse-trading items such as a carve-out for Alaska and Hawaii work requirements for SNAP benefits, a $1.1 billion tax hike on gambling losses, tax hikes on non-corporate businesses, and it was devoid of any provision that implements reforms on spending. Congress did Trump no favors by using this bill as a Christmas tree for special interest requests.
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The House Freedom Caucus has been steadfast in saying that spending reform was needed as part of this act. Significant reforms of the so-called “Inflation Reduction Act,” stopping most of the government-funded wind and solar projects, reforming healthcare money laundering scams, and work requirements for government assistance were only included in the bill because of the pressure put on by the caucus. It had to make a credible threat to “shoot the hostage,” or all the pressure would have been from New York City members pushing for higher caps on the state and local deduction, and centrist members not wanting any reforms to entitlements. The bottom line is that the caucus did not “cave,” it cut the best deal it could. The Trump administration put enormous pressure on getting this bill across the finish line, and, in the end, the caucus members made a game-time decision to vote for the final flawed product.
Paul and Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) are in a different category. Paul’s high-profile pressure for short-term debt limit hikes, instead of a massive $5 trillion hike, makes sense. He argued on X, “I reiterated my offer to vote for the bill—if it included a 90% reduction in the debt ceiling. No earmarks. No handouts. Just real fiscal reform.”
The senator made it clear that he was not “horse-trading,” but was defending Americans from a crushing debt time bomb that will go off if Congress and the executive branch do not reform spending soon. He concluded, “I offered my vote for fiscal sanity. Congress chose to sell out taxpayers instead.” Paul correctly noted that “only once the bill is released, we will know what the true price was.” Remember former House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s (D-CA) old line, “We have to pass the bill so that you can find out what is in it.” That statement is true today.
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As for Massie, he was a lonely voice in the Republican House hammering flaws in the bill. He wears a debt tracker on his lapel every day to confront other House members who continue to increase our $37 trillion in debt. In an old clip posted on July 1, 2025, on X, Massie made the salient point, “Why do we always spend at least as much as we did last year, and why do we never cut spending?” Remember that Massie was almost run out of the party in 2020 for daring to pressure Congress for a recorded vote on the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security Act. That $2 trillion piece of spending paid people not to work and empowered power-hungry governors to order shutdowns. In addition, that program allowed hundreds of billions of dollars in fraud, according to the Government Accountability Office. Massie continues his fight to shine a light on Congress’s reluctance to ever cut one dollar of spending.
Conservatives should thank the House Freedom Caucus, Massie, and Paul for applying pressure that improved the Big Beautiful Bill Act. Nobody should fault the conservatives who supported or opposed the bill because there are solid arguments on both sides, yet these freedom-fighting politicians have borne the brunt of criticism for doing the right thing.
Brian Darling is a former counsel for Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY).