Kansas and the One Big Beautiful Bill

By Katie Allen, Ed.D.

In the dead of night on May 22, 2025, by a margin of 1 vote, the U.S. House of Representatives passed Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill (1BBB).

Not Fooled

Though this administration enjoys word trickery just as much as it seems to revel in lies and a complete lack of transparency, we are not fooled.

The only beauty contained in this beast of a 1,000 page bill is for those who already hold the power, including the ultrawealthy who disproportionately benefit from the tax cuts .

Before delving into the tax and spending parts, it is important to recognize that this reconciliation budget bill contains more than just numbers.

It fundamentally alters American society through the greatest shift in wealth to the top that we’ve ever seen, while ending the vision that the federal government has a role in promoting the common good.

Most potentially long-term damning in the 1BBB is Committee on the Judiciary, Section 70302: Restriction on Enforcement which outlines that the courts may not enforce contempt for failing to comply with its orders.

In plain English: Trump can continue to ignore the courts and do so legally.

Concerned citizens should investigate the contents of 1BBB to be fully informed of all that has changed.

However, below I have outlined just a few highlights of the 1BBB that are of concern, especially to Kansans, and will require a thoughtful state and local response.

Nutrition

Nutrition and health programs for Americans in need have essentially been decimated. The 1BBB creates new income and age eligibility requirements to receive SNAP benefits, including a requirement to work at least 80 hours per month, impacting 187,000 Kansans, 65% of whom are families with children .

The bill also ends the SNAP-Education program, which is implemented by Kansas State University , often staffed by county Extension agents, and supported with data collection across the nation by Canopy, a technology company located in Manhattan. The impact of job loss is yet unknown.

In addition to SNAP cuts, USDA has already pulled back funding for a portion of school lunch costs, which in Manhattan has recently led to an increase of almost 50 cents per meal for the upcoming school year.

Health Care

Though 77% of Americans hold favorable views about Medicaid, access to the program is also severely negatively impacted with a proposed $700 billion reduction in benefits to low-income individuals and families, and individuals living with disabilities.

Via the 1BBB, states that have expanded Medicaid would no longer be allowed to create new taxes to finance Medicaid, the state’s responsibility to redetermine eligibility would increase from annually to every six months, and states will have to increase their portion of cost-sharing among other measures.

There are 358,000 Kansans enrolled in the program, 56% of whom are children. The 1BBB ends state programs that reduce barriers to enrollment and was slated to modernize documentation of eligibility.

The largest Medicaid expense in Kansas is nursing home care. Rural Kansans are more likely to be uninsured, making Medicaid a vital revenue stream for hospitals in small, rural communities. This vital support will end with 1BBB leading more rural hospitals to close their doors.

There are new rules related to the future regulation of prescription prices that have been allotted $5 million in FY26 and $8 million each year thereafter to conduct a national survey to determine price controls.

Education

$5 billion - yes, billion - per year is allotted to provide public money for private education via school vouchers. This is on top of a proposed reduction in Title I funding that goes directly to states to support improvements in 268 Kansas school districts with low-income learners.

Local property tax, already stressed and stretched, may become the only source of reliable education funding, as the state legislature has historically shown resistance to fulfilling its constitutional obligation. It should also be noted that many other federally funded education grants and programs, such as the Job Corps program that served 180 students in Manhattan, have been ended in the past several months.

Post-secondary support for education at the federal level is all but gone. Under the Committee on Education and Workforce are the removal of guarantees for student loans, new requirements for the Public Service Loan Forgiveness program, new rules for repayment that remove support for income-based payments, a reduction in Pell grant eligibility, and the end of student work study.

Last year, it was estimated that 55,600 Kansas students took out federally-backed student loans worth over $645 million. Kansas has 32 institutions of higher education, including career and technical colleges, and approximately 35,000 high school graduates each year.

In addition to potential enrollment challenges, research institutions like the University of Kansas and Kansas State University are likely to lose millions in federal grant revenue. Again, the potential job loss from this myriad of changes is unknown.

Goodies for Some

Finally, here are a few other Easter Eggs I found in the 1BBB (take a look, you’ll likely fill your own basket): The Department of Homeland Security has increased funding of $787 million to incentivize state and local participation in ICE enforcement activities.

Billions are being invested in Artificial Intelligence (AI) for the Department of Defense and an additional $500 million this year to transition and automate federal government operations (on top of a call for the Department of Education to develop a national curriculum for all students to learn AI). Yet states and local governments have been given a 10-year moratorium on regulating any AI, meaning we have no control over how our own data is used, nor information on how these models have been trained or how they are being used to make decisions.

For those who are concerned about the environment, the 1BBB repeals or rescinds all programs and funding related to efforts to control greenhouse gases, reduce methane emissions, and combat climate change.

Next Stop: Senate

The 1BBB now heads to the Senate, where there is concern that even though there are sweeping cuts and tax breaks, this bill drastically adds to the national deficit.

As more of Project 2025 and the Trump agenda are implemented, you will undoubtedly continue to see state and local media coverage about discontinued federally funded programs and job losses.

Stay informed, continue to reach out to your elected officials to advocate, and prepare to support the institutions and people in your local community.

Dr. Katie Allen is an education policy expert and researcher. She has over 20 years of experience working with local and state education agencies as well as federal agencies, including the U.S. Department of Education and the U.S. Department of Agriculture. This article has been shared under CC BY-NC-ND 4.0