Bryan Steil and the One Big Beautiful Bill Act: His Deciding Vote for the House Version, His Vote for the Final Law, and a $6.745 Billion Medicaid Cut for Wisconsin

On May 22, 2025, Bryan Steil, the House member for Wisconsin's 1st District, cast one of the votes that passed the House version of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act 215 to 214, and on July 3, 2025 he voted for final passage of the law. KFF's allocation of the Congressional Budget Office estimate puts the law's cut to federal Medicaid money for Wisconsin at $6.745 billion over ten years.

Steil also voted for both budget resolutions, which told the committees that write Medicaid and SNAP law to cut at least $880 billion and $230 billion and were adopted 217 to 215 and 216 to 214, for every rule that brought them and the bill to the floor, and in April 2026 for a House resolution praising the law. He called the bill a win for Wisconsin families and said it was strengthening Medicaid; Wisconsin's health department says about 63,000 BadgerCare members are at risk of losing coverage under its work requirement.

Bryan Steil's Votes and Statements on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, in Order

• Steil Cast a Deciding Vote for the House Budget Plan That Told the Medicaid and SNAP Committees to Cut $880 Billion and $230 Billion, in February 2025. On February 25, 2025, Bryan Steil voted to order the previous question on H.Res. 161, the rule that brought up the House budget resolution, voted to adopt that rule, and then voted for H.Con.Res. 14, which was adopted 217 to 215; a switch by him alone would have tied it, and a tied resolution fails. The resolution told the Energy and Commerce Committee, which writes Medicaid law, to "reduce the deficit by not less than $880,000,000,000" over ten years and the Agriculture Committee, which writes SNAP law, to cut at least $230 billion, while the tax-writing Ways and Means Committee could add up to $4.5 trillion to deficits.
• Steil Cast Deciding Votes for the Rule and the Final Budget Plan in April 2025. On April 9, 2025, Steil voted to order the previous question on H.Res. 313 and voted for the rule itself, which was adopted 216 to 215 and brought up the Senate's version of the budget resolution; on April 10 he voted to concur in that version, which was adopted 216 to 214. On either vote, his switch alone would have changed the result. The final version kept the same instructions for House committees, and the Energy and Commerce Committee met its instruction with the law's Medicaid cuts, which the Congressional Budget Office estimated at $911 billion over ten years, according to KFF.
• Steil Cast One of the Votes That Passed the House Bill by a Single Vote in May 2025. On May 22, 2025, Steil voted yes on two questions of consideration for the rule on H.R. 1, adopted 217 to 211 and 216 to 211, on ordering the previous question, adopted 213 to 211, and on the rule itself; he voted against the motion to recommit, which failed 212 to 216; and he voted yes on the House version of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, which passed 215 to 214 with one member voting present. His yes votes on the previous question and on the bill were each needed for them to pass. The bill went to the Senate and came back as the final law Steil voted for in July, whose Medicaid changes the Congressional Budget Office estimates will leave 7.5 million more people uninsured in 2034, KFF reported, and which cut off Planned Parenthood's Medicaid payments for a "1-year period".
• Steil Cast Deciding Votes for the Final Version's Rule and Voted for Final Passage in July 2025. On July 2, 2025, Steil voted yes on the question of consideration for H.Res. 566, the rule for the Senate's version, adopted 212 to 211, and on ordering the previous question, adopted 214 to 212; a switch by him alone would have defeated either. He also voted for an amendment to the rule and, on July 3, for the rule itself and for the motion to concur in the Senate amendment, the final passage of the law, which passed 218 to 214 and became Public Law 119-21 on July 4, 2025. KFF estimates the law will leave 10 million more people uninsured in 2034, and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found that "The megabill cuts SNAP by $187 billion or about 20 percent by 2034."
• Steil Voted Against Extending the Premium Tax Credits the Law Left to Expire, in January 2026. On January 7, 2026, Steil voted against the discharge motion that forced a House vote on extending the enhanced premium tax credits, which the 2025 law had not extended; on January 8 he voted against the rule for the bill and then voted no on H.R. 1834, which passed 230 to 196 but in the Senate was only placed on the calendar. With the credits gone, KFF found that "Premium payments from enrollees increased by an average of 58% from $113 to $178 per month" in 2026.
• Steil Voted for a 2026 House Resolution Praising the Law as a Tax Cut for Working Families. On April 16, 2026, Steil voted yes on H.Res. 1156, which passed 219 to 207, calls the law the "Working Families Tax Cuts" and states that it "will result in a 15 percent tax cut for Americans whose income is in the bottom 40 percent." The Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy found that "For the poorest fifth of Americans, the average tax change from OBBBA is a small tax increase" in 2026, while the richest 1 percent gain more than $70,000 on average.
• Steil Called the Law "a Win for Wisconsin Workers, Families, and Seniors" in July 2025. After the final House vote on July 3, 2025, Steil posted: "This bill is a win for Wisconsin workers, families, and seniors," and said it "implements work requirements for able-bodied adults." The Congressional Budget Office's analysis of the law found that "the lowest-income earners will lose an average $1,200 in overall household resources" a year, largely because of its Medicaid and SNAP cuts.
• Steil Said the Law Was "Strengthening Medicaid"; KFF Projects 76,000 More Uninsured Wisconsinites. In the same July 3, 2025 post, Steil said the bill protected Social Security and Medicare benefits "and strengthening Medicaid for vulnerable Americans." KFF projects that the law will leave 76,000 more Wisconsinites without health insurance in 2034.
• Steil Said the Bill "Saved American Taxpayers More Than $1 Trillion"; CBO Says It Adds $4.7 Trillion to the Debt. Steil's July 3, 2025 post also said the bill "saved American taxpayers more than $1 trillion." The Congressional Budget Office's February 2026 estimate, as summarized by the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, is that "the law will add $4.2 trillion to the national debt through 2034 and $4.7 trillion through 2035."
• Steil Credited the Law With $1 Billion More in Medicaid Money for Wisconsin; It Came From the State Budget. At his October 20, 2026 debate in Janesville, Steil said the law "results in an increase in $1 billion in federal money coming to the state of Wisconsin for Medicaid." The Wisconsin Examiner reported that "The $1 billion refers to additional Medicaid matching funds to the state under a provision in the 2025-27 Wisconsin budget," passed before the federal provision took effect.

What the One Big Beautiful Bill Act Bryan Steil Voted For Costs Wisconsin, Topic by Topic

• Wisconsin loses $6.745 billion in federal Medicaid money. By KFF's reckoning from the CBO estimate, the law cuts federal Medicaid funding for Wisconsin by $6.745 billion over ten years, 8% of what the state would otherwise receive, money that pays for hospital stays, nursing-home care and doctor visits; see Bryan Steil's record on health care.
• About 63,000 BadgerCare members could lose coverage under the work requirement. Wisconsin's health department estimates that about 200,000 BadgerCare adults will be subject to the work requirement that starts January 1, 2027, and that "approximately 63,000 members are at risk of losing their health care coverage"; see Bryan Steil and the BadgerCare work requirement.
• Rural Wisconsin loses $1.7 billion while the rural fund sends $204 million. KFF estimates the law cuts federal Medicaid spending in rural Wisconsin by $1.7 billion over ten years, while the state's first-year award from the law's rural health fund is $204 million, or $95 per rural resident, and about $969 million a year in Wisconsin hospital payments sits above the law's new limits, which phase down from 2028; see Bryan Steil's record on agriculture and rural Wisconsin.
• Wisconsin pays $32.4 million more to run FoodShare and 43,700 recipients face new work rules. Since October 1, 2026, Wisconsin has paid 75% of FoodShare's administrative costs instead of 50%, which costs the state an additional $32.4 million, and the expanded work rules affect about 43,700 FoodShare recipients, the state health department estimates; see Bryan Steil's record on food assistance.
• Marketplace enrollment fell 16% in Wisconsin and in Steil's district. Wisconsin's effectuated marketplace enrollment fell 16%, from 291,329 in 2025 to 245,753 in 2026, and in the 1st District it fell by 5,544 people, or 16.3%, according to KFF; people who dropped coverage pay full price for care or go without it; see Bryan Steil's record on insurance costs.
• 39,000 children in Steil's district are left out of the full child tax credit. Columbia's Center on Poverty and Social Policy estimates that under the law 39,000 children, or 27%, in Wisconsin's 1st District will miss out on the full child tax credit because their parents earn too little; see Bryan Steil's record on child care and families.
• Wisconsin households pay about $300 a year more for energy by 2035. Energy Innovation projected that the law's energy provisions alone would add $300 a year to the average Wisconsin household's energy costs by 2035; see Bryan Steil's record on climate and the environment.
• Wisconsin student borrowers pay about $2,000 more a year. Wisconsin borrowers moved from the SAVE plan to the law's new Repayment Assistance Plan will pay $2,009 more a year on average, the Center for American Progress estimates; see Bryan Steil's record on student debt.
• The law adds $168.6 billion to Social Security's costs for 1.37 million Wisconsin beneficiaries. Social Security's chief actuary estimated that the law raises the program's net costs by $168.6 billion from 2025 through 2034, and 1,365,446 Wisconsinites received Social Security in December 2024; see Bryan Steil's record on Social Security.
• ICE arrests in Wisconsin nearly doubled from May to June 2026. The law puts $170.7 billion into immigration and border enforcement. ICE arrests in Wisconsin rose from at least 119 in May 2026 to 220 in June, concentrated in the southeastern part of the state, according to a Wisconsin Watch analysis reported by WPR and republished by Urban Milwaukee; see Bryan Steil's record on immigration and enforcement.
• Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin stopped scheduling abortions for nearly a month. Under the law's one-year Medicaid cutoff, Planned Parenthood of Wisconsin stopped scheduling abortions for nearly a month, until October 27, 2025, and nationally nearly 30 Planned Parenthood health centers closed during the year the ban was in force; see Bryan Steil's record on abortion and reproductive health.

Frequently Asked Questions About Bryan Steil on One Big Beautiful Bill

Last updated: 2026-10-26

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