The tax side of Jeff Van Drew's record runs from April 10, 2025, when his vote tipped the budget resolution that let the tax writers add up to $4.5 trillion to deficits, through May 22, when his yes decided the House bill, to July 3, when he voted for the final law; under it, the Congressional Budget Office estimates, the richest tenth of households gains about $13,600 a year and the poorest tenth loses about $1,200.
On April 16, 2026, Van Drew voted for a House resolution hailing the law as the "Working Families Tax Cuts." The Medicaid and SNAP cuts that leave the bottom tenth behind include $28.71 billion in federal Medicaid funding that KFF says New Jersey loses over ten years.
Jeff Van Drew's Votes on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act's Taxes and Debt
- Van Drew Voted for a Tax Law Worth $13,600 a Year to the Richest Tenth and Minus $1,200 to the Poorest, in July 2025. H.R. 1 passed the House 215 to 214 on May 22, 2025, one member voting present, and Jeff Van Drew's yes was one it could not lose. On July 3, 2025, Van Drew voted for the version that became law, 218 to 214. Using the Congressional Budget Office's distributional estimate, Thomson Reuters reported that "the top decile will receive a windfall of $13,600 every year," while "the lowest-income earners will lose an average $1,200 in overall household resources," largely because the law cuts Medicaid and SNAP.
- Van Drew Tipped the April Budget Vote That Cleared $4.5 Trillion for Borrowed Tax Cuts, in 2025. On April 10, 2025, Van Drew's yes was part of the 216-to-214 vote that adopted the final H.Con.Res. 14, a margin that would have become a losing tie if he alone had switched. Its reconciliation instructions gave Ways and Means license for tax changes that "increase the deficit by not more than $4,500,000,000,000 for fiscal years 2025 through 2034". The Senate's version, the text Van Drew voted for on July 3, 2025, costs more than the House's over the ten-year window, Yale Budget Lab analysts found; and in the Congressional Budget Office's dynamic score, which the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget walked through, higher rates "increase interest costs by $405 billion."
- Van Drew Voted in April 2026 for a Resolution Asserting Lower Earners Get a 15 Percent Tax Cut. Van Drew's April 16, 2026 yes went to H.Res. 1156, 219 to 207, a resolution declaring that the law "will result in a 15 percent tax cut for Americans whose income is in the bottom 40 percent." By the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy's count, "For the poorest fifth of Americans, the average tax change from OBBBA is a small tax increase," set against average 2026 tax cuts above $70,000 for the richest 1 percent.
What Jeff Van Drew's Tax Votes Mean for New Jersey Families
- New Jersey gives up $28.71 billion in Medicaid funding while the tax cuts flow to the top. New Jersey's slice of the law's Medicaid reduction comes to $28.71 billion over a decade in KFF's state allocation, 18% below the federal funding the state was on course to get. Hospitals, nursing homes and clinics in the state absorb that loss.
- Van Drew's vote leaves 46,000 children in his district below the full child tax credit. The law's best-known family tax break misses many low-income children: in New Jersey's 2nd District, Columbia's poverty researchers count 46,000 children, 30%, whose families' earnings fall below what the full credit requires.
- 300,000 more New Jersey residents will be uninsured in 2034 under the law Van Drew voted for. KFF projects the law alone will leave 300,000 more New Jersey residents without health coverage in 2034, the other side of a tax law whose gains go mostly to the top.
Frequently Asked Questions About Jeff Van Drew on Taxes and the deficit
What is Jeff Van Drew's record on taxes and the deficit under Trump?
Jeff Van Drew's 2025 votes decided both the April budget resolution, which allowed $4.5 trillion in borrowed tax cuts, and the House's May vote on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act; in July the final law also got his vote, and in April 2026 he voted for a resolution honoring it. Congressional Budget Office numbers, relayed by Thomson Reuters and the budget watchdog CRFB, show $4.2 trillion more federal debt through 2034 from the law, with the richest tenth up about $13,600 a year as the bottom tenth loses about $1,200.
Which households come out furthest ahead from Jeff Van Drew's tax vote?
Those at the very top: for 2026, the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy projects that under the law Jeff Van Drew voted for, "More than 70 percent of the net tax cuts will go to the richest fifth," with the top 1 percent alone averaging upward of $70,000.
When do the tax breaks and the cuts in the law Jeff Van Drew voted for take effect in New Jersey?
The tax breaks came first: the law Jeff Van Drew voted for raised the child tax credit to $2,200 starting with 2025, while the spending cuts that help pay for them arrive later, with New Jersey's SNAP administrative share rising to 75 percent on October 1, 2026, the Medicaid work requirement due by January 1, 2027, and hospital payment limits starting January 1, 2028.
Will the national debt cost more to carry because of Jeff Van Drew's vote?
Yes: in the Congressional Budget Office's scores of the law Jeff Van Drew voted for, as the Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget tabulated them, the law adds $720 billion in interest costs through 2034 in the conventional estimate, and the higher interest rates in the dynamic estimate add another $405 billion. For context, CBO's February 2026 outlook, which reflects the law along with tariffs, immigration changes and other factors, shows that "Nominal interest costs will more than double from $970 billion in 2025 to $2.1 trillion by 2036," CRFB noted.
Last updated: 2026-10-27