President Donald Trump returned to the Iowa State Fairgrounds in Des Moines Thursday night to kick off a year-long countdown to the 250th anniversary of the country’s founding and tout the passage of his priority tax and spending bill through the House and Senate.
Speaking to a crowd that spilled out of the stands at Midway Plaza in sweltering heat, Trump celebrated the legislation which is now awaiting his signature. He highlighted the bill’s ramped up funding for immigration enforcement as well as tax cuts that could affect farmers. In another part of his speech he floated a proposal to help farm workers without legal status stay in the country.
The visit came hours after Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill Act passed the House, meeting a July 4 deadline legislators had self-imposed. Trump said there was “no better birthday present for America” than the bill’s passage in the House and said he plans to sign the bill at the White House Friday.
“Very simply, the One, Big Beautiful Bill will deliver the strongest border on Earth, the strongest economy on Earth, the strongest military on Earth and ensure the United States of America will remain the strongest country anywhere on this beautiful planet,” he said.
The controversial bill was pushed through overnight sessions this week in the Senate and House and has drawn criticism from Democrats and some Republicans for its paring down of social safety net programs, and from conservative lawmakers concerned with how much the bill is projected to increase the national deficit.
Trump used the night to highlight that the legislation extends his 2017 tax cuts, lets people list overtime pay in their tax deductions and bumps up estate tax exemptions which could help retiring farmers pass on farms to their children without paying estate taxes.
An estimate from the Congressional Budget Office, a nonpartisan legislative agency, projected the Senate version of the bill would leave 11.8 million people without health insurance by 2034 and add $3.4 trillion to the national deficit. Republican lawmakers, including Iowa Rep. Ashley Hinson, have raised issues with the CBO estimates.
The president also doubled down on his administration’s aggressive deportations of people in the country without legal status, falsely claiming Southern border crossings had dropped to zero or near zero last month.
On Wednesday, the Department of Homeland Security reported Customs and Border Protection set a new record for the lowest number of encounters nationwide – with the Southwest border dropping to 6,070 apprehensions last month.
However, Trump also said he’s working on legislation to create potential pathways for farmworkers without legal status, an idea he suggested earlier in the week.
“If a farmer is willing to vouch for these people, in some way, Kristi [Noem] I think we’re just going to have to say that’s going to be good, right?” Trump said. “You know, we’re going to be good with it. Because we don't want to do it where we take all of the workers off the farms. We want the farms to do great like they’re doing right now.“
Trump touted U.S strikes on Iranian nuclear facilities and claimed inflation is “cured” – pointing to lower egg and gas prices.
Looking ahead to the upcoming year-long countdown towards the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, Trump said the country’s national park battlefields and historic sites will host special events for the celebration and suggested holding a UFC fight on White House grounds
He also said there will be an athletic competition called “The Patriot Games” for high schoolers from all 50 states to compete in as well as a “Great American State Fair” on the National Mall that will feature exhibits from all 50 states.
The visit marked Trump’s first visit to Iowa after being elected to his second term in November in which he won the state by more than 13 percentage points.
Deb Carney of Des Moines attended the celebration Thursday night. She works in wealth management and said she feels Trump is looking out for all Americans with policies like no taxes on tips. And she said she thinks closing the border and growing the military are important.
“Peace through strength – Reagan was the first president I voted for, and that worked then, and it's gonna work again,” she said.
Adriano Montoya, a 20 year-old from Marshalltown who works as a concrete cutter said he’s looking forward to the ”no taxes on tips” in the One, Big Beautiful Bill. He said he felt Trump was the most “for the people” out of other presidential candidates.
“I think he's for the working class, and he's going to help the people,” Montoya said. “I mean, he helped the people with his last four years and I feel like the four years we've had after that with Joe Biden wasn't really fruitful. And I'm hoping for another fruitful four years.”
