Our blind raters scored the candidates on their response to:
What two provisions of the One Big Beautiful Bill (OBBB) Act would you roll back and why? How would you achieve this?

Beth Ellen Adubato

The OBBB Act puts people’s health at stake, puts families at greater risk for food insecurity, will force hospitals to make service reductions, and it will force the closing of rural hospitals and nursing homes.  Those are just some of the terrible social and environmental impacts.  So, let’s start with rolling back the reason for the cuts to social safety nets and working people’s cuts—reverse the tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.  Then, restore the aforementioned cuts.    

This bill would be the largest transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich in modern American history, so ROLL IT BACK. Who says it is permanent?  We were all under the impression that Roe v. Wade could not be overturned and that it was masterfully protected in Planned Parenthood v. Casey.  So, this idea that it cannot be undone is nonsense.    

Then, the next three provisions I would push to roll back would be:  1) the defunding of reproductive healthcare clinics, 2) the repealing of the clean energy tax credits, and 3) the provision that deregulates deadly weapons, making it easier to buy silencers and short-barreled rifles.  That is technically four roll backs, but these are not ordinary times.   

A Democratic take-over of the House would enable us to end this–what could honestly be called-“reign of terror.”  I would push for nothing less than these roll backs.  This is not time to make deals. 

Brian Varela

The two provisions I would prioritize rolling back are the cuts to healthcare access and the tax giveaways to the wealthy.  

First, the OBBB guts healthcare for working families. It includes the largest Medicaid cuts in the program’s history, over $900 billion that will cause more than 10 million Americans to lose coverage. It imposes cruel work requirements that will trap people in bureaucratic limbo. It defunds Planned Parenthood by blocking Medicaid reimbursements and not for abortion, which was already banned from federal funding, but for cancer screenings, STI testing, contraception, and basic preventive care. Nearly 200 clinics are at risk of closing, cutting off 1.1 million patients from care. For many women in underserved areas, Planned Parenthood is their only healthcare provider.  

Second, this bill is the largest upward transfer of wealth from working people to the ultra-rich in American history. The top 10% will see their incomes rise while the bottom 10% will see theirs fall. It adds $3.3 trillion to the national debt, not to invest in our future, but to give tax cuts to billionaires. Working families are paying for it with their healthcare and their food assistance.

As a freshman Congressperson, I won’t be able to snap my fingers and repeal this law. But I will fight like hell. I’ll force Republicans to take vote after vote defending their choice to cut healthcare so billionaires can pay less in taxes. I’ll use oversight hearings to put a human face on these cuts, like the cancer patient who can’t get screened or the senior choosing between medication and groceries. I’ll build coalitions with colleagues and advocates to keep the pressure on, and I’ll look for bipartisan opportunities where they exist, because some Republicans are already uncomfortable with how far this bill went.  

I’ll also make sure my congressional office is well-staffed for constituent services, so we can help New Jersey families navigate the damage and access every resource available to them. And I’ll work with Governor Sherrill and state leaders to protect New Jersey families in the meantime.

Megan O’Rourke

  1. Roll back work requirements for Medicaid eligibility – this provision is designed to kick people off the program.
  2. Roll back recissions related to clean energy investments and the Inflation Reduction Act.

How:  This will depend on which party controls the House and Senate in the midterms.

Michael Roth

First, I would roll back provisions that undermine clean energy incentives and climate investment, which New Jersey relies on for jobs, resilience, and lower energy costs. Key provisions include The Clean Energy Investment and Production Tax Credit that is critical for production of all clean electricity generation and energy storage, The Advanced Manufacturing Production Tax Credit that incentivizes the production of solar panels, batteries, critical minerals, and other components necessary for energy production, and the Residential Clean Energy Tax Credit that incentivizes homeowners to transition to clean energy. These rollbacks hurt both our environment and our economy. 

Second, I would repeal provisions that protect corporate tax avoidance and expand giveaways to wealthy individuals, especially those that worsen inequality and balloon deficits. Key provisions to roll back include the estate tax cuts that allows more money to be passed down to heirs in the wealthiest families tax free, tax cuts for the top earners which costs $340 billion, and tax cuts for corporations which costs $753 billion. Repealing these provisions would allow us to restore Trump’s harmful cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.  

I would pursue repeal of the noted clean energy incentives and climate investment through targeted legislation which has had bipartisan support before. There are more than 25 Republican House and Senate Members who publicly opposed the repeals (of course not Tom Kean Jr.) even though they ended up voting for the OBBB. There are likely even more Republicans who would go along with targeted clean energy legislation based on the huge rise in energy costs and the loss of jobs disproportionately in Republican areas. I would work to build a coalition to get this passed as I have built bipartisan coalitions before across the ideological spectrum with a common goal.

For the repeal of the tax provisions, I would use the reconciliation process which bypasses the filibuster and only needs a simple majority in the Senate (assuming Democrats can win the Senate). By using the reconciliation process, we would dare Trump to veto a bill that only raises taxes on billionaires, which is very popular.  

Rebecca Bennett

Undoing the devastating cuts to healthcare and the rolling back of energy tax cuts are my top priorities for repealing OBBB in Congress.   On Jan 1st we saw the impact of not renewing the ACA subsidies and now tens of thousands of residents of this district are likely to lose their Medicaid coverage next year, this is fundamentally unacceptable and I will fight every day to reverse these cuts.  When it comes to energy affordability we have a President who is actively sabotaging new energy projects and a Congressman who supports him every step of the way.

Tina Shah

The Big Ugly Bill is nothing short of a declaration of war against hardworking families across America.   

Rising household costs, SNAP benefits cut, higher electricity costs. And, most personal to me and my patients, millions of Americans (over 300,000 in New Jersey) will lose their healthcare, reversing more than a decade of progress we made under the ACA. All of this is to give tax breaks to billionaires. How infuriating!    

My focus in Congress will be reversing the disastrous effects on our healthcare coverage and provisions that directly impact peoples’ pocketbooks. I’ll immediately get to work to reverse the Big Ugly Bill’s Medicaid cuts and to extend the ACA premium tax credits.