Don Bacon defends vote on Big Beautiful Bill, talks immigration reform during town hall

Bacon, who represents the Omaha area’s 2nd Congressional District, received praise from some callers for his pro-Ukraine and law enforcement stance, and his vote to approve the Trump administration-supported One Big Beautiful Bill Act.

But Bacon also faced criticism for what one caller described as the “barest minimum” of immigration reform with his co-sponsorship of the bipartisan Dignity Act, which, if passed, would allow some long-time undocumented immigrants to remain in the United States legally. Another caller expressed concern about immigrants who are in the United States legally but not able to receive benefits, including those from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program.

Although not fully supportive of the Big Beautiful Bill, Bacon said the signature legislation “has much more good than bad.” Bacon said the bill will spur the economy.

“If we want to get an economy that’s moving — that’s growing at 3% GDP or better — we had to stabilize our tax policies,” Bacon said, adding that not passing the legislation would have significantly increased taxes. “Doing a 20% tax increase was not acceptable in my view.”

He also said if the bill had not passed, it would have harmed companies’ investments and energy infrastructure.

Bacon said he and others in Congress “worked hard to make sure we protect the most needy, whether it’s Medicaid or SNAP.”

Bacon said children and adults with disabilities on Medicaid are protected. But able-bodied adults with no children will now be required to work or volunteer for at least 20 hours per week to continue to receive Medicaid benefits.

“Most Americans support that,” he said.

One skeptical caller criticized Bacon for not going further to protect immigrants outside of co-sponsoring the Dignity Act. The signature part of the act, known as the Dignity Program, would grant work authorization and protection from deportation for seven year to undocumented immigrants who have been in the country since before 2021. Dignity participants would pay $7,000 over the seven-year duration of the program.

But there would be no pathway to citizenship for those who would be protected by the legislation if they came to the United States illegally as adults.

Bacon said the Dignity Act would be the first immigration reform since the Reagan administration. It would also lessen the whiplash of changing immigration policies done by presidential executive orders.

“This is the best way forward,” Bacon said. “A lasting immigration policy has to come from Congress. It needs to be as bipartisan as possible if you want it to be permanent.”

Bacon also said he wants to see bipartisan negotiations on fixing Social Security and entitlement spending to mitigate projected funding shortfalls. That’s likely to be difficult, he said, due to the electoral politics around the programs.

“Unfortunately, Congress is unwilling to approach this right now because either side wants to use it as a weapon against the other party,” Bacon said.

Monday’s telephone town hall marks Bacon’s first such event since he announced last month he’s not running for re-election next year. In the last 18 months of his congressional career, Bacon said he wants to see through funding for Eppley Airfield’s modernization and expansion and Offutt Air Force Base’s recovery from the 2019 floods and prime it to be better than ever.

He also wants to cement the realization of a new VA hospital in Omaha. The proposed hospital has been included in a five-year development plan to replace the 75-year-old facility.

About 7,200 people participated in Bacon’s telephone town hall. That’s about 10,000 people fewer than in his previous telephone town hall in March but more than Bacon said would be able to fit in a physical location for an in-person town hall.