It may be called “One Big Beautiful Bill,” but there are countless provisions for everyday people in the new law – several of which have Missouri Sen. Eric Schmitt’s fingerprints on.

In particular, the sweeping bill signed into law by President Trump July 4th opens up school choice to families nationwide; enhances local and home-based care for people with developmental disabilities; and codifies Schmitt’s bill that beefs up tax-advantaged savings plans for individuals with disabilities.

Amid Democrats’ scattershot attacks on the new law, Americans will slowly be hearing about such provisions – and they should wait to form an opinion on the law until they do, Schmitt cautions.

“I think once you talk about the provisions of the bill that help real people, we’re winning,” Schmitt told The Heartlander in an exclusive interview Tuesday. “But the Democrats and the legacy media, they’re just incredibly lazy. They’ve gotten used to the idea that they can just make up things and repeat them. …

“What the Democrats have gotten really good at is just making up stuff and talking about it nonstop – like they keep talking about how millions of people are going to be thrown off their health care. It’s not true – unless you’re an illegal immigrant or an able-bodied adult that chooses not to work. That’s it. Like, that’s the truth. 

“But the media is their useful ally here, because they hate Republicans are in power, they hate Donald Trump, and the truth is something that they don’t buy into anymore.  

“I think our job now is to start touting the things that help working-class families. Like, if you want to send your kid to a better school, there’s a way to do it now. We’ve got an educational choice provision. If you’re a family that’s working your tail off and you have a child or adult that’s living with you, or a family member that has really severe needs because of a disability, this bill is going to help. 

“If you care about our National Defense, this bill is going to help. 

“If you care about mass migration and the resource stuff that’s happened from illegal immigrants invading many of our communities, this is going to help.”

Schmitt’s personal marker

Schmitt was heavily involved in several of those unsung provisions of the Big Beautiful Bill.

His “Ensuring Nationwide Access to Better Life Experience (ENABLE) Act,” which passed the Senate last September, enhances so-called 529A accounts, which are tax-advantaged savings plans for individuals with disabilities. It builds on the 2014 Achieving a Better Life Experience (ABLE) Act, key provisions of which were set to expire this year.

According to Schmitt’s office, the law allows “people with disabilities and their families to save and invest through tax-free savings accounts without losing eligibility for federal programs like Medicaid and Supplemental Security Income (SSI).”

“Basically, you can save for the long-term needs of a loved one with a disability like you would for college,” Schmitt explains.

ENABLE’s enactment is as much a personal marker as a political one for Schmitt.

“When I originally entered public service, it was to fight for people like my son Stephen, who was born with a rare genetic disease, has epilepsy, is on the autism spectrum, and is non-verbal,” Schmitt said in a press release when his bill first cleared the Senate. “This legislation is the perfect example of what I entered public service to do.”

Meanwhile, a bill filed by Schmitt only last month – the Helping Communities with Better Support (HCBS) Act – expands community- and home-based services for those with developmental disabilities.

“The bill gives states the option to expand [services] to more individuals with developmental disabilities while ensuring it doesn’t negatively impact those already eligible,” Schmitt’s office wrote about the bill upon its filing in June.

In addition – unconventionally for government – it fast-tracks the benefits for newly eligible recipients with up to 60 days’ coverage during onboarding.

“The truth is, there’s a lot of people across the country who are on waiting lists who have a lot of specialized needs,” Schmitt told The Heartlander.

Truth about Medicaid

Schmitt says the truth about changes to Medicaid need to be better understood.

“Democrats have tried to expand, expand, expand it, expand it. And what’s happened is, the people that the program was originally intended for have really been kind of left behind. So, this kind of gets back to the basics.

“This, to me, gets to the heart of what Medicaid is supposed to be. … Medicaid was created to help pregnant moms, poor kids, and individuals with disabilities. And I think what you’ve seen is a lot of waste and fraud and abuse and manipulation within the Medicaid system. It hasn’t helped those who need it the most.

“And so, this provision essentially provides the flexibility and ultimately the dollars to access care for those who need it most and clear those waiting lists. I mean, some people wait for years for the care that they need, just to sort of live.

“This was an important provision, and perhaps the biggest leap forward for people with real specialized needs in the history program.”

Despite their preening about Medicaid cuts, Schmitt says Democrats voted against expanding services to those who truly need it – while supporting payments to illegal immigrants and able-bodied adults with no children who simply don’t want to work.

Democrats also conspicuously opposed extending school choice to millions of families around the country, Schmitt notes.

“This is the first time the federal government has offered a tax credit for school choice,” he says. “So, this is just an enormous win that’s taken a long time to get there. I’ve been a supporter of educational choice my entire time in office, and it’s nice to see that come to fruition here.”

Indeed, as he noted in an op-ed in May, Schmitt co-sponsored the Educational Choice for Children Act (ECCA), which made it into the Big Beautiful Bill. It provides billions of federal tax credits for school choice to families whose states opt in to the program.

“The legislation would triple the number of students who currently benefit from private school choice programs across the country,” Schmitt wrote in the op-ed with bill co-sponsor Sen. Jim Banks, R-Indiania.

“It is time to make school choice the option of every family in America, regardless of their ZIP code or which party governs their state.”

‘Show Me’ school choice

Although ECCA essentially democratizes access to private education, Democrats were foursquare against it, Schmitt says, noting that some Democrats used to be more open to education freedom.

“Now, as the Democrat Party has drifted further and further to the left and been radicalized, that group of Democrats willing to publicly support this has gotten probably a little bit smaller.”

Schmitt said he’s optimistic his own state of Missouri will opt into the new federal school choice program. Federal tax credits for donations to school choice scholarships, are minimal at $1,700 per donor, but that would be on top of the state’s current MOScholars school choice scholarships.

“You’ve seen a lot of momentum in Missouri in the last five or six years, really. When I was in the Legislature, in the state Senate, it was hard to come by. These wins were kind of in yards, not first downs. But that’s changed, which is good. I think the momentum is on our side. 

“Missouri already has ESAs State tax credit, so you know, expanding that with the federal opt in would make all the sense in the world. … My hope is Missouri could be one of the first states to move forward on this.

“There’s just a lot of good things happening all at once right now.”