Thursday’s passage of the One Big Beautiful Bill generated responses from North Dakota’s representatives in Washington and from others across the state.

North Dakota Farmers Union President Mark Watne called the budget reconciliation package “a mixed bag.”

“There is a lot of good in the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill Act’ that will strengthen the farm safety net. We appreciate the improvements made to farm programs and tax provisions impacting agriculture and farmer-owned cooperatives,” Wayne said.

Farm bill provisions that NDFU supported include an increase in commodity reference prices to better reflect the cost of production, improved crop insurance support, improvements to livestock disaster programs, and a permanent pass-through tax deduction to maintain equity for farmer-owned cooperatives.

However, Watne said federal funding cuts to programs such as Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) run counterintuitive to farmers and ranchers who are in the business of feeding people.

“Big picture, the legislation and the reconciliation process sets a dangerous precedent in the way we draft future farm bills,” he said. “There was less opportunity to debate the merits and challenges of programs and draft bipartisan legislation that fits the needs of urban and rural voters as the farm bill is more than just farm policy. It is a food security act for our nation.”

Sen. John Hoeven, R-ND, responded, “The One Big Beautiful Bill will make our nation more prosperous and more secure. We worked to pass this legislation to provide permanent tax relief for American families that will enable them to keep more of their hard-earned paychecks. We invest in priorities like border security, national defense, unleashing American energy dominance and passing the heart and soul of the farm bill for our farmers and ranchers. At the same time, we find $1.6 trillion in savings to help with our debt and deficit. This bill delivers on the priorities that President Trump promised to get our nation back on track.”

“At the heart of this bill is a simple principle: Americans should be able to keep more of what they earn. It will help jumpstart our economy, encourage investment and help people who work hard get ahead again,” Congresswoman Juli Fedorchak, R-ND, said.

“I was proud to help move it forward, because North Dakotans — and Americans everywhere — are tired of waste, tired of overreach, and ready for the pro-America policies included in this bill to enact President Trump’s agenda,” she added. “The One Big Beautiful Bill delivers meaningful spending cuts while taking major steps to create a pro-business environment. It’s a pro-growth package that will stimulate investment, increase revenues and help bring down our national deficit. Addressing our nation’s out-of-control spending is a top priority and we must do more. This bill puts us on stronger financial footing by pairing significant spending reforms with policies that help the American economy thrive.”

However, Democrats took a different stance.

“This is a scheme to steal from working North Dakotans, struggling families, and even from nursing homes, to pay for a massive tax giveaway to the megawealthy like Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk,” North Dakota Democratic-NPL chair Adam Goldwyn said. He added the state’s congressional delegation “just voted to rip health care away from thousands of North Dakotans, take food from hungry children and kill jobs across the country. This bill is as cruel as it is unpopular. Even Republican voters do not like this bill. Our Republican lawmakers may have abandoned North Dakota, but we will continue to fight this and the many other cuts our state has been forced to suffer under Trump.”