Democrats criticize restrictions to Medicaid and renewables in public forum.
House Republicans chose Las Vegas as the place to stage their first public field hearing touting the benefits of the One Big, Beautiful Bill, the fiscal year 2026 federal budget signed into law by President Donald Trump on July 4.
Rep. Aaron Bean (R-Fla.) said the bill “was born here” after a conversation between Trump and a server galvanized the presidential candidate to support an old idea: no taxes on the first $25,000 earned in tips.
“Waitresses, bartenders, Door Dash employees, bellhops, service workers, and other tipped employees will get a $1,300 tax cut compared to what they pay today,” House Ways and Means Committee Chair Rep. Jason Smith (R-Mo.) said, adding the provision will put “$230 million back into the pockets of tipped workers in just the Las Vegas metro area.”
Six witnesses testified before the GOP-led panel, including Nevada Senate Majority Leader Sen. Nicole Cannizzaro, a Democrat, who said that the federal funding cuts will force some state legislatures to either cut services or raise taxes.
Patrick Wrona, a server at RPM Italian in Las Vegas who said “overzealous COVID restrictions” contributed to the demise of a Chicago-area restaurant he owned, said no-tax-on-tips is “a game changer” for him and his wife, who are among 250,000 tipped workers in Las Vegas and 4 million across the nation.
“It’s not just good for tipped workers, it’s good for the entire hospitality and travel industry when service professionals have more take-home pay based on tips from their customers,” he said. “We all spend it locally, often at the very restaurants and venues we help bring to life. That tip money isn’t trivial. It’s a lifeline to our families and our community as a whole.”
Eric Byington, a foreman at sign maker YESCO, said eliminating taxes on Social Security for seniors 65 and older would have benefited his mother, who died last year at 93.
“These last four years, for the first time in my life, I had to send my mother money, so no tax on Social Security would have helped her each month,” he said. “That was hard. My mom had to swallow her pride and ask for money because the economy and the food prices were so bad.”
By John Haughey
