New Updates: Executive Orders and the Impact to our Communities

We are writing this weekly email to summarize several key developments that are impacting our communities. Our team continues to monitor and provide regular updates on a range of federal policy changes on our website.

This was a busy week that was dominated by the House passage of the budget reconciliation bill and courts weighing the limits of executive powers.

On May 22, the House of Representatives narrowly passed the president’s comprehensive budget and tax legislation, dubbed the "One, Big, Beautiful Bill." Moving through the reconciliation process, the bill bypasses the 60-vote Senate threshold and requires only a simple majority to pass, though the Senate version will likely include amendments. Spanning over 1,000 pages, the bill includes deep structural changes to healthcare, nutrition assistance, immigration enforcement, nonprofit taxation, and education financing. Analyses show that while the bill delivers tax benefits skewed toward the top 1%, it simultaneously reduces federal support for low-income communities. Below are key provisions with significant implications.

Access to Healthcare

• Medicaid Cuts: The bill significantly reduces federal funding for Medicaid, which the Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates could result in at least 13.7 million people losing health insurance.
• Work Requirements: States are required to implement work requirements for Medicaid recipients by December 31, 2026. It remains unclear how states will fund and implement the administrative oversight needed to enforce this mandate.
• ACA Disincentives: The legislation incentivizes states not to expand Medicaid coverage under the Affordable Care Act. Instead, it increases payments to providers for uncompensated care, encouraging states to avoid covering near-poverty populations.
• Exclusion of Lawfully Present Migrants: The bill denies ACA tax credits to certain legally present immigrants, limiting their access to affordable coverage.
• Planned Parenthood Defunding: Eliminates federal funding for Planned Parenthood, restricting access to preventive and reproductive healthcare for millions of women.

SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program)

• Historic Cuts: The bill proposes a 30% reduction in SNAP funding, cutting approximately $267 billion over ten years—the largest reduction in the program’s history.
• State Cost Shifts: By FY2028, states would be required to cover 5% of SNAP benefit costs and 75% of administrative costs (currently 0% and 50%, respectively). 28 states would be affected by the required match for benefits and administration.
• Expanded Work Requirements: The age for mandatory SNAP work requirements would increase from 54 to 64 years. Parents would only be exempt if they are caring for a child under age 7 (currently under age 18).

Children and the Child Tax Credit

• Exclusion of Low-Income Families: Roughly 17 million children in low-income households would be excluded from the expanded Child Tax Credit due to family earnings being too low to qualify. The bill maintains a design that phases in the credit with income, rather than providing it fully to all families with children.
• Mixed-Status Families: The bill denies the credit to approximately 4.5 million U.S. citizen children in families with mixed immigration statuses.
• Expansion for Higher Earners: Increases the maximum Child Tax Credit by 25% to $2,500 per child but limits full eligibility to families earning up to $400,000 per year while also limited eligibility for low-income earners. The credit would remain flat until 2029, after which it would adjust for inflation.

Funding to Target Immigrants

• Border Wall and Enforcement Funding: Provides $46.5 billion to restart construction of the U.S.-Mexico border wall and fund mass deportation infrastructure.
• Staffing Increases: Allocates:
  • $4 billion to hire 3,000 Border Patrol agents and 5,000 customs officers
  • $2.1 billion for recruitment and retention bonuses
  • Funds for 10,000 new ICE officers and investigators
• Policy Changes and Fees: Introduces a $1,000 application fee for asylum seekers, a first in U.S. history, and a 3.5% tax on remittance payments sent abroad by migrants.
• Detention and Deportation Goals: Plans to remove 1 million immigrants annually and increase detention capacity to 100,000 individuals.

Targeting Finances of Foundations and Universities

• Foundation Taxes (Section 112022): Implements a tiered excise tax on foundations, with:
  • 10% tax for assets over $5 billion
  • 5% tax for assets between $250 million–$5 billion
  • 2.8% tax for assets between $50 million–$250 million
  • Maintains the existing 1.4% tax for those under $50 million

These new rates could substantially reduce grantmaking capacity at a time when nonprofits are stretched thin.

• Nonprofit Fringe Benefits (Section 112024): Reinstates and expands the Unrelated Business Income Tax (UBIT) to cover expenses like transit and parking benefits, effectively taxing nonprofit organizations on expenses. Church-affiliated entities are exempted, creating disparate treatment.

• Charitable Giving Limits (Section 110011 and 112027):
  • Caps itemized deductions for high-income taxpayers, reducing the incentive to give.
  • Requires that corporate charitable donations meet a 1% floor of taxable income, which could discourage giving below that threshold.

Student Loans and Higher Education

• Loan Repayment Changes: Replaces all current student loan repayment plans with just two:
  • A standard plan with fixed monthly payments over 10–25 years
  • A "Repayment Assistance Plan", which is income-based but less generous than the current SAVE program
• Borrower Protections Repealed: Ends regulations that allowed students to cancel loans due to institutional fraud or abrupt college closures.

• $330 Billion Cut: Eliminates multiple repayment options, including income-driven plans tied to household size, resulting in an estimated $330 billion reduction in student aid over time.

• Pell Grant Restrictions:
  • Redefines full-time enrollment as 30 credit hours/year (up from 24), making it harder to qualify for the maximum grant.
  • Requires at least 15 credit hours/year to receive any Pell aid, potentially disqualifying many part-time or working students.

Recent Court Orders:

• Harvard International Students: On May 23, 2025, U.S. District Judge Allison D. Burroughs of the District of Massachusetts issued a temporary restraining order blocking the Department of Homeland Security’s May 22 revocation of Harvard University’s certification to enroll international students under the Student and Exchange Visitor Program (SEVP), pending further litigation. DHS’s revocation would have meant the disenrollment of all of Harvard’s current international students. As part of the action, DHS demanded Harvard turn over 5 years of surveillance footage and data relating to international students and Palestine advocacy.
• Temporary Protected Status for Venezuelans: On May 19, 2025, the U.S. Supreme Court granted the government’s emergency application for a stay, allowing the Department of Homeland Security to proceed with terminating Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for approximately 350,000 Venezuelan nationals, pending appeal. The two-paragraph order did not provide reasoning, and the implications of this decision remain unclear.
• Department of Education: On May 22, 2025, U.S. District Judge Myong Joun of the District of Massachusetts issued a preliminary injunction halting the Trump administration’s plan to dismantle the U.S. Department of Education, ordering the reinstatement of over 1,300 employees and blocking the transfer of key functions outside the department.
• Deportations to Third Countries: On May 21, 2025, U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy found that the Department of Homeland Security violated a court order not to deport immigrants to third countries by proceeding with a deportation flight to South Sudan, despite prior instructions to halt such removals, and raised the possibility of contempt proceedings.

To learn more about these and other recent developments, please visit our website, where we continue to provide detailed analysis of federal actions and their potential impact on our communities.

Thank you, 
Rima Meroueh 
Director, National Network for Arab American Communities 

P.S. You are receiving this email as you signed on to one of our campaigns or on NNAAC’s website directly. To update your preferences, please click on the link below.