EDINBURG, Texas - The Edinburg Chamber of Commerce continued their Public Affairs Series on Thursday with “The Big Beautiful Breakdown,” a luncheon focused on dissecting the recently passed One Big Beautiful Bill Act.
Held at the Edinburg Conference Center at Renaissance, the event featured a keynote presentation by Glenn Hamer, president and CEO of the Texas Association of Business.
Before diving into the contents of the BBB, Hamer set the stage for what preceded the bill’s passing this last Independence Day. For Texas, the economy was, and still is, seeing much growth. From an increase in job creation and labor force to a GDP growth rate of 3.5% since last year, Texas has led the nation.
“If you take a look at all the job statistics, we are adding more jobs as a state than any other state, and by a considerable margin,” said Hamer. “And now that we have an economy that’s about $2.7 trillion [GDP], if you rank Texas as a country, … we would be #8 – we passed Italy a few years ago – and by the end of the year, we will likely pass France and be part of the G7, economically. It’s incredible ... so, we arguably have the fastest growing economy in the planet.”
To further illustrate his point, Hamer noted Texas’s $23.8 billion budget surplus at the close of the last legislative session compared to California’s $12 billion budget deficit. The numbers also highlighted another point – while Texas was thriving, other states had not fared as well.
Hamer credits the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act for turning things around pre-COVID. Its provisions such as reducing the corporate income tax from 35% (the highest in the world) to 21% and implementing a pass-through deduction of 20% for small businesses sparked economic growth and investment in the country. However, these items and others in the bill were set to expire this year. Hamer says one of the most important sections of the BBB was making these provisions permanent.
Pertinent to the Rio Grande Valley, one of the biggest funding areas of the BBB is national defense, including immigration enforcement. As departments like U.S. Customs and Border Protection beef up, Hamer is already looking ahead. He says now that border is “100% secure” we need workable federal immigration law that includes Mexican nationals and DACA recipients.
“Because this economy, thank God, is doing so well in so many industries, we have open positions that international workers legally in the country can complement those workers,” said Hamer.
Texas energy is one sector that will need more workers in the very near future. Under the BBB, solar and wind tax credits will be phased out while incentives for nuclear and natural gas have been added. Texas leads in renewable energy, but it has also invested $350 million for nuclear and is the largest oil and natural gas state – a diverse powerhouse on its own. Despite all this, the Electric Reliability Council of Texas (ERCOT) projects a 70% increase in energy demand by 2030.
Hamer also touched on the ever pervasiveness of AI. By a quick show-of-hands, Hamer demonstrated the increased use of AI in businesses, even in the Valley, as nearly everyone in the room raised their hand to show they have used it for their business. Because of this trend, AI data centers requiring at least 100 megawatts of power have already been announced by Apple, Nvidia and Stargate for Houston, Dallas and Abilene, respectively – investments totaling over $1 trillion.
While this may be good for Texas, one sector that will see cuts from the BBB is healthcare. Medicaid will undoubtedly be affected, and Hamer says that state legislators will “have to be more vigilant” in making sure vulnerable Texans are still protected. Taking advantage of the $10 billion provision in the BBB for rural healthcare hospitals and providers is one such way, and he hopes lawmakers will find others.
In his final comments, Hamer addressed the impact of the on-going tariff wars for the U.S. and the Valley. Part of the Trump administration’s national strategy to reduce the $37 trillion federal debt is through tariffs. Hamer says that he is not opposed to tariffs, but that the volatility in levying and lifting them with our closest trading partners is not a winning strategy.
“There’s a big difference between having tariffs in Europe and other parts of the world and putting tariffs on goods from Mexico and Canada,” said Hamer. “We are in the highest tariff environment that this country has been in, in a 100 years….so this is a brand-new ballgame. People are just not familiar with all the implications.”
Hamer says that one of President Trump’s greatest deals was the USMCA. Before the trade deal, China was America’s No. 1 trading partner, followed by Mexico and then Canada. Now, Mexico and Canada have bumped China to third place, and many companies have moved to relocate their manufacturing facilities closer to our borders. He says this is the trajectory that we need to stay on, and he applauds the Trump administration for complying with the USMCA and leaving around 85% of goods from Mexico and Canada tariff-free.
As the Office of US Trade Representative are opening comments for the 2026 review of the USMCA, Hamer says that the Texas Association of Business will advocate to protect the integrity of the trade deal.
For more information about the organization and their business advocacy, visit their website here.
