U.S. Speaker Mike Johnson touts One Big Beautiful Bill from Melaleuca headquarters

IDAHO FALLS — U.S. Speaker of the House Mike Johnson said Tuesday that the recently passed One Big Beautiful Bill will have real impacts on Idaho residents in the form of more take-home pay and lower taxes.

Speaking from Melaleuca’s Distribution Center, Johnson said Idaho was the first stop on a national tour touting the benefits of the federal government’s new spending plan, a sweeping tax relief plan signed into law by President Donald Trump on July 4.

The plan replaces a Trump law signed in 2017, during his first presidency. That law was set to expire at the end of this year.

Tuesday’s visit by the Speaker of the House was his second to Melaleuca, the largest private employer in Idaho Falls. He said business and technology growth in Idaho made it an obvious first stop on his tour.

Beyond the growth in eastern Idaho, Johnson also pointed to success stories he’s seen around the country.

“So I’ve been traveling around, going around the nation, state to state, and visiting with great American success stories, things that started as small businesses and become large operations like this one, is a tremendous testament to the spirit of America, and so many happy employees here.”

Melaleuca Executive Chairman Frank VanderSloot said he was honored to host Johnson’s visit.

“We are thrilled that the administration and Congress are deeply interested in American businesses,” VanderSloot said. “We are extremely honored that Speaker Johnson considers Melaleuca an important home-grown American story.”

Johnson called the new law “common sense legislation for real people.”

“It’s gonna make a real difference in real people’s lives, and we’re excited to deliver it,” Johnson said.

Johnson pointed to specific examples of what the new law means for Idahoans.

“I brought a couple of stats here about specifically what the Big, Beautiful Bill will do for Idaho,” Johnson said. “You know, a couple of highlights.”

• “We made permanent. Of course, the pass-through deduction for small businesses and the deductions for research and development and investing in plant property and equipment management, that’s going to be a big thing for companies like this.”
• “We invest, of course, in unleashing American energy dominance,” Johnson said, pointing to lower fuel prices that allow manufacturers to deliver goods cheaply.
• Johnson made a reference to Micron, a computer chip maker in Boise, saying, “We’ve extended the tax credit for manufacturing semiconductor chips. That’s going to help people in this state, and it’s going to help America maintain our status as the last great superpower.”
• Johnson said the new tax plan will produce wage increases estimated to be between $3,600 to $6,400 over the next four years.
• Real take-home pay will increase between $7,200 and $10,200 “for the average family in Idaho,” Johnson said.
• He said 5% of workers in Idaho “will benefit from the no tax on tips provision, which is really popular.”
• Additionally, “300,000 seniors in this state are going to benefit from the tax reductions and new credit we gave them on Social Security.
• Johnson said, “68% of workers in Idaho can benefit from the no tax on overtime provision we put in the bill.”
• “We protected an estimated 35,000 jobs with this legislation,” Johnson said. “41,000 employers are potentially eligible for the 199a deduction.” The deduction is now a permanent part of the tax code.
• “We supported 28 opportunity zones in Idaho and created … about 4,000 jobs,” Johnson said.

“So many benefits in that pro-growth economy,” Johnson said. “So many benefits in the policies we put in the legislation are going to help companies like Melaleuca grow even more, and it will allow wages to rise all across the country, and more opportunity for more people.”

Johnson said Republicans in Congress “worked really hard” on the legislation.

“President Trump was delighted to sign it into law, I think symbolically, on Independence Day, July 4, and people are going to see the great effects of that,” Johnson said.

Addressing an EastIdahoNews.com question about the federal government’s approach to wildfires threatening western states, Johnson said, “It’s a big, big issue.”

He said wildfire threats are “about forest management. We’re trying to incentivize proper, responsible forest management, because if you do that, you invest in that, you save a lot of loss on the back end.”

Johnson blamed the devastating wildfires in California on the fact that the state was going in the “opposite direction” of sound management practices.

“The reason the LA wildfires (January 2025) were so destructive is … something that becomes … an act of nature is exacerbated in its damage because of bad public policy, and they did not do the things necessary, clearing underbrush, you know, managing the forest to prevent that atrocity,” Johnson said.

Johnson said that after the LA wildfires, a colleague sent him “a grainy video documentary that was produced in the early ‘60s.”

“They explained word for word, exactly what happened with the Santa Ana winds in that same area, how the flame would go over the hills and it’d be unstoppable,” Johnson said. “And this is produced in 1962, and they gave the prescription of public policy on how to ensure that never happened.”

Johnson said the leaders in California totally ignored the policy.

“It’s bad governance that leads to some of this,” Johnson said. “So it’s a hands-on approach. Congress is trying to foster this. The Department of the Interior has spent a lot of time looking into this and trying to solve it.”