Thank you! Your submission has been received!
Oops! Something went wrong while submitting the form.
“Republicans in the US House of Representatives narrowly passed a multi-trillion dollar government spending bill on Tuesday… The House budget seeks $2tn in spending cuts over the next 10 years to pay for President Trump's agenda. It includes more than $100bn in new spending on immigration enforcement and the military…
“It also would extend tax breaks passed during his first term in office, which are due to expire at the end of the year. Trump has said that the public health program known as Medicaid wouldn't be affected, but achieving the drastic cuts Republicans seek could be difficult without cutting major social services.” BBC
The left opposes the resolution, arguing that it will result in cuts to Medicaid while giving tax breaks to the rich.
“The Republican Party won the last election in no small part because of its new appeal with working-class voters… But the economic agenda Republicans are now putting together on Capitol Hill would by and large help rich Americans, all while teeing up cuts to programs that provide health care and food to the poor…
“The American tax system is progressive, with the top 1 percent of Americans paying more than 30 percent of the taxes the federal government collects every year, according to Treasury Department data. So tax cuts like the ones Republicans hope to enact would provide their largest benefits to rich Americans who pay the most in tax, meaning the policy is regressive even if it still returns money to the working class…
“Republicans are considering additional tax cuts that could provide even more benefits to high-income Americans. Even corporate tax breaks that help grow the economy still flow mainly to the owners of businesses, who are typically wealthy… [Finally] For low-income Americans, the loss of Medicaid would likely be a greater loss in value than any gains provided by a cut in their income taxes.”
Andrew Duehren, New York Times
“Many states would be faced with some ugly choices regarding their Medicaid programs: dropping people from the rolls, slashing their benefits or making up the difference by cutting spending on other priorities, such as education, public safety and transportation. None of which House Republicans are willing to acknowledge. ‘The word ‘Medicaid’ is not even in this bill,’ Majority Leader Steve Scalise (Louisiana) insists. ‘There are no Medicaid cuts in this bill.’…
“Which, technically speaking, is true. What the budget resolution does is direct the House Energy and Commerce Committee to cut spending in its jurisdiction by $880 billion over the next decade. Looking at the programs within the committee’s purview, anyone can see it is impossible to come even close to that figure without taking a big whack out of Medicaid.”
Karen Tumulty, Washington Post
“The bill that passed Tuesday night doesn’t actually enact any cuts, and thus, it allows everyone to save face. Eventually, though, this will all come to a head… On one end are moderates and vulnerable members, or members representing ascendant, working-class elements of the new Republican coalition, for whom cutting the social safety net makes no political sense whatsoever…
“On the other end are Freedom Caucus members who believe with divine passion that the United States will soon collapse under the weight of its debt, and that meaningfully reducing that debt is their single biggest priority while they hold power. One side will eventually have to give.”
Jim Newell, Slate
The right generally supports the resolution, arguing that extending the tax cuts is essential.
The right generally supports the resolution, arguing that extending the tax cuts is essential.
“A GOP failure would mean a $4.5 trillion tax increase and zero spending restraint. The expanded standard deduction would revert to roughly $16,000 for married couples, from about $30,000 now. The blue-state subsidy spigot known as the state-and-local tax deduction would return in full. The small business deduction would go poof. National defense also wouldn’t get a much-needed cash infusion of at least $100 billion. All of that is what Rep. Massie and Democrats endorsed on Tuesday night when they voted no.”
Editorial Board, Wall Street Journal
“This is the way the House should be run by Republicans when the margin for control is so razor-thin. Johnson did a fantastic job listening to members, incorporating their views into the legislative strategy, and moving the ball down the field to where victory was in sight… By bringing the resolution to the goal line, just three votes away from victory, Johnson was able to call the president in to finish the job, which he did ably.”
Editorial Board, Washington Examiner
“Democrats will shriek about draconian spending cuts, but the instructions the House has given are modest — really, too modest, if the goal is to change the long-run trajectory of the federal debt. The federal government is projected to spend $86 trillion from now through fiscal year 2034, the period under consideration in the reconciliation bill. The House resolution calls for $2 trillion in spending cuts over that entire timespan…
“Ideally, House Republicans would take this opportunity to reform [Medicaid], which was expanded under Obamacare and grew out of control during the Biden administration. They should implement stronger work requirements, clean up improper payments… and end the current policies that subsidize able-bodied single adults at higher rates than children or the disabled.”
The Editors, National Review
“This budget is probably the best thing that can be done with what people are willing to do… There is no American consensus on restructuring the entitlement programs that are the systemic drivers of our national debt. I wish reality were not what it is, but that is the case. It is a fundamental reality that Trump understands, which is why he and JD Vance ran on the prospect of never touching Social Security and Medicare…
“Those are systemic drivers of the national debt. They’re not touching them because they understand the American people don’t want them touched. Let’s be clear about what’s going to happen to America fiscally over the course of the next 10 years. America is going to lurch toward precisely the same sorts of austerity measures that Europe had to put in place because the United States is heading toward national bankruptcy.”
Ben Shapiro, Daily Wire
