Republican holdouts in committee demand more savings from Medicaid and faster wind down of clean-energy breaks.
Finally, Some Spine
Please note Conservatives Block GOP Tax Megabill, Demand Changes
House Republican spending hawks are demanding changes to the party’s tax-and-spending bill, freezing progress on the legislation over disagreements on Medicaid, clean-energy tax breaks and budget deficits.
The holdouts Friday, including Reps. Chip Roy of Texas, Ralph Norman of South Carolina, Josh Brecheen of Oklahoma and Andrew Clyde of Georgia, blocked the Budget Committee from advancing the legislation. The panel blocked the bill on a 16-21 vote, with those four Republicans and Rep. Lloyd Smucker (R., Pa.) joining all Democrats in opposition. Smucker, who backs the bill, said he voted no for procedural reasons, so he can call for a revote later.
“This bill falls profoundly short,” Roy said, adding that discussions were continuing and possible through the weekend. “I am a no on this bill unless serious reforms are made.”
Roy and others want Medicaid work requirements to start sooner than 2029, as the current bill does. They want faster removal of clean-energy tax credits, which the current bill phases out over several years. They warn that the bill, as written, front-loads tax cuts in the next few years and delays spending cuts. That combination, they argue, means that budget deficits could be significantly higher in the short run.
Republican leaders are negotiating with them and simultaneously with lawmakers from New York, New Jersey and California, who want a higher cap on the state and local tax deduction. The current bill would raise the $10,000 cap to $30,000 and start phasing that down once income reaches $400,000, but Reps. Mike Lawler (R., N.Y.) and Nick LaLota (R., N.Y.) say that isn’t enough in their high-tax, high-income districts.
Other lawmakers, including Rep. Jen Kiggans (R., Va.) have warned that the clean-energy tax-credit changes were too harsh, creating a push-and-pull within the party where changes that satisfy the hard-line conservatives could potentially cost votes on the other side of the party.
Trump, who has helped House leaders muscle through close votes several times this year, urged lawmakers to get in line. “We don’t need ‘GRANDSTANDERS’ in the Republican Party,” he posted on Truth Social on Friday morning. “STOP TALKING AND GET IT DONE!”
Even some of the Budget Committee Republicans who were supporting the bill sounded tepid about it, echoing some of the concerns from Roy and Norman.
“If we falter in taking this first step, we can’t get to the next one,” said Rep. Tom McClintock (R., Calif.), “We’ll waste the summer squabbling and fuming to the delight of the Democrats, and the despair of the American people.”
Brecheen is particularly focused on the clean-energy tax credits and wants them eliminated as soon as possible. He opposes the proposal in the bill that keeps some partial credits in place for projects placed in service as late as 2031 and warned that lobbyists would push a future Congress to keep wind and solar tax breaks alive.
“It’s an addiction, and it’s so easy for people to want to please people that provide money to their campaigns to not hold true to ending the green new scam,” Brecheen said.
The Ugly Truth About the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’
Senator Ron Johnson (R. WI) explains The Ugly Truth About the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’
Under every scenario now being considered, federal debt continues to skyrocket from its current level of almost $37 trillion. The CBO’s current projection adds around $22 trillion over the next 10 years, resulting in total debt of approximately $59 trillion—134% of GDP—in 2035. That projection assumes an automatic tax increase will occur in 2026 when provisions of the 2017 tax cuts expire, increasing revenue from 17.1% of GDP in fiscal 2025 to an average of 18.1% over the next 10 years. With the CBO projecting 10-year GDP at $373 trillion, that 1% increase represents $3.7 trillion of additional revenue and lower debt.
The “One Big Beautiful Bill” Will Continue Spending at Biden’s Level
On May 12, I commented The “One Big Beautiful Bill” Will Continue Spending at Biden’s Level
Please note The GOP Surrenders on Medicaid
The House bill shrinks from a fight over able-bodied men on the dole.
The work requirement doesn’t kick in until 2029—a political lifetime from now. The bill also sets up a waiver process, which states have long abused to evade work rules in food stamps.
But far more notable is that the bill fails to end Medicaid’s outrageous bias toward prime-age men who can work. The feds pay 90% of the cost of able-bodied adults eligible for Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act—but only roughly 50% to 77% (depending on the state) for pregnant women, the blind and so on.
Republicans won’t even insist that able-bodied persons must work.
And people are bragging Trump will bring down inflation.
If this budget passes, there is no way inflation comes down other than a huge recession that destroys demand.
Spineless Trump
A handful of Republicans are showing some spine, but bear in mind it’s not much.
Recall that House Speaker Kevin McCarthy was ousted for passing a “clean continuation resolution”.
Johnson, McCarthy’s replacement, immediately passed three more clean resolutions and now is working on raising the debt ceiling and passing “One Big Beautiful Bill”.
These actions are worse than anything McCarthy did to get outed.
On May 14, I commented At Least 20 Republicans Don’t Trust Speaker Johnson on the Budget
No one should trust Johnson.
No Leadership
The one, big, beautiful bill is such a budget-busting, debt adding monstrosity that no fiscal conservative should support it.
Trump postponed some budget cuts until 2029 (conveniently after he is gone), and bargained with Democrats over SALT, willing to give away the best part of the 2017 TCJA tax package, hoping to buy Democrat votes.
Trump has provided no leadership on this bill. It deserves to die. Congrats to the few Republicans willing to stand up.
The cult will now threaten to primary the fiscal hawks. These fools don’t understand that Republican infighting is the last thing Republicans need.
Had Trump provided any leadership and demanded more budget cuts, we would not be where we are.
Don’t blame the Fiscal hawks, blame Trump for being a spineless leader (from a fiscal standpoint) who’s trying to steer a rudderless ship by commanding the wind to blow as he wants.
I voted for him but the spending has to stop and this nonsense caving to special interests in high-tax states punishing better-managed states yet again is sickening. Simply increase the tax exemption for all or for no one but don’t strike deals picking winners and losers yet again, on a grander and more illogical scale. SALT rewards poorly run states needing higher taxes to offset insane spending levels, some of which go to things like benefits to illegal immigrants. Imagine your state not doing so only to have other states do it and then their citizens get bailed out. Sigh.
The rise of the regretful Trump voterTrump is squandering one of his biggest 2024 electoral accomplishments.
https://www.vox.com/politics/412766/regret-trump-voter-buyers-remorse-philadelphia-election-tariff-economy
The past election was the epitome of the South Park electoral choice meme between a giant douche or a turd sandwich.
Vox? Regretful Trump voter is a narrative. Don’t regret at all, not voting for word salad Harris. Corrupt Dr. Peter Marks would still be at FDA, under Harris. Harris did nothing about shutting down illegal immigration, turning a blind eye toward it. Corruption at USAID has been exposed. Corruption at FBI/DOJ will be exposed. Harris would have been covering it up, still.
A bigger problem than SALT is the trend of red states to eliminate state income tax altogether. Then they rely on federal aid instead. Kentucky and West Virginia rely on federal assistance for over 50% of the their budgets.
southern states have been playing the us treasury since 3/5 votes for the slave owners “employees”. the department of war and agric…….really is great cover for so much welfare to south and heartland.
SALT limits are one of the few ways to tax the rich that actually works. It’s not surprising the protected class hates it.
The U.S. AAA credit rating is gone.
Thank you Donald!
With trump promoting the Big Beautiful Bill and its massive deficits, the last holdout that was giving the U.S. an Aaa rating has folded and downgraded our debt to Aa1.
DOGE was nothing more than a ruse and the tariffs are paid by our corporations or passed on to consumers. We pay them and they are taxes on us, not the nations we import things from.
Trump clearly does not understand who pays for tariffs or how much revenue they can create.
Trump is failing us at every level.
They waste their time gutting the pittance that is non-descretionary non-defense spending while trying to justify extending and increasing the tax gifts and doing nothing on entitlements. Step one: return to tax rates of the late 1990s. Step two: Cut entitlement spending over a 10 year horizon so as not to upend many in need as well as the overall economy. Step three: After doing one and two, then consider what, if any, changes to tax policy are appropriate. Probably none as paying down the debt is necessary too, not just stopping adding to it.
So the USA has lost its triple A credit rating, the only wonder is how it retained it for so long with such profligate government
Hard to be a good leader when one fundamentally lacks principles, and “winning” is a matter of whatever one can put over in the short term on others.
I beg to differ from “Don’t blame the Fiscal hawks, blame Trump for being a spineless leader (from a fiscal standpoint)”. Trump has shown having no spine on practically anything he touches, starting with his own tariffs. He’s a clown in the eyes of all the leaders around the world.
The super-rich bastards want to gut Medicaid so it can fund their tax cuts. So what’s new???!!! I’d tell them to go F themselves. If the average Joe can do without a pay increase for the last 16 years, these mofos can do without their tax cuts for another 3 or 4 decades.
I’m not super rich but I sure as hell don’t get Medicaid either. I pay for health insurance each pay check and then pay the doctor full price because I don’t meet the deductible. Meanwhile Medicaid recipients get everything free…well actually not so free since they contribute to our deficit. I agree with you about tax cuts. There should be no cuts until we get our fiscal house in order which is probably never. But I don’t see this as the super rich vs the people. As a lower middle class working person I see Medicaid recipients as my biggest enemies.
So, against Medicaid out of envy. Got it.
Medicaid is a hell-hole for the people enrolled in it. I am in Calif., and constantly see people get thrown out of Medi-Cal (CA’s version of Medicaid) into Obolacare for no apparent reason (and vice-versa).
Nobody in any of our systems – whether it is employer-based insurance, veterans healthcare, Medicaid, Obolocare… is a happy camper. Medicare used to be a good system – until the corporatists and their puppets in the government decided to kill it by a thousand cuts and have succeeded in it to a great extent already.
I’m still waiting for:
90 deals in 90 days.
Or the 200 deals Trump said were already made.
Or the tariff revenue eliminating the deficit.
Or Trump’s new tariff rates to be announced on 150 countries.
Moody’s has downgraded the US credit rating. I guess they have no faith that the US government can control it’s spending or its debt.
https://www.moodys.com/web/en/us/about-us/usrating.html
Wow!
Trump is even worse than Biden!
Not possible. Trump earns a D- on fiscal policy but Biden didn’t even show up to class!
Trump is worthy as Chief Cheerleader of the USA. He stinks on policy details. It is baffling that Trump has pushed this idiotic budget & tax bill. It is stupid a thousand times over.
Perhaps you should consider that it is US corporations that benefit from federal spending, whether on defense or medical. This idea that Medicaid is giving money to undeserving freeloaders is a primary error–that money goes to the giant, inefficient medical services/products industries. The guy making $15/hr is generally poorer after a doctor visit than before.
Federal Reserve to slash staff by 10% over several yearsChief Jay Powell says US central bank is seeking to ensure it is a ‘responsible steward of public resources’
Federal Reserve to slash staff by 10% over several years (archive.ph)
With US debt soaring to 139% of GDP by 2035, it’s impossible to fix that with spending cuts alone. Tax increases will have to be put on the table but no one has the courage to do it. We need fewer ideological blowhards in Congress and more adults from both parties who are willing to negotiate.
Perhaps it isn’t something to really worry about. Once AI takes over and robots/automation do most of the work that humans used to do, what will be the need of money? Everything will be provided free by the machines that can work 24×7 w.o complaining, vacation’s, payments, etc.
Maybe we should be spending like drunken sailors?
Agreed. This Bill is an economic horror show.
A big, beautiful horror show.
Bad news is always released on Fridays after the market closes. The hope is everybody forgets by Monday.
With so much bloat in the “bigly beautiful bill” Trump could have been setting a trap for Democrats. The logic goes like this, “I put things in this bill that every Democrat traditionally wants, and still NONE of your reps tried to get the bill out of committee. You need to vote for Republicans in November 2026.”
That’s real nice of you Mr. Trump but it is the other things you put in the bill that are the problem.
This post shows profound ignorance of what’s in the bill and actual Democratic priorities. Clue: massive cuts to medicaid are not part of the Democratic agenda.
Medicaid work requirements need to start IMMEDIATELY!
56% of benefits go to children, disabled, or seniors… this is such a red herring, who gives a crap really… every other western democracy cares for the health of their citizens regardless of their ability to pay…
I assumed she was trolling. If she wasn’t, may karma catch up with her. Hopefully she never finds the need for medicaid, which a lot of people wind up on later on in life after they’ve burned through all their assets on medical expenses. How about working 40 hours per week as a remote worker for an Indian call center while you’re undergoing chemo and radiation? One missed shift and there go your benefits.
Any restraint of spending is good. Chopping Trump’s proposed $1 trillion+ “defense” proposal is the first place to start. Not all of the 2017 tax cuts should be extended. The big money is in medical spending. We need to scrap our whole healthcare/insurance system and start over.
Trump doesn’t care if he blows up the deficit, he’ll be dead – so why not grab as much loot as he can? A free 747 anyone?
I feel like I’m screaming into the void here but we need new political parties. As long as the Demublicans are content to pass political control between each other, gifting themselves and their paymasters tax breaks and giveaways (like the 750 billion in PPP loans that were forgiven), nothing will change.
I really wish the US had a parliamentary system so that we could have a number of smaller parties that could align to pass legislation… the two party system sucks.
our two parties are a coalition of many parties. and these alignments change over time. the ugly truth now. DEMOCRACY WORKS. assholes elect assholes. go read republic of plato, for a more thorough discussion of this ugly truth.
DEMOCRACY WORKS. assholes elect assholes. go read republic of plato, for a more thorough discussion of this ugly truth.
As a Republican talking head on the news this morning basically said, the Republicans are just beating their chests but they will ALL eventually get behind the “big, beautiful bill” because none of them wants to be responsible for killing Trump’s agenda.
And why not? He has 1345 days left in office and then won’t mean a damn thing to anyone. How much power do you think past presidents have: Biden, Obama, Bush, etc?
Trump’s threats to “primary” anyone have proven mostly meaningless in elections. He’s a paper tiger.
But yet Congressional wishy-washy Republicans are afraid to stand up to Trump.
Republicans have proven themselves to be craven cowards!
Trump Says US to Set Tariff Rates for Other Nations in Weeks
https://thetechietalks.com/trump-says-us-to-set-tariff-rates-for-other-nations-in-weeks/
Unlike the traditional method of trade negotiations through organizations like the World Trade Organization (WTO) or bilateral talks with trade partners, Trump’s approach suggests a unilateral system where the U.S. would define tariff levels independently. “We will be deciding what’s fair,” he said. “Not some bureaucrats in Geneva or Beijing. The American worker will come first.”
The announcement comes at a time when global supply chains remain fragile following the COVID-19 pandemic, inflationary pressures continue to impact consumers worldwide, and geopolitical tensions are reshaping trade flows. If implemented, such a policy could mark one of the most significant departures from global trade norms in decades. Economists and trade experts are divided in their reactions. Many argue that the capacity to quickly adjust tariffs provides the U.S. greater leverage to defend key industries and to respond to unfair policies. Some warn that this decision could trigger retaliatory action, escalate trade wars, and even deter American exporters.
So we are not even waiting 90 days? Who cudda thunk?
trump has unified billions of humans to realize how twisted amerikan voters truly are.
Have a Question:
Why does everything have to be in this big mega deal?
Everyone knows it is a way to hide all corrupt spending we all don’t want. Why not make it so all these thing have to be passed on their own from transparency?
At least we will know more about where they stand by theirs votes.
You answered your own question.
The American people don’t want the spending to stop, they want their goodies and want someone else to give up their goodies. We will continue down this path until the wheels come off.
Hate to say it but that is the case, no one wants their free stuff to stop. Especially with the boys up stairs seeing how much you will pay for what you use to get for free.
Where is my $5000 check???
Exactly, it is totally disgusting. Every Trump supporter should realize his budget busting intransigence will push us further into a financial black hole.
You say that like Biden and Obama supporters were willing to cut spending. Nope, didn’t happen.
A big, beautiful black hole.
This must be the most irresponsible fiscal bill in US fiscal history. It’s trying to shift a huge tax burden from present tax payers to future tax payers. Given the dreaded effect of compound interest, future tax payers may well have to default on this Ponzi-type scheme. Let’s hope the bond market rebels in good time; I have no trust in those few Republican still using their brains being able to stop this.
Wow Mish, didn’t know you were a poet too. That’s ship’s name by the way is the Trumptanic™
I can’t take my eyes off the 20 and 30 year yields. Those are the wild squalls in the distance coming for the Trumptanic.™
Big Law Deals With Trump Are Backfiring on Top Firms The president’s bullying was always about intimidation and deterrence. Here’s the sound it makes when not one, but many, other shoes begin to drop.
https://www.commondreams.org/opinion/big-law-trump
The fact that a democrat wins mayor-ship in deep red Nebraska spells big trouble for repubs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RZBfeFlbBUg
Foreshadowing midterms?
MAGA meltdown right on schedule.
In fairness, though, Omaha is the most liberal part of Nebraska’s 2nd congressional district and Kamala Harris won the whole district by 4 points.
There is only a one letter difference between Obama, and Omaha. Food for thought.
Good. We need to chop chop chop government spending.