Tag Archives: Congressional Budget Office

USA Today: Vance: Medicaid cuts in Senate tax bill ‘immaterial’ compared to ICE increases

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In a series of social media posts, Vice President JD Vance said the cost of the GOP spending bill, including the effect of the largest cuts to Medicaid in history, are “immaterial” compared to the money he says it will save through expanded funding for immigration enforcement.

“The thing that will bankrupt this country more than any other policy is flooding the country with illegal immigration and then giving those migrants generous benefits. The (bill) fixes this problem. And therefore it must pass,” Vance said in a June 30 post on the social media site X, a few hours before he cast the tie-breaking vote to move the spending bill back to the House.

“Everything else ‒ the (Congressional Budget Office) score, the proper baseline, the minutiae of the Medicaid policy ‒ is immaterial compared to the ICE money and immigration enforcement provisions,” he said in a second post.

This assumes that “illegal” immigrants contribute nothing to the economy, which is totally false. Removing “illegal” immigrants will cause a net loss of hundreds of billions of dollars for California alone (not to mention other states), and it is on top of that loss that millions of Americans will be losing their health insurance.

J.D. Dunce is a f*ck*ng sh*t for brains disgrace. Nobody in Greenland wanted them over for lunch, and I wouldn’t either.

Vance: Medicaid cuts in Senate tax bill ‘immaterial’ compared to ICE increases
Vice President JD Vance said cuts to Medicaid and budget impacts in the Senate tax bill don’t compare to the importance of ICE spending.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/07/01/vance-medicaid-cuts-ice-spending-tax-bill/84429757007

Daily Beast: Trump Celebrates Civil War Win With Brutal Message to GOP

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Donald Trump is once again reminding Republicans where disloyalty gets you.

The president celebrated on Sunday night shortly after GOP Senator Thom Tillis announced he would not seek re-election next year. A day earlier, the North Carolina Republican had voted against advancing Trump’s signature spending package—the so-called “big, beautiful bill”—incurring the president’s wrath. Trump quickly slammed Tillis in Truth Social posts and threatened to back a primary challenger.

“Great News! “Senator” Thom Tillis will not be seeking reelection,” Trump wrote on Truth Social after Tillis bowed out.

In a follow-up post, Trump suggested that Republicans who oppose his legislative priorities could pay a political price.

Given Trump’s nosediving approval ratings, coupled with the millions losing benefits, e.g. healthcare coverage, thanks to the Big Fat Ugly Bill, the 2026 midterms are expect to be a major rout of Republicans.

Trump Celebrates Civil War Win by Threatening Entire GOP
The president issued a brazen reminder to any who dare to defy him.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/trump-celebrates-civil-war-win-with-brutal-message-to-gop

Newsweek: Trump reveals new price tag for Canada to join “Golden Dome” defense system

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President Donald Trump increased the proposed price for Canada’s participation in the U.S. Golden Dome missile defense system.

“They want to be in,” Trump told reporters aboard Air Force One on Monday. “Seventy-one billion they’re going to pay.”

The new price tag is $10 billion higher than Trump’s earlier public demand for Canadian entry into the program.

And what if Canada simply said, “Take your Golden Dome and shove it! You may not put any part of your Golden Dome on Canadian soil.” The U.S. would be up the proverbial creek.

https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-canada-golden-dome-air-defense-missile-2086645

Snopes: Clarifying claim that DOGE, RFK Jr. found 8M people fraudulently on Medicaid

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The numbers appeared tied to estimates on the number of people who may be cut from Medicaid under U.S. President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill.”

Snopes has a lengthy discussion of claims by F’Elon Musk (DOGE) and Robert “Brainworm” Kennedy Jr. that they found 8M people fraudently on Medicaid. Their conclusion:

These numbers don’t add up to 8 million … 

Like almost everything else involving DOGE, the math doesn’t work out.

You can click the link below to read the article:

Clarifying claim that DOGE, RFK Jr. found 8M people fraudulently on Medicaid
The numbers appeared tied to estimates on the number of people who may be cut from Medicaid under U.S. President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill.”

https://www.snopes.com/news/2025/05/24/medicaid-doge-rfk-jr

MSNBC: Trump made a promise not to touch Medicare. His megabill just broke it.

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The House bill, as of now, would trigger massive cuts to the program.

As many Americans were still sleeping Thursday morning, the House of Representatives passed a bill whose text they hadn’t read, Donald Trump’s so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act. The bill’s sweeping cuts to Medicaid, contributing to 14 million fewer people having health coverage by 2034, have received wide coverage. Less well known, however, is the bill’s dire implications for Medicare recipients. If the House version of the bill becomes law, Medicare payments to medical providers would be slashed by more than $500 billion over the next 10 years. This would have serious implications for tens of millions of older adults and providers and may even cause hospitals to close.

The explanation of how these automatic cuts to Medicare spending would work:

Though the GOP bill doesn’t explicitly call for Medicare cuts, it would trigger them under the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go Act. Congress passed Stat PAYGO in 2010 to discourage policymakers from enacting tax cuts and spending that would increase federal deficits.

Under Stat PAYGO, the Office of Management and Budget must keep “PAYGO scorecards” for five-year deficit impacts and 10-year deficit impacts. PAYGO stipulates that when any legislation is enacted, the average cost of the legislation for the next five years is entered into each year of the five-year scorecard and the average cost for the next 10 years is entered into each year of the 10-year scorecard. At the end of each session of Congress, if there is a cumulative deficit in that fiscal year on either scorecard, there is an automatic spending reduction (sequestration) to offset the larger of the two deficits. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that the House Republican bill, if enacted, would increase the deficit by $2.3 trillion over 10 years, and trigger sequestration.

And as for social security:

Some types of funding, including many mandatory spending accounts like Social Security, are exempt from the automatic cuts, but Medicare provider payments are not. 

So …

In short, though Trump and House Republicans promised this bill would not touch Medicare, at the moment that promise is broken.

Opinion | Trump made a promise not to touch Medicare. His megabill just broke it.
The House bill, as of now, would trigger massive cuts to the program.

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/trump-made-promise-not-touch-medicare-megabill-just-broke-rcna208518

Talking Points Memo: GAO Makes Official What’s Been Obvious: Trump Admin Is Breaking Impoundment Control Act

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The independent agency embedded within the legislative branch that is designed to review federal spending and make recommendations to Congress on cost savings and waste, as well as investigate policy implementation (the real one, not DOGE), has released a new finding that none of us will find surprising.

As part of its 39 different investigations into various actions the Trump administration has taken in the last four months that could qualify as Impoundment Control Act violations, the Government Accountability Office determined this afternoon that the Trump administration has, in fact, done just that.

…

Big picture, the non-partisan congressional watchdog is expected to issue more rulings in coming months as it works its way through nearly 40 other similar investigations into whether the Trump administration has violated the 51-year-old law in other ways. The Trump White House has already called the GAO finding “wrong” and GAO opinions are, in general, considered nonbinding recommendations to Congress. Such a finding might matter more in an era where congressional Republicans were not already so willing to choke down all of Trump’s DOGE cuts.

GAO Makes Official What’s Been Obvious: Trump Admin Is Breaking Impoundment Control Act
The independent agency embedded within the legislative branch that is designed to…

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/where-things-stand/gao-makes-official-whats-been-obvious-trump-admin-is-breaking-impoundment-control-act

MSNBC: It’s not just Medicaid: Why the Republicans’ bill would likely force Medicare cuts, too

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The CBO said the GOP’s megabill would lead to $500 billion in cuts to Medicare. Two days later, 215 House Republicans voted for it anyway.

As the fight over the Republicans’ so-called One Big Beautiful Bill Act unfolded, much of the focus turned to Medicaid, and for good reason. Despite Donald Trump’s promise not to cut the health care program, the GOP legislation would cut roughly $700 billion from Medicaid in the coming years, and with just hours remaining before the bill reached the floor, party leaders added new and punitive Medicaid provisions to shore up support from far-right members.

But as important as the future of Medicaid is, the legislation’s impact on Medicare matters, too.

If people were to dig into the 1,000-page bill to look for the provisions related to Medicare cuts, they won’t find them. But there’s a difference between the literal text of the legislation and the practical effects of the legislation.

In fact, as The Washington Post reported, the Congressional Budget Office found that the Republicans’ megabill would add so many trillions of dollars to the national debt, “it could force nearly $500 billion in cuts to Medicare” — with some cuts taking effect as early as next year. As the Post noted, the higher deficits would force budget officials “to mandate across-the-board spending cuts over that window that would hit the federal health insurance program for seniors and people with disabilities.”

…

But that doesn’t change the bottom line: The CBO told the House that the Republicans’ reconciliation package would lead to $500 billion in cuts to Medicare, and two days later, 215 House Republicans voted for it anyway.

It’s not just Medicaid: Why the Republicans’ bill would likely force Medicare cuts, too
The CBO said the GOP’s megabill would lead to $500 billion in cuts to Medicare. Two days later, 215 House Republicans voted for it anyway.

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/medicare-cuts-medicaid-republicans-reconciliation-bill-rcna208484

MSNBC: There’s a reason Republicans want to hide what’s in their newly passed megabill

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If that sounds like hyperbole, it’s not.

Early Wednesday, when most Americans were snuggled in their beds, Republicans in the House of Representatives were working hard to take away the health care of millions of Americans, blow a $3 trillion hole in the budget deficit and make the wealthiest people in America richer and the poorest Americans poorer.

If this sounds like hyperbole, it’s not. The GOP-controlled House Rules Committee convened at 1 a.m. Wednesday morning to discuss a bill that hasn’t been fully drafted and the provisions of which were still part of intense negotiations. Indeed, the real work on the legislation was happening behind closed doors as House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., tried to cobble together enough votes to pass something, anything, so he could meet his self-imposed deadline for a floor vote by Memorial Day. Late Wednesday, GOP leaders released yet more significant changes to the bill, and on Thursday morning the full House passed the bill by a single vote.

What we do know about the legislation the GOP is calling the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” is genuinely terrifying.

According to an analysis published Tuesday by the Congressional Budget Office, the numbers in the GOP’s draft legislation are brutal. The bill would increase the federal deficit by $3.8 trillion — a rise that is spooking bond markets already worried about the president’s tariff increases. The bill would slash $267 billion in federal spending for SNAP, which more than 42 million low-income people rely on to put food on the table for their families. And it would cut nearly $700 billion from federal funding for Medicaid.

The CBO estimated Tuesday that the Medicaid cuts could cause roughly 8 million people to lose their health insurance coverage, and that number could rise to 15 million thanks to other provisions in the legislation. The amendments revealed Wednesday, writes Larry Levitt, executive vice president for health policy at KFF, surely “would lead to more people losing health insurance.” But Republicans scrambled to vote Thursday before the CBO could update its totals.

All this is being done to extend the Trump tax cuts, which disproportionately benefit wealthy people. The impact of the GOP’s bill is extraordinary in both its cruelty and its extreme inequality. According to the CBO’s estimate, household resources for the poorest people would decrease by 4% over the next eight years, while the richest people’s household resources would increase by 4%.

Opinion | There’s a reason Republicans want to hide what’s in their megabill
If that sounds like hyperbole, it’s not.

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/republican-house-bill-medicaid-snap-cuts-tax-cut-trump-rcna208380

MSNBC: Budget office: Republicans’ megabill would give to the rich and take from the poor

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If GOP officials are looking for good news in the Congressional Budget Office’s new report on the party’s reconciliation package, they won’t find any.

Common sense might suggest that congressional Republicans would want to know basic details about their giant reconciliation package, such as how much it would cost and the practical implications of its provisions. GOP lawmakers are, after all, federal policymakers. It stands to reason that they’d care enough about governing to want to legislate with open eyes.

But that’s not the case. Just as Republicans scrambled in 2017 to pass massive tax breaks without waiting for a score from the Congressional Budget Office, GOP lawmakers decided to do the same thing in 2025, deliberately choosing willful ignorance about their own legislation.

That did not, however, stop congressional Democrats from asking the CBO to scrutinize the House Republicans’ proposal, and as The Associated Press reported, the nonpartisan budget office’s findings were quite brutal.

Budget office: Republicans’ megabill would give to the rich and take from the poor
If GOP officials are looking for good news in the Congressional Budget Office’s new report on the party’s reconciliation package, they won’t find any.

https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/budget-office-republicans-megabill-give-rich-richer-take-poor-rcna208175

Fortune: U.S. economy is experiencing ‘death by a thousand cuts’, says Deutsche Bank, as confidence in national debt management erodes

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Economists have criticized politicians’ plans to reduce America’s national debt as too little, too late. But analysts are warning that the issue is now coming home to roost, with the once unshakeable confidence in the United States’ fiscal future beginning to erode.

America’s national debt, which currently stands at more than $36.2 trillion, is increasingly rising on economists’ agendas. Their fear is that as the nation’s debt burden increases, alongside the interest payments to service the debt, the economy will not grow fast enough to sustain the spending.

Such fears were reflected in a Moody’s downgrade of U.S. credit last week from Aaa to Aa1. Moody’s justified: “While we recognize the US’ significant economic and financial strengths, we believe these no longer fully counterbalance the decline in fiscal metrics.”

U.S. economy is experiencing ‘death by a thousand cuts’, says Deutsche Bank
Deutsche Bank’s Jim Reid says Moody’s recent debt downgrade continues a drip of bad fiscal news for the American economic outlook.

https://fortune.com/2025/05/20/us-economy-experiencing-death-by-thousand-cuts-deutsche-bank

Also here:

U.S. economy is experiencing ‘death by a thousand cuts’, says Deutsche Bank, as confidence in national debt management erodes

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/u-s-economy-is-experiencing-death-by-a-thousand-cuts-says-deutsche-bank-as-confidence-in-national-debt-management-erodes/ar-AA1F7C7n