Tag Archives: House Speaker Mike Johnson

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

Rolling Stone: ‘Intentionally Hiding’: GOP Tries to Sneak Through Medicaid Cuts in Dead of Night

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Republicans scheduled a critical meeting of the House Rules Committee for 1 a.m. on Wednesday morning. The marathon hearing – in which lawmakers questioned the chairs and ranking members of various committees involved in the production of the reconciliation bill – lasted over eight hours. It did not escape notice that the late-night hearing took place during hours when most journalists, government officials, and interested members of the public would be at home and asleep. 

“It’s just over 100 days you guys have gone from promising to lower costs to ripping away people’s health care. Of course you don’t want anybody to know what you’re doing here,” Rep. Jim McGovern (D-Mass.) said around 1:30 a.m. “It’s because you know this bill betrays the people who voted for you.” 

“You have the most ineffective Congress in the century, you passed almost no legislation into law, and this is how you want to roll out your big centerpiece legislation at 1:00 in the morning?” McGovern added. “This isn’t just incompetence. It’s much more nefarious than that. You are intentionally hiding what you are doing. What an insult to the people of this country, what disdain you guys must have for the people who voted for you.”

‘Intentionally Hiding’: GOP Tries to Sneak Through Medicaid Cuts in Dead of Night
Democrats bashed Republicans for trying to sneak through Trump’s tax bill that would help the rich and hurt the poor in the middle of the night.

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/republicans-try-sneak-through-trump-tax-bill-night-1235344756

MSNBC: How Trump’s ‘bribe now, pain later’ budget scheme hit a surprise roadblock [Opinion]

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The conservative revolt over Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ threatens a major component of his bid to keep Congress in the GOP’s hands next year.

Rep. Chip Roy of Texas had major problems with the bill his fellow Republicans presented to the House Budget Committee on Friday. On paper, the legislative package for President Donald Trump’s agenda slashes more than a trillion dollars in federal spending over the next decade. But Roy and other hard-line conservatives on the panel were frustrated at the bill’s timeline for those cuts. Their “no” votes tanked the bill and sent House leadership scrambling for last-minute weekend negotiations to salvage what Trump calls his “big, beautiful bill.”

Roy is right about the imbalance and trickery on display, as the current bill back-loads the savings while raising the federal deficit in the short term. The problem for him is that Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and the rest of the House leadership team aren’t the source of his concerns. Instead, the catalyst for his ire lies Roy is right about the imbalance and trickery on display, as the current bill back-loads the savings while raising the federal deficit in the short term. The problem for him is that Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., and the rest of the House leadership team aren’t the source of his concerns. Instead, the catalyst for his ire lies down Pennsylvania Avenue at the White House.

Meanwhile, “down Pennsylvania Avenue at the White House”:

That hesitance from the White House can be chalked up in part to next year’s midterm elections. Politico’s Rachel Bade recently reported that Trump is already “hyper-engaged in the fight to keep the GOP’s majorities in Congress” …

It’s those pesky mid-terms that are spooking them!

Opinion | How Trump’s ‘bribe now, pain later’ budget scheme hit a surprise roadblock
The conservative revolt over Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ threatens a major component of his bid to keep Congress in the GOP’s hands next year.

https://www.msnbc.com/opinion/msnbc-opinion/trump-congress-budget-tax-cuts-chip-roy-rcna207299

Daily Beast: Elon Musk’s SpaceX Hits Jackpot Under New Trump Budget Plan

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President Donald Trump‘s new budget proposal would give SpaceX, Elon Musk‘s rocket company, a huge payday—despite making steep cuts to many areas of government spending.

Trump said in the proposal, sent to Congress Friday, that he wants to make “a down-payment on the development and deployment of a Golden Dome for America, a next-generation missile defense shield” that SpaceX will help build, The New York Times reported.

That project alone could generate billions in federal contracts for the company, the Times observed.

The spending plan also makes Musk’s ambitions to reach Mars a top priority for the government, arguing that “U.S. space dominance” will “strengthen U.S. national security and strategic advantage.”

The corruption continues unabated.

Elon Musk’s SpaceX Hits Jackpot Under New Trump Budget Plan
President Donald Trump‘s new budget proposal would give SpaceX, Elon Musk‘s rocket company, a huge payday—despite making steep cuts to many areas of government spending. Trump said in the proposal, sent to Congress Friday, that he wants to make “a down-payment on the development and deployment of a Golden Dome for America, a next-generation missile defense shield” that SpaceX will help build, The New York Times reported. That project alone could…

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/elon-musk-s-spacex-hits-jackpot-under-new-trump-budget-plan/ar-AA1E4jKP

Washington Post: Trump defends national security adviser Waltz in Signal group chat blunder

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Later, during a White House meeting with U.S. ambassadors, Trump said Waltz had been unfairly attacked and suggested that the problem was an issue with technology, not a lapse in judgment from a key deputy. “I don’t think he should apologize. I think he’s doing his best,” Trump said. “It’s equipment and technology that’s not perfect. And, probably he won’t be using it again. At least not in the very near future.”

Nonsense!

Our government — especially our military — has secure communications facilities and procedures. Trump’s wannabes are just too stupid / too ignorant / to lazy to use them.

Trump defends national security adviser Waltz in Signal group chat blunder