Tag Archives: One Big Beautiful Bill Act

Raleigh News & Observer: Trump’s Approval Rating Plummets in New Poll

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President Donald Trump’s approval rating has dropped to 38%, according to Quinnipiac, amid a public clash with Elon Musk over the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act.” A CBS/YouGov poll earlier this month showed 45% approval and 55% disapproval, underscoring the growing public scrutiny he faces.

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Republican lawmakers … are viewed unfavorably by 61% of the general public. This disparity comes amid ongoing challenges Republicans have faced in appealing to a wider audience beyond their base.

Trump’s Approval Rating Plummets in New Poll
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https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-s-approval-rating-plummets-in-new-poll/ss-AA1GVnKX

CNBC: Elon Musk says he regrets some social media posts he made about Trump

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  • Elon Musk on Wednesday said he regretted some of the social media posts he made about U.S. President Donald Trump last week.
  • Musk and Trump had engaged in an explosive public feud over social media.
  • It was largely triggered by Musk’s opposition to the Trump-backed “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” tax and spending bill.

Tech billionaire Elon Musk on Wednesday said he regretted some of the social media posts he made about U.S. President Donald Trump last week during an explosive public dispute with his former close ally.

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A post in which Musk replied “yes” to a social media user calling for Trump to be impeached and replaced with Vice President JD Vance also appeared to have been deleted.

In turn, Trump on Monday said he was planning to retain the Starlink technology, a satellite internet service that is part of Musk’s SpaceX, at the White House.

Are the cry babies getting along again?

CNBC: Elon Musk says he regrets some social media posts he made about Trump

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/06/11/elon-musk-says-he-regrets-some-social-media-posts-during-trump-showdown.html

Explicame: ‘Revenge tax’ set to hit passive income at 50%, analysts warn

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The ‘Revenge Tax,’ officially known as Section 899, emerges as a controversial component of President Donald Trump’s ambitious legislative proposal, the ‘One Big Beautiful Bill Act.’ This measure, driven by House Republicans and endorsed by Trump, targets foreign investors from nations deemed to impose ‘unfair’ or ‘discriminatory’ taxes on U.S. businesses. The tax aims to deter these countries from maintaining such fiscal policies, urging them to engage in negotiations.

Section 899’s primary objective is to penalize foreign investors by expanding the Base Erosion and Anti-Abuse Tax (BEAT), which prevents corporations from shifting profits abroad to evade taxes. The provision allows the U.S. to incrementally increase existing taxes on countries with ‘unfair foreign taxes’ by 5 percentage points annually, capping at 20 points above the legal rate. This could lead to passive investment income facing a U.S. withholding tax as high as 50% in certain scenarios.

The tax would apply to dividends, interest, and royalties earned by foreign investors from countries labeled as ‘discriminatory.’ However, exceptions exist for foreign pension funds and charitable organizations. Notably, U.S. Treasury bonds and portfolio interest remain unaffected. This measure could raise interest costs for some U.S. borrowers, as many loan agreements include ‘gross-up’ clauses, requiring borrowers to cover tax increases enacted post-agreement.

Yet another bad idea in the One Big Hideously Ugly Bill Act!

‘Revenge tax’ set to hit passive income at 50%, analysts warn
Trump’s bill proposes a ‘Revenge Tax’ of up to 50% on passive income from countries taxing U.S. firms, raising concerns over foreign investment and the U.S. economy.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/revenge-tax-set-to-hit-passive-income-at-50-analysts-warn/ar-AA1GjMyP

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

CNBC: House Republican tax bill skipped ACA credits — marketplace health insurance will get pricier without them

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  • Premium tax credits under the enhanced Affordable Care Act were not included in the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” that House Republicans passed on Thursday.
  • Without action from Congress, the subsidies are on track to expire by the end of 2025.
  • “Pretty much everyone, almost everybody who’s buying their own health insurance, now would see their costs go up,” said Cynthia Cox, vice president and director of the program on the ACA at KFF.

But the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” is missing something health care advocates hoped to see: an extension of the insurance premium tax credits under the enhanced Affordable Care Act that are set to expire at the end of the year. The credits’ absence is notable as the bill includes other proposed changes to the ACA marketplace, experts say.

The ACA’s enhanced premium credits help make health insurance policies through the marketplace more affordable. Eligible applicants can use the credit to lower insurance premium costs upfront or claim the tax break when filing their return. 

Instead of a lower-income person paying 2% of their income on their premium, they pay nothing, according to KFF, a health policy research nonprofit. 

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Without the extension, nearly all subsidized ACA enrollees can expect their monthly premiums to rise, said Cynthia Cox, vice president and director of the program on the ACA at KFF.

Yet another way to hurt the poor!

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/05/23/big-beautiful-tax-bill-skipped-aca-credits.html

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.”

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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

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