Tag: congress
Medicaid Cuts Have Already Shuttered A Hospital In Rural Nebraska

Medicaid Cuts Have Already Shuttered A Hospital In Rural Nebraska

President Donald Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill" isn't even signed yet, but is already having negative consequences for Americans.

A hospital in rural Nebraska announced on Wednesday that it will shut its doors after more than 30 years, explicitly citing the expected cuts to Medicaid that Congress is set to pass in Trump’s bill.

“Unfortunately, the current financial environment, driven by anticipated federal budget cuts to Medicaid, has made it impossible for us to continue operating all of our services, many of which have faced significant financial challenges for years,” Troy Bruntz, the CEO of Community Hospital in McCook, Nebraska, said in a statement to a local news outlet.

Indeed, hospital associations have been warning that the massive cuts to Medicaid in the GOP's bill will decimate rural hospitals, whose patients are often Medicaid recipients. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates that about 17 million people will go uninsured in the next decade because of the bill’s cuts to health care spending. The majority of those losing health care currently have Medicaid, which covers over 71 million Americans and more than 41 percent of births in the United States.

For example, the American Hospital Association, a major industry group, said in a statement after the Senate passed the bill, "This legislation will cause 11.8 million Americans to be displaced from their health care coverage as they move from insured to uninsured status. It also will drive up uncompensated care for hospitals and health systems, which will affect their ability to serve all patients. It will force hospitals to make service line reductions and staff reductions, resulting in longer waiting times in emergency departments and for other essential services, and could ultimately lead to facility closures, especially in rural and underserved areas.”

A group of hospitals and health care systems in Louisiana also warned House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA), whose district is in the state, that the bill he shepherded through his chamber will devastate hospitals that serve his constituents.

"The impact of provisions in the United States Senate’s version of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act reflects an estimated annual loss of more than $4 billion in total Medicaid funding for Louisiana healthcare providers. This will negatively impact our ability to deliver care and have devastating consequences for our state budget," they said in a letter to Johnson. "These economic consequences pale in comparison to the harm that will be caused to residents across the state, regardless of insurance status, who will no longer be able to get the care that they need."

However, rather than try to fix the bill to stave off the awful consequences, Republicans are instead lying about what it does.

Multiple GOP members have falsely claimed that the Medicaid cuts impact only people who refuse to work.

"Look, if you're able-bodied without dependents and you choose not to work, well, you shouldn't be on a public welfare program. That's the bottom line,” Republican Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland said in an interview with the right-wing propaganda outlet Newsmax, adding, “You should be off the public dole. Yes, you will lose your Medicaid coverage. Get a job and get coverage through a job if necessary.”

But able-bodied people who choose not to work are a minuscule portion of Medicaid recipients. In fact, according to health policy outlet KFF:

Among adults under age 65 with Medicaid who do not receive benefits from the Social Security disability programs, Supplemental Security Income (SSI) and Social Security Disability Insurance (SSDI), and who are not also covered by Medicare (referred to hereafter as “Medicaid adults”), 92% were working full or part-time (64%), or not working due to caregiving responsibilities, illness or disability, or school attendance. The remaining 8% of Medicaid adults reported that they are retired, unable to find work, or were not working for another reason.

Republicans passed Trump’s bill after House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries ended a blockbuster speech in which he torched Republicans for hurting the poor to pay for tax cuts that benefit the rich.

“Leadership requires courage, conviction, compassion—and yet what we have seen from this administration and co-conspirators on the Republican side of the aisle is cruelty, chaos and corruption,” Jeffries said in the speech, according to The New York Times.

Jeffries added that the GOP bill is “an extraordinary assault on the health care of the American people.”

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

Raging Musk Now Threatens Members Of Congress Who Support Trump Budget

Raging Musk Now Threatens Members Of Congress Who Support Trump Budget

Billionaire Elon Musk is threatening to target members of Congress for defeat if they support President Donald Trump’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill” after campaigning on promises to cut government spending. Although Musk did not specifically name a party, no Democrat is expected to back the budget measure.

“Every member of Congress who campaigned on reducing government spending and then immediately voted for the biggest debt increase in history should hang their head in shame!” Musk wrote late Monday afternoon, as the Senate began voting on the legislation. “And they will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth.”

Musk’s threat comes after his numerous attacks on the bill—which is critical to Trump’s agenda—based largely on its massive increases to the federal debt.

“It is obvious with the insane spending of this bill, which increases the debt ceiling by a record FIVE TRILLION DOLLARS that we live in a one-party country – the PORKY PIG PARTY!!” Musk declared one hour earlier. “Time for a new political party that actually cares about the people.”

New York magazine’s Intelligencer reported on Monday that Musk is “not done” fighting Trump.

“How can you call yourself the Freedom Caucus if you vote for a DEBT SLAVERY bill with the biggest debt ceiling increase in history?” Musk also wrote, lashing out at the far-right caucus, and mentioning two Members by name: Reps. Andy Harris of Maryland, the group’s chairman, and Chip Roy of Texas.

On Saturday, Musk had warned, “The latest Senate draft bill will destroy millions of jobs in America and cause immense strategic harm to our country! Utterly insane and destructive. It gives handouts to industries of the past while severely damaging industries of the future.”

“Polls show that this bill is political suicide for the Republican Party,” he also warned.

New York noted that “Trump, presumably, isn’t thrilled about Musk’s last-minute attempt to sink his signature legislative package. But so far he’s refrained from hitting back.”

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Marjorie Taylor Greene

'We've Been Lied To': Margie Says Iran Strike Exposed Ruinous Rift In GOP

One of President Donald Trump's loudest supporters in Congress has become increasingly vocal in her opposition to his latest decision to conduct strikes on Iran.

CNN reported Monday that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) is now directly warning her party that the "very big divide" could end up costing Republicans their majorities in Congress next year if the GOP becomes bogged down in another foreign war while Americans' material needs go unmet. The Georgia Republican sought to stake out common ground between herself and the president, telling CNN that both she and Trump were elected on a promise of "no more foreign wars, no more regime change."

"We’ve been lied to too many times, and I think it’s right to be skeptical," Greene said in response to a question about whether Trump's policies risked losing the support of the MAGA faithful.

"If this war were to continue, and we were to see, sadly, see American troops coming home with on flag-draped coffins, I think you would see Americans totally saying the same thing I’m saying, I hope that never happens again," Greene said, emphasizing that she still believes "President Trump has us on a path to peace."

According to Greene — who has consistently opposed sending resources to Ukraine in its war with Russia — American voters are expecting their leaders to put their concerns front and center, arguing that voters are "very much focused on their American life and their American problems." And she said that new escalations in the Middle East could prove to be a tipping point for many voters next fall.

"Republicans need to earn Americans’ votes," she said. "I don’t think we’re earning our votes in the midterm, and that’s on Congress."

Greene unleashed on the Trump administration on social media earlier on Monday, saying that as a 51 year-old American, she had "watched our country go to war in foreign lands for foreign causes on behalf of foreign interests for as long as I can remember." And she added that while she supports Israel's right to defend itself, she opposed U.S. military involvement in Israeli matters.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Even 'Fox & Friends' Can No Longer Deny Tax Bill Will Explode Deficit

Even 'Fox & Friends' Can No Longer Deny Tax Bill Will Explode Deficit

Reality crept into Fox News’ coverage of the Republican tax bill on Monday when a Fox & Friends co-host acknowledged that the legislation will increase the budget deficit because the GOP Congress is prioritizing President Donald Trump’s tax cut agenda.

The White House and House Republican leaders seem to have adopted a strategy of flatly lying about the deficit implications of their “Big, Beautiful Bill.” Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought falsely claimed that the bill “doesn’t increase the deficit or hurt the debt” while House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) falsely claimed it is “not going to add to the debt” in June 1 appearances on Sunday morning political talk shows.

But Fox & Friends' Ainsley Earhardt acknowledged the following morning that the bill will cause the deficit to increase due to its tax cuts — though she minimized by how much.

“I don't think anyone wants the deficit to go up,” Earhardt said. “But more importantly, it was the permanent tax cuts, it was no tax on tips, no tax on overtime, no tax on Social Security, that’s more important to the American people than seeing the deficit go up a little bit.”

“No one wants that, but they prefer to have these other things,” she added.

While Earhardt claimed that the bill would cause the deficit to rise only “a little bit,” nonpartisan budget analysts say it would “balloon federal deficits by well over $1 trillion.” The Congressional Budget Office, for example, found that the legislation’s “tax provisions would increase the federal deficit by $3.8 trillion over the decade, while the changes to Medicaid, food stamps and other services would tally $1 trillion in reduced spending,” for an overall increase in the debt of over $3 trillion over 10 years.

The legislation’s proposed spending cuts — while much too small to make the bill deficit-neutral given the mammoth size of the tax cuts — would nonetheless be devastating to millions of Americans. The bill would “reduce federal spending on Medicaid by at least $600 billion over a decade and reduce enrollment by about 10.3 million people,” according to the CBO, and “take food assistance away from millions of low-income families” through the “deepest cut” to food stamps “in history,” the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities found.

And while Earhardt directed attention to Trump’s campaign promises about cutting taxes on tipped income, overtime income, and Social Security, those account for a tiny fraction of the bill’s tax cuts. The bulk of the deficit increase is caused by the bill’s extension of Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, which disproportionately benefit the wealthiest Americans.

The CBO combined the impact of the tax and spending portions of the bill and found that it would reduce resources for the poorest households while increasing them for the richest.

At the same time, the bill is projected to fuel little economic growth and could trigger a bond market meltdown that could raise interest rates for consumers, increase borrowing costs, and threaten the broader economy.

As Earhardt might say, “no one wants that, but they prefer to have” tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans.

Reprinted with permission from Media Matters.

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