Tag: gop
Elon Musk

Congressional Republicans Veer Between Musk And Trump Over Budget Bill

President Donald Trump and billionaire Elon Musk are locked in an ugly breakup—and Republicans are having a hard time choosing sides.

Since leaving the Trump administration in late May, Musk has gone rogue, openly attacking the House GOP’s "One Big Beautiful Bill Act" for its deficit-busting tax cuts. He called the legislation—which cuts Medicaid and food stamps but still would add trillions to the deficit thanks to its tax cuts, which overwhelmingly benefit the rich—a "disgusting abomination." Ouch.

That has angered Trump, who told reporters on Thursday that his friendship with Musk may be over, and that Musk is against the legislation only because it ends electric vehicle subsidies.

Some Republicans, like House Speaker Mike Johnson, are taking Trump's side, saying that Musk is wrong and that Republicans need to pass the legislation.

“I think he’s flat wrong … and I’ve told him as much,” Johnson told reporters on Wednesday, insisting that he's not worried that the legislation will negatively impact Republicans in the 2026 midterm elections.

Senate Majority Leader John Thune also downplayed Musk's criticism and its potential impact on how Senate Republicans will handle the bill.

“I can’t speak to his reasons other than what he stated, and I think that what he stated was that he thought it was something that would add to the deficit. And we believe the opposite,” Thune said, rejecting the nonpartisan independent analysis that shows the legislation will add $2.4 trillion to the deficit over the next decade.

Other Republicans say Musk's concerns about the fact that the bill lifts the debt ceiling and increases the national deficit are valid.

"He has real-world experience. [JPMorgan Chase CEO] Jamie Dimon has real-world experience. When they throw up red flags about the deficit, we ought to pay attention," Rep. Andy Harris of Maryland told reporters. Harris cowardly voted “present” on the bill to allow it to pass the House despite his reservations with the legislation.

"So @elonmusk is right to call out House Leadership. I wish I had a nickel for every time the @freedomcaucus sounded the alarm and nobody listened, only to find out the hard way we were right all along," Rep. Scott Perry, Republican of Pennsylvania, wrote in a post on X, even though Perry voted for the legislation he now says is bad.

"It’s insincere for @SpeakerJohnson to insinuate @elonmusk is against the Big Beautiful Bill because it doesn’t benefit his companies specifically," Republican Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky, one of two House Republicans who voted against the bill, wrote on X.

"Musk is a true America First entrepreneur who could have had a much more comfortable existence and a higher net worth by sitting on the sidelines of politics. But he cares about this country, so he got involved. He knows if America collapses financially, we aren’t making it to Mars. He’s right,” Massie added.

Other Republicans want nothing to do with the fighting at all, like little kids who stick their fingers in their ears when their parents are arguing.

“I ain't got any thoughts on that. We got a lot of work to do. He doesn’t get to vote," said Sen. Tommy Tuberville, Republican of Alabama.

It's an ugly war that could end badly for the GOP no matter which side they choose.

Republican lawmakers can face Trump’s MAGA mob if they vote against the legislation, or they might go up against a Musk-funded primary opponent if they vote for the bill.

Republicans made a deal with two devils—Trump and Musk—and they’re finding out the hard way that their actions have consequences.

Reprinted with permission from Daily Kos.

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.

Top GOP Pollster: Trump Budget Will Hurt 'A Great Many' Of His Voters

Top GOP Pollster: Trump Budget Will Hurt 'A Great Many' Of His Voters

The impact of President Donald Trump's so-called "Big Beautiful Bill Act" will be felt acutely in areas that voted overwhelmingly for Trump, according to one Republican pollster.

Politico reported on Monday that the administration is now embracing a "stark messaging shift" as it attempts to shepherd the massive legislative package through the U.S. Senate. While the White House has insisted that the hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts to Medicaid (which provides health insurance to low-income and disabled Americans) would only be for "waste, fraud and abuse," administration officials are now notably pivoting to saying that the bill will be focused on "kicking illegal immigrants off of the program and implementing commonsense work requirements."

Even though the Senate has a 53-47 Republican majority, Politico observed that even talk of cutting Medicaid funding is "politically delicate." This has resulted in the administration hoping to re-define "cuts" to voters – rather than outright cutting benefits, the administration aims to impose different forms of austerity like increased eligibility redeterminations and additional work requirements that stipulate Medicaid recipients have to jump through additional hoops to get health insurance.

Some senators like Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AL) have expressed hesitancy about the additional bureaucratic roadblocks that the proposed enhanced work requirements would create, while others like Josh Hawley (R-MO) have spoken out specifically against cutting Medicaid due to the high number of constituents who depend on it.

Aside from the difficulties the administration faces in getting 51 votes out of 53 senators (or 50 votes with Vice President JD Vance as the tie-breaker), Politico reported that there could also be backlash among Republican voters depending on the scope of the cuts in the final bill. Republican pollster Whit Ayres told the outlet that he doubted voters would be able to distinguish "reforms" from "cuts," especially if they're directly affected.

“The fact remains that a great many Trump voters are on Medicaid, particularly in rural areas,” Ayres said. “If no one loses coverage, how are you going to cut $500 billion?”

Even strident conservatives among the Senate Republican Conference have pledged to oppose the bill in its current form. Sens. Ron Johnson (R-WI ) and Rand Paul (R-KY) have been sounding the alarm about the bill's projected cost ballooning the federal deficit by more than $2 trillion over the next 10 years.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

How Six Republicans In Congress Will Profit From Broken Medicaid Promise

How Six Republicans In Congress Will Profit From Broken Medicaid Promise

Just five weeks after pledging that they would not support the Republican Party's budget reconciliation package if it included cuts to Medicaid, six GOP lawmakers ultimately did just that on Thursday morning—and an analysis by government watchdog Accountable. US suggested they voted for the legislation to benefit themselves, despite the suffering it would cause for their constituents.

Along with cutting Medicaid for close to 14 million Americans and slashing nearly $300 billion in food assistance, the bill Republicans voted on in the early morning hours after weeks of deliberation included a tax policy proposal to expand a provision called Section 199A, which was previously introduced during the first Trump administration as part of the GOP's original law providing tax breaks for corporations and the wealthy.

The bill that passed in the House Thursday would raise the percentage of qualifying business income—such as rental income—people can deduct from their taxes from 20% to 23%. The provision is now set to expire at the end of the year.

If it's extended as written in the reconciliation bill, Accountable.US identified six Republican House members who could directly benefit from the expansion of the "pass-through deduction": Reps. Rob Bresnahan of Pennsylvania, Rob Wittman of Virginia, Jen Kiggans of Virginia, Young Kim of California, Juan Ciscomani of Arizona, and Jeff Van Drew of New Jersey.

Those six lawmakers were among the 12 who last month wrote to GOP leaders to say they represent "districts with high rates of constituents who depend on Medicaid" and to "reiterate our strong support for this program that ensures our constituents have reliable healthcare."

"We cannot and will not support a final reconciliation bill that includes any reduction in Medicaid coverage for vulnerable populations," wrote the lawmakers last month. "Cuts to Medicaid also threaten the viability of hospitals, nursing homes, and safety-net providers, nationwide. Many hospitals—particularly in rural and underserved areas—rely heavily on Medicaid funding, with some receiving over half their revenue from the program alone."

"It is the peak of hypocrisy that the loudest and most vocal opponents of Medicaid cuts cowered in a matter of days in favor of a bill that will make the largest cuts to Medicaid in modern history—all to pay for lower taxes for the richest."

With the six Republican members poised to earn thousands more each year from the pass-through income deduction, those concerns appeared to have evaporated on Thursday.

"It is the peak of hypocrisy that the loudest and most vocal opponents of Medicaid cuts cowered in a matter of days in favor of a bill that will make the largest cuts to Medicaid in modern history—all to pay for lower taxes for the richest," said Tony Carrk, executive director of Accountable.US. "Even worse, those very members stand to financially gain from those tax cuts, while their own constituents lose their healthcare. Their votes aren't just a flip-flop; they are a betrayal to hardworking Americans everywhere who will be worse off because of this bill."

Accountable's Cash in Congress project found that for the 2023 tax filing year, the six members of Congress earned a combined $327,000 in pass-through income, according to financial disclosures.

Bresnahan stands to benefit the most from the extension of Section 199A, The American Prospectreported, as he earned at least $137,000 from rental properties. Out of the six lawmakers, he also represents the most Medicaid beneficiaries: 230,000.

Wittman reported $105,000 or more in pass-through rental income, and represents 125,000 people who receive Medicaid. Kiggans reported $50,000 and represents 130,000 people who use the healthcare program for low-income Americans.

All together, reported The American Prospect, the lawmakers represent 971,000 Medicaid beneficiaries who could be affected by a work requirement amendment that would go into effect at the end of 2026 and other provisions.

"Millions of Americans will see their healthcare, food, and education costs skyrocket, all so House Republicans can hand themselves and their wealthiest donors a huge tax break," said Accountable. "The only 'winners' in this bill are the billionaires that paid for it."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

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