Tax Cuts! DOGE Checks! No! Don’t Look At Medicaid!
*snaps fingers* Look at me. You aren’t supposed to notice those. Stop it.
Or the $4.5 trillion tax cut for the rich.
Or the fact that Republicans, who are oh-so-concerned with the deficit, also propose allowing up to a $4.5 TRILLION deficit under the Trump admin.
Before we go on, watch this short video, originally from TikTok user RealEstateBullDog.
Yeah, I hear it, too, but it’s a fantastic visualization of what these numbers mean as perceived through the idea of the “median” American.
It’s 2 minutes 47 seconds and if you can’t wrap your head around numbers like “trillion” and “400 billion” or you think you have it, but also don’t get what the big deal is: This is for you.
NOTE: The applicable video is at 0:47 through 3:34. The commentary isn’t part of this; this is just the only video source I could find that would embed properly.
Mind blown? And don’t forget: that single grain of rice represents the median — half of Americans are subsisting on half a grain of rice or significantly less.
The reminder of mortality at the end is something everyone should remember as well: we are all human, despite wealth or circumstance.
Anyway, now that’s out of the way…
House Budget Passes Procedural Vote
Last night the House passed a budget proposal that will put the Republican budget up for a vote soon.
Before I get into it, there are two HUGE issues here (I’ll quote Samantha Jacoby here):
- The House Republicans’ budget resolution calls for committees to enact $2 trillion in deeply harmful cuts through 2034 in programs and services for families and communities, including cuts to Medicaid, SNAP, and student loans.
- [The] budget resolution paves the way for the Ways and Means Committee to continue all the expiring tax cuts through 2034 and then add $900 billion in skewed tax cuts on top [of the deficit].
What does that mean?
Republicans are officially cutting Medicaid, Snap, and Student Loans along with a host of other steep cuts to programs like our National Parks Service and more.
Why? To get rid of the taxes that were applied to billionaires and large corporations under the Biden Tax Plan.
So yeah. Republicans, despite years of telling you “we’re not coming for Medicaid or Social Security” are DIRECTLY coming for Medicaid (budget) and Social Security (DOGE).
All Republicans except Thomas Massie voted for this thing.
All Democrats voted against.
What Did Democrats Do?
Dems proposed these amendments:
- Not provide tax breaks on those making $1,000,000,000 (billion)/year or over.
- A statement that DOGE should not have unfettered access to government systems without oversight.
- An amendment protecting IVF and requiring insurance carriers to cover the process.
To quote Senator Chris Murphy:
“Every single amendment Democrats proposed was shot down. On almost every single amendment, Republicans universally opposed it. Every Republican voted against our proposal to prevent more tax cuts for billionaires.”
Now, that reads like some political speak, but here is a good breakdown from the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. This paragraph really drives home the straight up gaslighting, lying, and morally bankrupt repetition by Republicans that they are “trying to balance the budget.”
The House Republicans’ budget resolution paves the way for the Ways and Means Committee to continue all the expiring tax cuts through 2034 and then add $900 billion in skewed tax cuts on top. Extending the 2017 law’s expiring individual income and estate tax provisions would cost the nation $3.6 trillion in revenue through 2034, while delivering large benefits to the nation’s wealthiest business owners and households. The instruction to increase the deficit by up to $4.5 trillion is $900 billion more than is needed to extend those expiring provisions over that same period, signaling that even more expensive and skewed tax cuts will be added on top of the already expensive and skewed 2017 tax cuts.
Source: House Republican Budget Takes Away Health Care, Food Aid to Pay for Expanded Tax Cuts for Wealthy by Samantha Jacoby, Deputy Director of Federal Tax Policy
And just for fun, let me quote Heather Cox Richardson, specifically this Facebook post (which mirrors her Letters from an American newsletter):
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump’s top priority is extending his 2017 tax cuts for the next ten years, which the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) estimates would add $4.6 trillion to the deficit. If he actually enacted the other tax cuts he promised on the campaign trail — including on tips, overtime, and Social Security payments — that deficit jumps closer to $11 trillion. During the campaign, he insisted that the tariffs he promised to levy would make foreign countries make up the money lost by the tax cuts. In addition to being wildly wishful thinking, Trump’s claim ignores the fact that tariffs are actually paid by U.S. consumers.
NOTE: You should read that post (and sign up for her newsletter). It’s filled with actual, researched, and fact-checked data. Heather is a historian and she takes the job seriously.
So if Republicans pass their current budget resolution into law, that adds $4.5 trillion to the deficit.
And if they also add in every tax cut for the rich that Trump wants… that’s $11 trillion added to the deficit — NOT total, mind you. ADDED.
That’s a fuck-ton of rice compared to my piddly little half-piece. And it’s going to the rich and not the poorest among us?
Come on.
What Can We Do?
Call your Representatives folks, especially if they’re Republican.
I cannot stress that enough. If you have a Republican Representative, we need a couple of them to stand up for their constituents over the MAGA/Christian Nationalist drive to dismantle the Federal government.
They need to hear from us and know we are not fine with them cutting public services simply to cover tax cuts for the rich.
I’d say you can look at the bill itself and check for yourself, but it is mostly a repeal of specific items of the tax plan Biden signed (which added mandatory tax payments to businesses and the rich).
As such, it’s a flurry of “copy/paste” content meant to be injected into other laws to replace current text; i.e. if a section is Repealed, the former law stands, but that section is cut out of the text.
That means it’s not easily readable and there isn’t even a Marginal Tax Rate Bracket listed anywhere to review. I’m trying to source something, but coming up empty.
If I find it, I’ll let you know.
In the meantime, here’s the direct link to the budget proposal:
H.R.25 — FairTax Act of 2025
And here is a link to the US Public Law Code (I believe Title 26 is the applicable section):
Public Law 118–274 (01/06/2025) , except 118–159
For now:
Call your Representative. Tell them you do NOT want this bill passed.
Be loud.
Be present.
And keep the pressure up; this is our democracy, a government FOR the people, BY the people.
If they need to be reminded of that, then let’s fucking go.
Resources:
NOTE: Put their numbers in your phone. Try putting them under P for Politician, like:
Politician Senator Schumer
Washington Phone: (202) 224–6542
Albany Phone: (518) 431–4070
Call the Washington offices as well as the home offices of these reps.
US Senate Switchboard Number to Find Your Senator:
(202) 224–3121
US Representative Lookup:
https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative
#thisfarnofarther
