House GOP Thinks It's 'Beautiful' To Kick Millions Off Of Medicaid To Save Billionaires A Few Bucks
That word — we don't think it means what they think it means.
In the middle of the night last night Republicans in the House narrowly — real narrowly, by just one vote — passed Donald Trump’s very maturely titled “Big, Beautiful Bill.” We’d assume that was because they were too ashamed to pass it in the light of day, but, well, that would require them to have some capacity for shame, which does not appear to be the case.
The bill includes the largest cuts to Medicare and SNAP in the history of those programs — $698 billion from Medicaid and $267 billion from SNAP. If passed by the Senate, millions and millions (the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates 15 million) will lose their access to healthcare, which we can assume is part of the “Make America Healthy Again” agenda, if by “again” they mean “like in 1950” when half of Americans did not have health insurance. Millions will lose the little assistance they get from SNAP, at a time when grocery prices are about to go skyrocketing, thanks to the Trump tariffs.
So beautiful! And healthy!
Incredibly, House Republicans actually managed to make the bill even more draconian than its original version by moving up the start date for the Medicaid work requirements from the beginning of 2029 to the end of 2026. You know, because people work better when they’re sick. It also includes financial penalties for providing Medicaid coverage for undocumented immigrants and ends coverage of gender-affirming care not just for minors, as originally written, but for adults as well.
The CBO “estimates that in general, resources would decrease for households in the lowest decile (tenth) of the income distribution, whereas resources would increase for households in the highest decile.” In other words, they’re playing Opposite Robin Hood and stealing from the poor to give to the rich. Nice!
"So many families in our communities are already struggling to put food on the table and pay for their healthcare. For the over 324,000 children, seniors, and people with disabilities who rely on Medicaid in our district, it is the difference between life and death," Rep. Rashida Tlaib said in a statement, according to Common Dreams. "This budget makes $880 billion in cuts that will decimate Medicaid, nearly $300 billion in cuts to food assistance, but increases the Pentagon war machine by $150 billion."
"It's tax cuts for billionaires, and healthcare cuts for our families," she added. "It will take food out of the mouths of hungry kids. Nearly 14 million Americans will lose their healthcare, and thousands of people will needlessly die. We will not stop fighting to block this budget from being signed into law."
Given that this passed by just one vote — 215 to 214, with all Democrats opposing, Rep. Andy Harris (R-Maryland) voting present and Republicans Thomas Massie of of Kentucky and Warren Davidson of Ohio voting against — it’s unlikely that it will pass in the Senate.
That being said, it’s highly unlikely that we will be getting a tax bill that does not completely fuck over the poor in service of the rich any time in the next four years, so we have that to look forward to.
PREVIOUSLY ON WONKETTE!
Of course the bill is beautiful to a party that represents the psychopathic greed heads who cannot enjoy their wealth unless there are millions who are impoverished and under their thumbs.
This is conservatism - the conservation of power and privilege. It's founded on the myth that the economic stratification of society is explained by some people being better than others and whose superior virtue entitles them to dominate and own everything and every one.
"I am certain that we will not hear about deficits and debt ever again from Republicans who are about to vote for a bill that adds more debt to a country’s balance sheet than any piece of legislation in the history of the human race."
https://bsky.app/profile/ronfilipkowski.bsky.social/post/3lpqwbf4gmc2z