One of the biggest reasons I’ve heard people support the Republican party is they are fiscally conservative and are concerned about the budget deficit. Although I don’t consider it my top priority today, I agree with being fiscally conservative and working to reduce the national debt, or at least reducing the deficit, especially in times of prosperity.
I welcome civil, bipartisan discussion on this post.
Yesterday, details of the Republican Budget Plan, ridiculously called the Big Beautiful Bill, (BBB), were released. Despite weeks of claiming they had no intention of cutting Medicaid, the plan ultimately cuts $880 billion in spending, mostly to Medicaid.
While many Republicans are claiming that these cuts will only target “waste, fraud and abuse”, a line that is overused more by the day, the Congressional Budget Office estimates this will result in 8.6 million people losing health care coverage over the next ten years.
Some Republicans are publicly stating their opposition to such extreme cuts, including Josh Hawley who considers this move to be political suicide, Don Bacon has put a “red line” at $500 billion in cuts, and David Valadao is vowing to protect Medicaid.
My U.S. Representative, Zach Nunn, has been saying over and over again that he introduced a bill that would not allow Congress to reduce Medicaid (or SNAP benefits) through the process of Budget Reconciliation, but he seems to keep insinuating there is significant waste, fraud and abuse within the program.
I think there probably is some waste, fraud and abuse in just about every major program in Federal government, and I think we should work to remove it. However, there were already Inspectors General who looked for this kind of activity prior to being fired by Donald Trump and I believe the fraud we see is generally overstated.
I completely agreed with the idea from President Trump that we should raise taxes on people making over $2.5 million, but passing this bill would be a travesty. This bill would increase the debt limit significantly by providing large tax cuts to top earners in the United States and does not even come close to covering the cost of those tax cuts in spending decreases.
This bill is the exact opposite of fiscally responsible.
Sources:
House Republicans unveil details of Trump tax plans | CNN Politics
Don Bacon sets $500B red line on Medicaid – POLITICO
Rep. David Valadao vows to protect Medicaid amid protests and political pressure
D.C. Dispatch: Iowa delegation discuss measures on maternal health, Medicaid • Iowa Capital Dispatch
Trump fires more than a dozen independent inspectors general | AP News
Trump and Taxes – Politically Rational
Trump revives millionaire tax talks as Democrats blast GOP on Medicaid
https://thehill.com/homenews/house/5296015-gop-tax-bill-salt-trump-priorities/
Leave a Reply