US Representative Magaziner blasts ‘absolute cruelty' of Trump budget

Boston Globe

08-05-2025

'The good news is that historically — under both Democratic and Republican presidents, including the first Trump administration — the president's budget is ignored by Congress,' Magaziner said.
The more immediate threat, he said, is
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Magaziner said nearly one-third of Rhode Islanders get their health insurance from Medicaid.
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'This would be devastating,' he said. 'If these cuts go through, not only will it hurt the thousands of Rhode Islanders who get Medicaid insurance, but it also would hurt health care providers. So nursing homes would be losing revenue and might have to shut down.'
Some Republicans see the political peril of such proposals, Magaziner said. 'I think it's starting to dawn on some of these Republican members that if they kick thousands of their own constituents off of health care or cut food benefits or cut education in order to pay for tax cuts for the rich, they're gonna pay for it in the midterms,' he said.
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He said he is urging GOP colleagues to instead only extend tax cuts that help the middle class, while ending tax cuts for the wealthy, thereby avoiding deeper spending cuts.
But, Magaziner said, 'The bulk of the Republican conference in the House is sort of still stuck in the old mode of thinking every tax cut is a good tax cut, no matter how rich the recipient is. And we've got to get them off of that and make them feel some pain if they go forward with it.'
Meanwhile, Magaziner said he plans to speak on the House floor every day the chamber is in session until federal funding is restored for the peanut paste that Rhode Island's
Based in North Kingstown, Edesia is one of two plants in the United States that manufactures the Ready-to-Use Therapeutic Food, along with MANA Nutrition in Fitzgerald, Ga.
Edesia CEO Navyn Salem sent out an email Sunday, saying, 'I am waiting for a piece of paper' and 'if I do not receive it, it could mean a death sentence for 123,188 children in Sudan.'
She said more than 120,000 boxes of the peanut paste have been sitting in Edesia's Rhode Island warehouse since February, but she can't ship it to Sudan until a transportation contract is signed by a 28-year-old acting director of the State Department's Office of Foreign Assistance, who won't meet with her.
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'It is just so incredibly frustrating,' Magaziner said. 'Over the last decade-plus, 25 million kids around the world have had their lives saved by this product made right here in Rhode Island. Under the Trump administration, the shipments have been stopped.'
The Trump administration has said it plans to continue this program, he said, but the delays continue. And, he said, 'Every day that this stuff is sitting in a warehouse in Rhode Island is a day when thousands of kids are unnecessarily wasting away.'
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On the podcast, Magaziner also spoke about why he
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Edward Fitzpatrick can be reached at