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Yahoo
09-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Dems say their increasingly 'frustrated' base is mobilized in the fight against Trump's 'big, beautiful bill'
MANCHESTER, N.H. – The all-Democrat congressional delegation in swing state New Hampshire is teaming up to target President Donald Trump's "big, beautiful bill" that he signed into law. "The big beautiful betrayal of the American people" is how longtime Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, the dean of the delegation, described the sweeping Republican-crafted domestic policy package. Sen. Maggie Hassan, D-N.H., charged that the tax cuts and spending measure, which passed the House and Senate last week by razor-thin margins along nearly party-line votes in the GOP-controlled chambers, was "immoral, irrational, and impractical." Rep. Chris Pappas, who's running in next year's midterm elections in the race to succeed the retiring Shaheen, argued that the bill is "a disaster for the American people." Political Fight Over 'Big Beautiful Bill' Shifts To Campaign Trail First-term Rep. Maggie Goodlander claimed that "this bill is going to jack up the cost of living for tens of thousands of people across this state." Read On The Fox News App The new law is stuffed full of Trump's 2024 campaign trail promises and second-term priorities on tax cuts, immigration, defense, energy and the debt limit. It includes extending his signature 2017 tax cuts and eliminating taxes on tips and overtime pay. The measure also provides billions for border security and codifies the president's controversial immigration crackdown. What's Actually In Trump's 'Big Beautiful Bill' However, the $3.4 trillion legislative package is also projected to surge the national debt by $4 trillion over the next decade. Additionally, the legislation also restructures Medicaid – the nearly 60-year-old federal program that provides health coverage to roughly 71 million low-income Americans. The changes to Medicaid, as well as cuts to food stamps, another one of the nation's major safety net programs, were drafted in part as an offset to pay for extending Trump's tax cuts. The measure includes a slew of new rules and regulations, including work requirements for many of those seeking Medicaid coverage. For weeks, Democrats have been blasting Republicans over the Medicaid and social safety net cuts. "This is a big bill, and it's got a lot of really big provisions that are going to cause even more pain to people in our state who are already struggling with the high cost of living," Goodlander said in a Fox News Digital interview. She charged that "it includes the biggest cuts to health care in American history" in order "to pay for another big tax cut for people who don't need it." The delegation teamed up on Tuesday in New Hampshire's largest city at Waypoint, which notes that it's the state's longest-running home and community-based care charitable organization. Waypoint officials noted that roughly three-quarters of the people they service are on Medicaid. Head Here For The Latest Fox News Polling Hassan said voters in New Hampshire are "mobilized" against the measure. "The calls are coming in overwhelmingly against this bill to our offices," the senator said. "The outreach to our office has come from people from all political perspectives, people who self-identify as a Republican or a Trump voter or an independent or a Democrat." However, with Republicans in control of the White House, the House and the Senate, congressional Democrats have little power or leverage to fight Trump's second-term agenda. That is increasingly frustrating the Democrats' base. "I don't know if fighting dirty is the term, but certainly people are getting frustrated," a New Hampshire-based progressive activist told Fox News Digital. The activist, who asked to remain anonymous to speak more freely, urged the state's all Democrat congressional delegation to "introduce a thousand floor amendments, throw sand in the gears, do something, be more outspoken." Another Granite State-based activist, who also asked for anonymity, said that many progressives feel they "are not being serviced by the current Democratic Party." "There is no hope for these people unless we see candidates emerge in primaries that represent universal free healthcare and the other slate of issues that people associate with Sen. Bernie Sanders' presidential campaigns," the activist said. How Much The 'Big Beautiful Bill' Will Cut Your Taxes Republicans have blasted Democrats for voting against the measure, as they spotlight the tax cuts in the package. The New Hampshire Republican Party has targeted the delegation, and Pappas in particular, for their votes. "New Hampshire liberal Chris Pappas just voted for the largest tax hike in American history," the state party charged in a social media post. However, Pappas told Fox News last week that "I support targeted tax cuts for working people, for our small businesses and to make sure we are targeting that relief to the people that need it, not to billionaires, to the biggest corporations." A memo from the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC), released minutes after the final House passage of the bill last Thursday, argued that "every Democrat voted to hurt working families and to protect the status quo." The NRCC, which is the campaign arm of the House GOP, emphasized that "House Republicans will be relentless in making this vote the defining issue of 2026." That is fine with congressional Democrats, who aim to win back the House majority next year. Goodlander, who is up for a second two-year congressional term in next year's midterms, told Fox News "the bottom line is this bill is definitely going to be on the ballot in 2026, and it's going to be a central focus of the work I'm doing, because the crisis that we're up against is a cost crisis, and this bill is going to jack up costs across the board."Original article source: Dems say their increasingly 'frustrated' base is mobilized in the fight against Trump's 'big, beautiful bill'
New York Times
30-06-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Weighing the Costs of Tax Cuts, Medicaid and ‘Debt Slavery'
Andrew here. We're getting down to the wire for President Trump's big beautiful bill. Elon Musk called the bill 'insane' over the weekend — yet big business seems to be behind it after a number of last-minute changes were made. Meanwhile, some trade deals may be getting closer to done. And we're focused on comments that Zohran Mamdani, the presumptive front-runner for New York City mayor, made over the weekend about billionaires (and his refusal to condemn the phrase 'globalize the intifada'). A crucial vote nears Republicans are slogging toward a vote later on Monday on the Senate's version of a major domestic policy bill that's the linchpin of President Trump's agenda. But the proposal's ultimate fate appears cloudier than ever. Among the obstacles: the Senate's rule keeper has struck several provisions, which could torpedo crucial support by wavering lawmakers; a potential price tag that far exceeds the fiscal impact of the House's bill; and the latest fulminations online by Elon Musk, Trump's erstwhile ally. The latest: Senate leadership delayed a marathon series of votes on amendments to the legislation until Monday. Republicans are forging ahead with an accounting gimmick that's meant to get around the chamber's longstanding rules and unilaterally declare that extending the 2017 tax cuts — estimated to cost about $3.8 trillion over a decade — would add nothing to the federal deficit. But warning signs keep cropping up: Even as pressure from Trump on Senator Thom Tillis over his misgivings about potential cuts to Medicaid prompted the lawmaker's retirement, the North Carolina Republican warned his colleagues that they were about to 'make a mistake on health care and betray a promise.' Tillis's comment underscores some lawmakers' fears that the potential Medicaid cuts could cost Republicans at the polls. One of the latest rulings by the Senate parliamentarian struck a provision meant to benefit Alaska, to help win support from Senator Lisa Murkowski. While she voted to advance the bill out of committee, some Republicans worry that the loss of that sweetener could cost her support. The parliamentarian also rejected an effort to expand a Medicare drug price negotiation exemption for 'orphan' drugs. The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office calculated that the Senate bill would add $3.3 trillion to the federal deficit, compared with a $2.4 trillion hit from the House's version. That could erode support in the lower chamber — especially from the House Freedom Caucus — which must approve the Senate's changes. And Musk has weighed in again. Over the weekend, the billionaire — whose public denunciations of the legislation opened a rift between him and Trump — called the Senate proposal 'political suicide' for Republicans and said it would 'destroy millions of jobs in America.' He added that it would put the country 'in the fast lane to debt slavery.' Want all of The Times? Subscribe.
New York Times
13-05-2025
- Business
- New York Times
Debate Turns Raucous as House Panel Weighs Medicaid Cuts
As he called to order a marathon committee session to consider Medicaid cuts and other critical pieces of Republicans' sweeping domestic policy bill, Representative Brett Guthrie of Kentucky surveyed a packed hearing room on Tuesday afternoon and asked for a respectful debate. 'I know we have deep feelings on these issues, and we may not all agree on everything,' said Mr. Guthrie, a Republican who is in his first term as chairman of the House Energy and Commerce Committee. It was not to be. Minutes later, a group of protesters in the back of the Capitol Hill hearing room began shouting at lawmakers to 'keep your greedy hands off our Medicaid.' They drowned out the chairman's calls for order, and Capitol Police officers ultimately removed five people — three in wheelchairs — as the dozens of lawmakers on the panel looked on. (The Capitol Police later said that officers had arrested 26 people for illegally protesting inside a congressional building.) The disruptions were a raucous kickoff to a meeting that was expected to go all night and well into Wednesday — one committee member estimated it could take as long as 28 hours — as Republicans and Democrats sparred over the plan, a key part of major legislation to enact President Trump's domestic agenda. It unfolded as the tax-writing House Ways and Means Committee met to consider a $2.5 trillion tax proposal that would extend Mr. Trump's 2017 tax cuts; temporarily fulfill his campaign pledges not to tax tips or overtime pay; roll back subsidies for clean energy; and create a new type of tax-advantaged investment account for children. A third panel, the House Agriculture Committee, was to meet Tuesday night to begin considering another piece of the bill that would slash nutrition assistance to help raise money for the plan. But the bulk of the drama on Tuesday was at the Energy and Commerce Committee. During the first hour alone, Republicans giving opening statements were interrupted repeatedly by protesters who accused them of taking health care away from vulnerable people. G.O.P. lawmakers, in turn, accused Democrats of misrepresenting the Medicaid cuts they are proposing to score political points. Mr. Guthrie labored to keep control over the proceedings, at one point presiding over a shouting match over whether members of his panel were allowed to use the word 'lying' in their remarks. (Republicans had been permitted to say that Democrats were lying about the scope of the Medicaid cuts, but Democrats were barred from saying that Mr. Trump was lying about his desire to protect the program. An informal agreement to simply avoid using the word 'lie' altogether for the remainder of the session fell apart a few hours later.) Even some Democratic senators came to take in the spectacle. Senators Cory Booker of New Jersey, Brian Schatz of Hawaii and Tina Smith of Minnesota were on hand. All before lawmakers had debated a single provision of the measure. The bill's proposed reductions in Medicaid coverage and its expansion under the Affordable Care Act have become a flashpoint for Democrats and an area of concern for vulnerable Republicans who are wary of the political consequences of supporting cuts to insurance programs that have become popular with Americans. Though House Republicans shied away from a huge structural overhaul of Medicaid, their proposal would reduce federal spending by an estimated $912 billion and cause 8.6 million people to become uninsured, according to a partial analysis from the Congressional Budget Office that was circulated by Democrats on the committee. Around $700 billion in cuts would come from changes to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. Republicans argued that their proposed cuts would help control rising Medicaid costs by targeting 'waste, fraud and abuse' and ensuring the program's long-term health. 'Medicaid was created to protect health care for Americans who otherwise could not support themselves, but Democrats expanded the program far beyond this core mission,' Mr. Guthrie said. Their proposal calls for stricter paperwork requirements across the program, makes changes that affect federal funding to states and adds a work requirement to Medicaid that requires poor, childless adults to prove they are working 80 hours every month to stay enrolled. That provision, which targets an expansion of Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act, would not kick in until January 2029, after the next presidential election. During their opening remarks, Democrats on the committee held up matching posters with photographs of constituents they deemed the 'faces of Medicaid.' The lawmakers told their stories as a way of humanizing people who rely on the program. Representative Debbie Dingell of Michigan directly addressed a family who had traveled to Washington in the hearing, who she said needed Medicaid to care for a child with Down syndrome. Representative Marc Veasey of Texas held his phone up to the microphone, inviting a constituent to speak about how Medicaid affected her. Mr. Guthrie ruled that out of order. Some of the people being highlighted were not at risk of losing coverage under the Republican proposal. And Democrats frequently claimed that the Republican plan would cause 13.7 million Americans to become uninsured, inflating the bill's effects on coverage by about five million people. Pointing to these discrepancies, Republican lawmakers accused Democrats of dishonest politicking. 'Not a single person on these posters is going to be affected,' Representative Kat Cammack of Florida said. 'It's unfortunate that people are so enraged by misinformation,' Representative Gary Palmer, Republican of Alabama, said, referring to a woman who was taken from the room by the police after she shouted that she was H.I.V. positive and that the Medicaid cuts 'will kill me.' The hallway outside the committee's hearing was packed with protesters, many of them wearing shirts or bearing signs that read 'Hands Off Medicaid.' Others wore shirts reading 'Fight for Planned Parenthood.' The organization is targeted by a provision in the bill that would block Medicaid from funding health providers that also offer abortion services. 'Hopefully, everyone understands that these demonstrations — people feel very strongly,' Representative Frank Pallone Jr., the top Democrat on the committee, said. 'Because they know they're losing their health care.'
