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Int'l Business Times
9 hours ago
- Business
- Int'l Business Times
GOP Lawmakers Issue Ultimatum to Demand Changes to Trump's 'Big, Beautiful Bill' or Face Rejection: 'All Three of Us Have to Be Yes'
A trio of Senate conservatives is threatening to derail President Donald Trump's sweeping legislative spending package unless GOP leaders agree to steep spending cuts and rollbacks of green energy subsidies and Medicaid. Senators Ron Johnson (R-WI), Rick Scott (R-FL) and Mike Lee (R-UT) are demanding significant changes to the Senate version of what Trump has dubbed his "big, beautiful bill," warning that they will vote as a bloc against the measure if their conditions are not met. "There's no way I vote for this thing next week," Johnson told reporters, citing concerns that the bill would add to the deficit rather than reduce it, The Hill reported. "All three of us have to be yes or none of us are yes." The legislation, which Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) hopes to bring to the floor next week, has already drawn opposition from moderates including Josh Hawley (R-MO) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) over proposed cuts to Medicaid. But conservatives now pose an equally serious obstacle, calling for deeper cuts and a faster repeal of renewable energy tax credits passed under the Biden administration. Scott is pushing for dramatic changes to the federal Medicaid funding formula, including a rollback of the enhanced match rate for states that expanded Medicaid under the Affordable Care Act. "The focus should be on: How do we take care of what Medicaid's original purpose was? It's children and the chronically ill," he argued, adding that half of adults covered by Medicaid expansion are not working and are not disabled. Senate moderates like Hawley, Murkowski and Susan Collins (R-ME) have raised alarms about the impact of Medicaid cuts on rural hospitals, while hardliners insist the deficit must be addressed urgently. Lee, meanwhile, wants a more aggressive phaseout of green energy subsidies. "Green New Deal subsidies that don't terminate by 2028 will effectively become permanent," he warned followers on X. Murkowski and other senators warn sudden withdrawal of clean energy subsidies would cost jobs and waste billions of already invested dollars. The internal standoff comes amid a new Congressional Budget Office projection that the House-passed version of Trump's agenda would add $3.4 trillion to the national debt. While Johnson acknowledged historic spending cuts in the legislation, he cautioned that the cuts are outweighed by new spending provisions. Despite efforts by Thune to bridge divides within the caucus, the fate of the bill remains uncertain. "The deficit will eat us alive if we don't get it under control," Lee posted on X. "If not us, who? If not now, when?" Originally published on Latin Times
Yahoo
21-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
GOP's Ron Johnson peddles fringe 9/11 conspiracy theories, reaches new low
Shortly after Donald Trump grudgingly left the White House following his 2020 defeat, he was effectively banned from most major social media platforms and made few television appearances. With this in mind, The New York Times described Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson as Trump's successor as the Republican Party's 'foremost amplifier of conspiracy theories and disinformation.' The senator has seemed a little too eager to prove his critics right, peddling bizarre and easily discredited nonsense about Covid-19. And the Jan. 6 attack. And vaccines. And climate change. And the 2020 presidential election. And the 2024 presidential election. It's apparently time to add the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, to the list. Mediaite noted: Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) suggested Monday that the US government may have played a role in the September 11, 2001, terrorist attacks during an interview with MAGA influencer Benny Johnson on The Benny Show. Though it seemed difficult to believe, after the far-right host asked the Wisconsin Republican what he wants to know about 9/11, Johnson said, "Well, start with Building 7,' adding that he believes there was 'a controlled demolition' at the World Trade Center. He went on to say, 'Who ordered the removal and the destruction of all that evidence, totally contrary to any other firefighting investigation procedures? I mean, who ordered that? Who was in charge? I think there's some basic information. Where's all the documentation from this investigation? There are a host of questions that I want — and I will be asking, quite honestly, now that my eyes have been opened up.' He did not appear to be kidding. Johnson claimed he's been in touch with former Rep. Curt Weldon about this (the Pennsylvania Republican talked to Tucker Carlson last week about his theories), and when the host asked whether the public might see hearings on the subject, Johnson replied, 'I think so,' adding, 'Hopefully, now with this administration, we can find out what is being covered up.' At this point, it's probably worth reminding readers that, in the recent past, Senate Republicans thought it'd be a good idea to put Johnson in charge of the Senate Homeland Security Committee for six years. Larry Glickman, a historian at Cornell University, noted that it's "incredible" that a sitting senator "can say something like this with every expectation that such comments will not be grounds for bipartisan calls for his immediate resignation or removal from office." Ahead of his 2022 re-election campaign, the editorial board of The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel said Johnson was 'unfit' for office and called him 'the most irresponsible representative of Wisconsin citizens since the infamous Sen. Joseph R. McCarthy in the 1950s.' Four years later, he's vastly worse. There was a time in the recent past when being a 9/11 truther would've been seen as disqualifying for a U.S. senator. Johnson appears to know that this time is apparently over. This article was originally published on
Yahoo
13-03-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Maddow Cracks Up at GOP Rep's Advice for Wrongfully Fired Federal Workers
MSNBC host Rachel Maddow broke out in laughter at a Republican congressman's seemingly contradictory claims that Elon Musk's cost-cutting task force is not responsible for the Trump administration's mass layoffs in the federal workforce—but that anyone who thinks a layoff has been made in error should contact the billionaire White House adviser's team. During Wednesday's broadcast of her The Rachel Maddow Show, the liberal host played a clip from a hastily put-together Facebook Live town hall put on by Derrick Van Orden (R-WI). The Republican had come under fire after constituents alleged he cancelled meetings with the public in order to avoid their concerns about the Trump administration's federal cuts. In the clip, Van Orden claims that the so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the Musk-led task force charged with overseeing billions in cuts to federal agencies, has 'nothing' to do with the tens of thousands of government workers who have been laid off under the Trump administration. 'All the people that you've heard about being released from different agencies, that was on the agency itself, it had nothing to do with DOGE,' he said, offering that Musk's group merely acts in an advisory role to the agencies. He immediately followed that up by stating that, if any of his constituents believed a federal worker had been laid off in error, they should 'get ahold of the DOGE folks directly or through us, and we'll help try to rectify that.' Maddow delighted in mocking Van Orden's that DOGE had 'nothing' to do with the cuts and, at the same time, was apparently responsible for addressing them when they go wrong. 'So first of all, all these firings of people who have federal government jobs, that has nothing to do with DOGE, it totally wasn't them," she deadpanned. 'Also, there's a system that if you think somebody has been fired who shouldn't have been—and the system is that you should call DOGE," Maddow added, before cracking up with laughter. 'You should get ahold of the doge folks directly. He says, 'Go ahead!'' Musk, meanwhile, has both denied and admitted DOGE's responsibility for cuts. Last week, Van Orden reported that Musk told GOP lawmakers that it 'wasn't a DOGE decision' to axe 70,000 positions at the Department of Veterans Affairs, according to CNN. He said decisions about cuts ultimately rested with 'individual departments' However, he also acknowledged his task force's role in some cuts, including ones that were later deemed to be in error. Musk told Republican House members he 'can't bat a thousand all the time,' multiple attendees of the meeting told Politico. 'He said he's making mistakes,' Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC) said at the time. 'He'll correct them, but his mission is to uncover where our tax money is. Let the chips fall where they may.'
Yahoo
27-02-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Johnson Tries to Shrug Off Anti-DOGE Town Halls as the Work of ‘Paid Protesters'
Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) claimed Wednesday that Americans who attended recent rowdy Republican town halls were 'paid protesters.' Several GOP lawmakers have been booed or confronted at the local events this month by constituents concerned about the Trump administration's efforts to fire thousands of federal workers. Johnson and most have been supportive of the cuts, which are being marshalled by President Donald Trump's billionaire lieutenant Elon Musk, but Reps. Scott Fitzgerald (R-WI), Glenn Grothman (R-WI), Rich McCormick (R-GA), and Stephanie Bice (R-OK) all received pushback from members of the public at recent town halls. During an appearance on CNN Wednesday, Johnson was asked if he is concerned that Democrats will be able to exploit voter dissatisfaction with the cuts to federal spending being implemented by Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) task force. 'No, I don't, because the videos you saw of the town halls were of paid protesters in many of those places,' Johnson said, without offering any evidence to support his claim. 'These are Democrats who went to the events early and filled up the seats.' CNN host Kaitlan Collins pressed Johnson over his unsubstantiated assertion: 'You can't argue they were all paid protesters, though, Mr. Speaker. A Republican acknowledged they were his constituents.' Johnson sarcastically replied, 'That's fantastic.' He then claimed an unspecified 'they' organized Democratic supporters to 'come and fill the seats early.' 'This is an old playbook that they pulled out and ran and it made it look like what is happening in Washington is unpopular,' he added, before boasting: 'The American people are behind what's happening.' Johnson said support for DOGE is 'over 80 percent right now' and said voters want the federal government to 'be smaller and leaner and more accountable to the taxpayers.' A Harvard CAPS/Harris poll published earlier this week did find that 72 percent of registered voters support the existence of an agency dedicated to government efficiency, though they didn't specifically say they approved of the job DOGE was doing. The majority of those surveyed—58 percent—opposed DOGE's recent alleged efforts to access systems containing sensitive financial and personal information on Americans at multiple federal departments and agencies. The Harvard poll found Trump's net favorable rating was +7, despite other recent polls from CNN, Gallup, Ipsos and Quinnipiac showing the president's approval rating was between -4 and -7. In numerous focus groups, longtime GOP pollster Sarah Longwell found many Trump voters were having buyer's remorse as inflation creeps up and consumer prices remain high. 'Those lawmakers do also represent Democrats,' Collins told Johnson, of the town halls he baselessly claimed were packed with paid protesters. 'That doesn't mean they were paid to show up just because they're upset about this.'
Vox
26-02-2025
- Business
- Vox
Will the backlash to Elon Musk hurt Republicans?
'Drain the swamp' has long been one of President Donald Trump's signature slogans. But now that billionaire Elon Musk is orchestrating mass layoffs of federal workers, it's not clear that rhetoric translates into popular policy. At town halls from Missouri to Georgia to Oklahoma, constituents of Republican lawmakers have shown up to protest Musk and his Department of Government Efficiency's aggressive efforts to slash government spending. More than 20,000 workers have been laid off so far, and almost 1 million people who reside in states that Trump won in 2024 could ultimately be affected. That raises the question: Will DOGE's cuts hurt the Republican party in the long run? At least a few GOP lawmakers seem to be concerned they will. Some, including Rep. Rich McCormick (R-GA) and Rep. Scott Fitzgerald (R-WI), have even been publicly urging Musk to take a kinder approach to reductions in force or demanding more transparency. 'The question is, do we give people time to adjust to their lives? And I think that's my biggest concern, is that we're being compassionate,' McCormick told NBC News amid concerns about layoffs at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which is headquartered in Atlanta. However, Republicans like McCormick remain in the minority, and Trump keeps giving Musk the thumbs up. Musk, too, seems undeterred, recently telling federal workers who ignored an initial email asking for a summary of their recent activities that he'd give them a final chance to reply. If they didn't respond, he said, they risk termination. A number of Democratic strategists, on the other hand, are hoping any early frustration with DOGE grows — and that their party can exploit anger over government cuts at the polls during next year's midterms. Longtime Democratic strategist James Carville told NewsNation earlier this week that he believes Musk's tactics at DOGE may be 'the greatest generator of Democratic turnout, ever, more than Barack Obama.' And in a New York Times op-ed on Tuesday, Carville suggested that an early indicator could be November's governor's race in Virginia, where about 144,000 civilian federal employees live. Based on polling, Democrats' assessment that DOGE is deeply unpopular with their voters seems correct — but its aggressive cuts are not inspiring as much opposition among Republicans as the recent town halls would suggest. And that means it may be too early for Democrats to count on DOGE to usher in big victories for them. Several recent national polls have shown widespread disapproval of Musk as the (apparently unofficial) head of DOGE, but there appears to be a stark divide between Democrats and Republicans. A Washington Post-Ipsos poll from February 13 to 18 found that 49 percent of Americans disapproved of Musk's job performance, including 85 percent of registered Democrats, but only 15 percent of registered Republicans. Over half of Americans overall, 90 percent of Democrats and just 18 percent of Republicans, said they disapproved of Musk's efforts to shut down government programs that he deemed unnecessary. Opposition to Musk's team gaining access to sensitive government databases storing the personal information of millions of Americans seemed slightly more bipartisan: 92 percent of Democrats and 32 percent of Republicans said they were 'concerned' about it. Another mid-February poll from Quinnipiac University found that 55 percent of Americans think Musk has too much decision-making power in the federal government, including 96 percent of Democrats and 16 percent of Republicans. Those results are in line with other February polls from Pew Research Center and Emerson College, which found that Americans disapproved of Musk more than they approved of him. Both polls also reflected a stark partisan split. Democrats are apparently almost unified in their opposition to Musk, and the party might well be able to use that disapproval to stage a comeback in the midterms. But their path back to power isn't wide open. At least for now, it's clear that Republicans like what Musk is doing, and the GOP doesn't seem to be self-inflicting any wounds. The question is whether that will change, especially if government layoffs start affecting the livelihoods of Republican voters.
