When President Donald Trump returned to the White House on January 20, the GOP had small majorities in both houses of Congress. And he is hoping that Republican lawmakers will pass a “big, beautiful bill” that combines his legislative priorities.
But getting the megabill passed is proving complicated and difficult, as Republicans in Congress have some strong disagreements over what the bill should ultimately look like. Tea Party and House Freedom Caucus budget hawks in Speaker Mike Johnson’s (R-Louisiana) caucus are pushing for cuts to safety-net programs, but a group of House Republicans in swing districts are declaring that Medicaid cuts are off the table for them.
In a biting article published on May 9, The Atlantic’s Annie Lowrey stresses that GOP budget talks are full of contradictions, low on specifics, and fully of empty MAGA rhetoric.
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“Savings will come from eliminating waste, fraud, and abuse, as well as from defunding the ‘harmful woke, Marxist agenda,’ the White House says,” Lowrey mockingly writes. “Pinkos and criminals will pay for the tax cuts. Yet the Government Accountability Office estimates that the government loses roughly $50 billion to $100 billion a year to misappropriation, not nearly enough to cover the budget gap. Republicans have put forward no plan to identify and squeeze out such improper payments, a task made harder by the loss of experienced civil servants.”
Lowrey adds, “The Department of Government Efficiency has proved incompetent and might end up increasing the deficit by hamstringing the IRS. Republicans have similar fantasies about Medicaid, Medicare, and Social Security.”
MAGA Republicans, according to Lowrey, are failing to connect the dots when they say they oppose cuts to safety-net programs but also oppose raising taxes on the ultra-rich.
“The White House has promised not to touch the programs and again to find savings by getting rid of waste, fraud, and abuse,” Lowrey explains. “But Congressional Republicans are searching for as much as $880 billion to trim from a set of domestic programs, and are focusing on Medicaid. The only way to save that much money is to insure fewer people…. They say they are shrinking the ‘deep state,’ what that means is that they are taking away public goods and making public services inaccessible.”
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“Austerity” arguments, according to Lowrey, are creating “panic among some Republicans.”
“Whatever the final numbers,” Lowrey laments, “the budget will skewer the poor and squeeze out crucial long-term investments in energy, scientific research, medical advances, and children. Fewer kids will get meals, supportive educational services, and summer-enrichment programs; fewer loans will go to builders in distressed communities; fewer states will be able to make investments in new roads and clean air; fewer universities will research cancer cures. Over decades, the country will be poorer. That’s the trade-off.”
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Annie Lowrey’s full article for The Atlantic is available at this link (subscription required).
