A former member of the Clinton administration has broken down why the massive budget bill the Republicans are calling the “Big Beautiful Bill” is actually the “ugliest thing ever seen.”
Robert Reich, who served as President Bill Clinton’s secretary of labor and is now a professor of public policy at the University of California, Berkeley, wrote in a short and to-the-point op-ed that only a “tiny minority” of Americans actually understand the content of the bill due to right-wing efforts to confuse and overwhelm them.
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He huffed about how the question wasn’t “appropriate” even though his bill would result in kids being asked that same question.
Reich blamed “distortions and cover-ups” by the White House and Fox News, along with a people who are “overwhelmed with the blitzkrieg of everything” the administration is doing and the “outright silencing of many in the media who fear retaliation.”
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To clear things up, Reich presented a list of basic facts about the bill:
- It will cut Medicare by $500 billion.
- At least 8.6 million Americans would lose Medicaid if the bill becomes law.
- The bill’s tax cut would overwhelmingly help the rich.
- The top 0.1% of earners are poised to make an extra $390,000 per year under the bill’s provisions.
- Americans who make between $17,000 and $51,000 per year should expect to lose about $700 per year.
- Americans who make less than $17,000 per year will lose even more, about $1000 per year.
- The bill would add $3.8 trillion to the federal debt over the next decade.
- Interest on this debt will be paid through our taxes, as well as the American people paying higher interest rates on mortgages and other loans.
- The people who will benefit from this interest are overwhelmingly wealthy Americans.
Reich explained that polls show most Americans oppose all of this, but that not enough people know what the bill will really do.
In addition to the facts Reich presented, the bill includes cuts to gender-affirming care for trans people, including adults, in federal insurance programs.
A provision in the bill bans Medicaid (a joint federal-state program that provides health care to people with low incomes) and CHIP (a program that provides health care to children and pregnant people with low incomes) from reimbursing for gender-affirming care (including puberty blockers, hormone therapy, and surgery) for trans people of all ages.
Another provision in the budget bill prohibits plans offered on the Affordable Care Act (ACA, or Obamacare) exchanges from covering services related to a “gender transition procedure,” according to the Congressional Equality Caucus. This will also affect health care plans that aren’t offered on the exchanges but that are required to meet the same coverage standards.
Initially, the bill only banned coverage of gender-affirming care for transgender minors. But a manager’s amendment was added late Wednesday night to shore up support among the far-right that removed the words “for minors” from that part of the budget bill.
The bill passed after over 24 hours of debate in the House, which started at 1 a.m. on Wednesday. It almost didn’t pass because Republicans have a very narrow majority in the House, and some conservatives were worried about adding to the national debt. However, the White House warned congressional Republicans that voting against the bill would be considered “the ultimate betrayal,” according to the Washington Post, which brought the few Republicans who were worried about increasing the national debt in line with the president’s agenda.
The bill ultimately passed early this morning by one vote, 215 to 214. All House Democrats voted against the bill, and they were joined by just two Republicans. Almost all House Republicans voted for the bill.
The bill now goes to the Senate, where Republicans hope to pass it under the reconciliation process. Reconciliation allows some budget bills to pass without the possibility of a filibuster, meaning that only 50 senators will have to vote to pass them instead of 60. There are currently 53 Republican senators.
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