
Political Costs of Trump Tax Cuts, Medicaid and ‘Debt Slavery’
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Diverging Reports Breakdown
Political Costs of Trump Tax Cuts, Medicaid and ‘Debt Slavery’
The Senate parliamentarian struck a provision meant to benefit Alaska, to help win support from Senator Lisa Murkowski. The parliamentarian also rejected an effort to expand a Medicare drug price negotiation exemption for “orphan” drugs. Musk has 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” The Tesla chief also took aim at the legislation’s proposed cuts to clean energy initiatives, calling it “a massive strategic error”
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.”
The Tesla chief also took aim at the legislation’s proposed cuts to clean energy initiatives, calling it “a massive strategic error” that “will leave America extremely vulnerable in the future.”
That said, Musk’s earlier criticism appeared to fail in persuading House Republicans to vote against the legislation.
Will all this reignite Musk’s feud with Trump? A war of words between the two earlier this month raised the prospect of the president using his administration to attack his former ally’s businesses, many of which could be vulnerable to tougher regulation.
Source: https://www.nytimes.com/2025/06/30/business/dealbook/senate-bill-tillis-murkowski-musk.html