The GOP’s ‘present’ problems
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Diverging Reports Breakdown
How Trump’s ‘bribe now, pain later’ budget scheme hit a surprise roadblock
The House Budget Committee voted down a bill that would cut $1.4 trillion in spending over the next decade. The bill’s supporters say it would save the federal government money in the long term. But critics say the cuts would hurt the poor and middle class. The White House has been pushing for the bill to be passed ahead of the midterm elections, which are set for November. The House is expected to vote on the bill in the next few days, and the Senate could vote on it as soon as next week. The Senate is also expected to pass the bill, but it’s not clear if it will be approved by the full Senate, which could delay the bill’s passage until after the midterms, if not after the 2016 election, if the House votes on it next year. The president has said he wants to keep Congress in Republican hands, but he’s also worried about losing the White House if he loses the House in 2016. He’s also concerned about the impact of his tax cuts on the middle class, which he says will be cut in half.
Source: Msnbc.com | Read full article
Gutting Medicaid to Cut Taxes Is the GOP’s Problem From Hell
Donald Trump is pushing for $5.3 trillion in tax cuts over the next 10 years. Julian Zelizer says the vast majority of the cuts would have to come from Medicaid. He says voters are opposed to cutting Medicaid to pay for the tax cuts. Zelizer: The House is trying to pretend it can wring significant savings out of Medicaid without reducing actual benefits by going after fraud, abuse, and abuse — after you guessed it, fraud and abuse. The Senate is, for the moment at least, defining much of the problem away by deeming $3.6 trillion of tax cuts “free,” Zelizer writes, and thus as having no impact on the ‘free spending’ portion of the budget, which reduces the pressure to cut Medicaid, and indeed, the Senate version of the resolution absolutely requires no more than $4 billion in spending cuts in the budget. The House will likely be working to impose a national work requirement on Medicaid recipients, which might be reasonably popular in theory, he says.
Source: Nymag.com | Read full article
Trump’s refusal to tax the rich is a gift to Bernie Sanders and AOC
The possibility of a tax increase on the wealthy has percolated in Washington for weeks. The GOP wants to extend the 2017 tax cuts, which would cost $4.6 trillion. But because Trump has kept Social Security and Medicare off the table, the numbers don’t work without hundreds of billions in cuts to SNAP and Medicaid. But Republicans will have to face the 2026 midterms having voted to cut Medicaid and food aid to reduce the taxes for millionaires. But if hiking taxes on the rich is a no-brainer, cutting taxes for the wealthy is the GOP’s No. No. reflex; no other party binds so closely to the billionaire class that it would be a mistake for them to back such a policy. It would also rebutting the widespread image of the GOP as the party of the wealthy, which is a problem for the GOP in the long-term. But it would also be a perfect moment to cut into the traditionally Democratic cohort that makes the wealthy pay more in taxes.
Source: Msnbc.com | Read full article
GOP’s Spending Plan Gives Trump & Musk Too Much Power
Congress has the “power of the purse,” or the authority to decide how federal funds are spent. Instead of setting clear rules, it lets Trump and Musk decide where much of the money goes. It also gets rid of all earmarks from the past year without giving legislators a chance to add new ones. That’s bad for democracy and bad for everyday Americans. The House has voted to pass a spending plan to keep the government running through September 30, 2025.
Source: Commoncause.org | Read full article
What’s in the GOP’s Funding Plan to Avoid a Government Shutdown?
The Senate is set to vote today on a House GOP stopgap bill to fund the government until September. At least eight Democrats will have to come out in support of the bill for it to pass. A growing number of Democrats threatening to kill the bill on the floor may be enough to trigger a shutdown. The bill will also affect Washington, D.C., the local budget of which is overseen by Congress. The spending bill would effectively undo the District’s 2025 budget, doling out an estimated $1 billion in cuts and forcing it to go back to its 2024 budget until Oct. 1. It will also bypass the yearly appropriations process in which Congress directs how to allocate the funds, allowing the Trump administration and the Department of Government Efficiency wide leeway in deciding how money is spent. The cuts in spending do not touch key programs like Social Security, Medicaid and Medicare, which notably drew the ire of Republican voters when cuts to Medicaid were included in the budget blueprint. The House Republicans plan to cut $13 billion in discretionary spending on areas other than defense.
Source: Usnews.com | Read full article
Global Perspectives Summary
Our analysis reveals how this story is being framed differently across global media outlets.
Cultural contexts, editorial biases, and regional relevance all contribute to these variations.
This diversity in coverage underscores the importance of consuming news from multiple sources.
Sources
- How Trump’s ‘bribe now, pain later’ budget scheme hit a surprise roadblock
- Gutting Medicaid to Cut Taxes Is the GOP’s Problem From Hell
- Trump’s refusal to tax the rich is a gift to Bernie Sanders and AOC
- GOP’s Spending Plan Gives Trump & Musk Too Much Power
- What’s in the GOP’s Funding Plan to Avoid a Government Shutdown?
Source: https://www.politico.com/newsletters/inside-congress/2025/05/19/the-gops-present-problems-00356566