A Big, Beautiful Disaster

On the Passage of Trump’s Budget

On July 3rd the House of Representatives passed the “Big, Beautiful Bill” (BBB), a budget proposal put forth by the Trump administration that contains sweeping changes to federal spending. The budget was formally signed into law at a ceremony this past Friday. The BBB will lead to drastic reduction in spending on education and research and some universities have already started discontinuing academic programs and closing departments due to anticipated drops in funding. Despite Elon’s failed attempt to reduce government spending through the so-called “Department of Government Efficiency,” Trump’s budget includes a major expansion in funding to government organizations like ICE and an expansion in military spending. The BBB simultaneously includes a reduction of nearly $800 billion dollars in spending for Medicaid and major tax-cuts for the wealthy and top 1%.

The BBB is the embodiment of the Republican agenda and for the average American, it’s looking like a disaster.

We should begin by acknowledging the reality that millions of Americans who depend on Medicaid will feel the impact of this bill. Trump is willing to sacrifice the well-being of the poor, the sick, and the elderly to deliver another round of tax-cuts to the ultra wealthy. Some of the people who will be hit hardest by this bill are Trump voters - a fact that multiple Republican congressmen seem to be very aware of and are now actively bracing for the inevitable fallout from the BBB. During the deliberations over the BBB, Senator Tillis of North Carolina announced that he will not run for reelection due to the inevitable damage that a reduction in Medicaid spending will have on his constituents (Tillis’ decision to not run for reelection and Trump’s previous vocal support of failed North Carolina gubernatorial candidate Mark Robinson suggests that the Democrats may have a path to gaining an additional seat in the Senate).

There’s also considerable evidence that Trump doesn’t actually understand the budget that he has spent the past seven months pushing through Congress. A memo released by the White House states that the reduction in funding and potential loss of Medicaid coverage for millions of Americans is a “myth” and provides personal assurances from Donald Trump as refuting evidence of this claim. During a recent meeting with a group of congressional republican hold-outs, Trump claimed that the BBB didn’t touch Medicaid, to which one of the congressmen responded “But we’re touching Medicaid in this bill.” I’m willing to bet that like many of the policies pushed by this administration, the BBB was likely drafted by a network of conservative think-tanks and wealthy donors with Trump serving as a rubber-stamp. This is going to harm millions of Americans and inevitably create blow-back for the president and his congressional allies.

Additionally, as mentioned above, the BBB contains provisions to expand ICE’s budget to $48.5 billion dollars. This means that ICE will receive more federal funding than the FBI (~$10 Billion) and Coast Guard ($25 Billion), making it the single largest law enforcement agency in the United States. For the countless Americans that have experienced profiling, harassment, and abuse at the hands of ICE, this expansion in funding is a foreboding sign of what’s to come. The crudely named “Aligator Alcatraz” detention facility took just eight days to construct and has become a symbol of the Trump administration’s cruel and punitive approach to immigration enforcement (Florida Republicans have already begun selling merchandise based on the detention center). ICE will likely begin to expand its headcount and mobilize a new corps of agents in the coming months. During previous recruitment surges, ICE lowered standards for entry and in doing so facilitated a growth in abuse and misconduct after failing to effectively screen new recruits. These issues persisted after Trump’s initial 2017 surge, as ICE agents have been accused of abuse and racial profiling when working with local law enforcement. The coming expansion in headcount opens the possibility of bad actors, ranging from unqualified ideologically motivated new recruits, to bounty hunters and other grey-area professions, swelling within ICE’s ranks. From a national security perspective, ICE after the BBB is a national police force under Trump’s direct control that may operate outside of its initial mandate and may be wielded against his enemies.

The BBB codifies the radical agenda of the far-right and will give new funding to ICE and the DHS while depriving millions of Americans from the healthcare they need. When - not if - we take back the House and Senate, the Democrats must fight tooth and nail to not only undo the changes in spending contained within the BBB, but also draft a budget that advances the interests of all Americans. Until then, we’re going to have to weather this storm - navigating this administration was always going to feel like a marathon and not a sprint. However, we are not alone. Millions of Americans are mobilizing against this administration and its radical agenda. With planning and patience, we can undo the damage of the second Trump presidency.