Latest news with #TrumpBudget
Yahoo
07-07-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
'Democrats need to stop trying to be influencers.' Cameron Kasky on Dems' Project 2026 strategy
Democrats are hoping to take advantage of public backlash against Trump's budget law for the midterm elections. This includes House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries speaking of a Dem Project 2026 plan. But, is that going to be enough? MSNBC Political Analyst Basil Smikle and The Bulwark's Cameron Kasky join The Weekend Primetime to discuss what Democrats need to do to win back voters going into 2026.
Irish Times
04-07-2025
- Politics
- Irish Times
Democrats react with fury as Trump's Bill passes
Democrats have erupted in a storm of outrage over the passage of Donald Trump 's budget bill, delivering scathing critiques that offered signs of the attack lines the party could wield against Republicans in next year's midterm elections. Party leaders released a wave of statements after the sweeping tax and spending Bill's passage on Thursday. 'Today, Donald Trump and the Republican Party sent a message to America: if you are not a billionaire, we don't give a damn about you,' said Ken Martin, the Democratic National Committee chair. 'While the GOP continues to cash their billionaire donors' checks, their constituents will starve, lose critical medical care, lose their jobs – and yes, some will die as a result of this Bill. Democrats are mobilising and will fight back to make sure everybody knows exactly who is responsible for one of the worst bills in our nation's history.' READ MORE The Bill's narrow passage in the House of Representatives on Thursday, with no Democratic support and only two no votes from Republicans – which came from Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania – is 'not normal', wrote congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. While the GOP continues to cash their billionaire donors' checks, their constituents will starve, lose critical medical care, lose their jobs — Ken Martin, the Democratic National Committee chair Ms Ocasio-Cortez highlighted the contradictions in the Bill that Democrats can be expected to campaign on over the next two years, pitting its spending on immigration enforcement against the loss of social benefits for working-class Americans. She noted that Republicans voted for permanent tax breaks for billionaires while allowing a tax break on tips for people earning less than $25,000 a year to 'sunset' in three years. She also noted that cuts to Medicaid expansion will remove tipped employees from eligibility and remove subsidies for insurance under the Affordable Care Act, and reduce Snap food assistance benefits. 'I don't think anyone is prepared for what they just did with Ice [Immigration and Customs Enforcement],' Ms Ocasio-Cortez wrote on Bluesky. 'This is not a simple budget increase. It is an explosion – making Ice bigger than the FBI, US Bureau of Prisons, [the] DEA and others combined. It is setting up to make what's happening now look like child's play. And people are disappearing.' Many critics referred to choice remarks made by Republicans in the run-up to the Bill's passage that displayed an indifference to their voters' concerns. Senator Mitch McConnell was reported by Punchbowl News to have said to other Republicans in a closed-door meeting last week: 'I know a lot of us are hearing from people back home about Medicaid. But they'll get over it.' And Republican senator Joni Ernst, of Iowa, speaking at a combative town hall in Parkersburg in late May, responded to someone in the audience shouting that people will die without coverage by saying, 'People are not ... well, we all are going to die' – a response that drew groans. Cuts to the Medicaid health programme feature prominently in Democratic reaction to the Bill. Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib described the Bill as 'disgusting' and 'an act of violence against our communities'. She said: 'Republicans should be ashamed for saying, 'Just get over it' because 'We're all going to die'. They are responsible for the 50,000 people who will die unnecessarily every year because of this deadly budget.' Budget hawks on the left and the right have taken issue with the effects the Bill will have on the already considerable national debt. 'In a massive fiscal capitulation, Congress has passed the single most expensive, dishonest, and reckless budget reconciliation bill ever – and, it comes amidst an already alarming fiscal situation,' wrote Maya MacGuineas, the president of the oversight organisation Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget. 'Never before has a piece of legislation been jammed through with such disregard for our fiscal outlook, the budget process, and the impact it will have on the wellbeing of the country and future generations.' – Guardian
Yahoo
04-07-2025
- Business
- Yahoo
Opinion - Trump and Musk are at it again — and this time, it's personal
President Trump and his billionaire financier Elon Musk are at war, again — this time over Trump's debt-packed budget bill. Trump and Musk's bitter public quarrels have become an all-too-common (and all-too-embarrassing) part of our political culture, but this week's war of words seemed to throw the relationship into a deep freeze. Once Trump's closest ally and confidant, Musk on Monday called for the creation of a new political party to challenge Trump's 'Porky Pig Party.' Musk further threatened to bankroll primary challenges against Republicans who support Trump's budget while financing others like Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.), a vocal critic of the bill. 'Every member of Congress who campaigned on reducing government spending and then immediately voted for the biggest debt increase in history should hang their head in shame!' Musk posted on X, the social media platform he owns. 'And they will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth.' Musk's sudden shift is a dizzying about-face for a man who just last year donated over $280 million to elect Republicans nationwide. Faced with a possible midterm civil war against the richest man in the world, a growing number of Republican lawmakers are already busy making retirement plans. The rest will need to pick a side: Musk or Trump? Conventional wisdom tells us that Trump's MAGA movement defies political gravity. Only a fool would bet against the guy who staged the most unlikely political comeback in American history, right? On the surface it seems clear that Republican voters would rally behind Trump instead of the socially awkward Musk. But Musk doesn't need to assemble his own voter army in order to beat Trump next year — he just needs to prevent Republicans from mobilizing their own voters. Unfortunately for Trump, the Republican National Committee spent all of last year setting Musk up to do exactly that without even realizing it. It's ironic that Trump's biggest threat emerged because of his fixation on dominating the social media conversation. Last year, Republicans willingly routed all of their social media content through X after Musk's team altered the site's algorithms to provide huge boosts to Republican-leaning accounts and content. This put Republican messaging in front of millions more voters than they otherwise would have reached, providing a critical boost for Republican candidates in close races. If Musk decides to turn off MAGA's big visibility boost, Republicans will struggle mightily to come anywhere near the record-breaking level of digital reach and engagement they achieved in 2024. Worse still, they'll likely be fighting algorithms Musk has reprogrammed to punish lawmakers he's trying to primary. Musk's proposed America Party would thrive in our current age of hucksterism. He'll find plenty of eager aspiring candidates in his X replies, where a veritable circus of washed-up right-wing influencers are already volunteering to run for Congress on Musk's dime. It would only take a few screwball primary victories to starve Republicans of critical media oxygen, throwing their slim House majority into jeopardy. Republicans' unfolding Musk drama will sound awfully familiar to California Rep. Ro Khanna, who predicted nearly this exact chain of events last month. At the time, Khanna faced criticism for suggesting Democrats could gradually pull Musk away from the Republican Party's sphere of influence. As Democratic leaders debate how to process Musk's threat to primary vulnerable House Republicans, they should make sure Khanna has a seat at the table now that events have proven him soundly right. The calculus is much tougher for Republicans, who now face the miserable choice of outraging either Trump or Musk. But Musk does offer something unique among Trump critics — the prospect of real protection from Trump's political retribution. If Musk makes clear that he'll open his wallet to protect Republicans who speak out against the budget bill, Trump may find a surprising number of lawmakers willing to take Musk up on his deal. Musk's mountainous supply of cash and his control of the right-wing conversation flow on X makes him one of the only people in America who can actually challenge Trump's control of the Republican Party. By offering safe haven to Trump-critical lawmakers — and bumping off a few MAGA loyalists next year — Musk could quickly establish himself as a rival power center with actual clout. That kind of play would reshape the political map in ways Trump never imagined. Is Musk angry enough to do it? Max Burns is a veteran Democratic strategist and founder of Third Degree Strategies. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
The Guardian
04-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
‘A dark day for our country': Democrats furious over Trump bill's passage
Democrats have erupted in a storm of outrage over the passage of the Donald Trump's budget bill, delivering scathing critiques that offered signs of the attack lines the party could wield against Republicans in next year's midterm elections. Party leaders released a wave of statements after the sweeping tax and spending bill's passage on Thursday, revealing a fury that could peel paint off a brick outhouse. 'Today, Donald Trump and the Republican party sent a message to America: if you are not a billionaire, we don't give a damn about you,' said Ken Martin, the Democratic National Committee chair. 'While the GOP continues to cash their billionaire donors' checks, their constituents will starve, lose critical medical care, lose their jobs – and yes, some will die as a result of this bill. Democrats are mobilizing and will fight back to make sure everybody knows exactly who is responsible for one of the worst bills in our nation's history.' The bill's narrow passage in the House on Thursday, with no Democratic support and only two no votes from Republicans – which came from Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania – is 'not normal', wrote congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Ocasio-Cortez highlighted the contradictions in the bill that Democrats can be expected to campaign on over the next two years, pitting its spending on immigration enforcement against the loss of social benefits for working-class Americans. She noted that Republicans voted for permanent tax breaks for billionaires while allowing a tax break on tips for people earning less than $25,000 a year to sunset in three years. She also noted that cuts to Medicaid expansion will remove tipped employees from eligibility for Medicaid and remove subsidies for insurance under the Affordable Care Act, and reduce Snap food assistance benefits. 'I don't think anyone is prepared for what they just did with Ice,' Ocasio-Cortez wrote on Bluesky. 'This is not a simple budget increase. It is an explosion – making Ice bigger than the FBI, US Bureau of Prisons, [the] DEA and others combined. It is setting up to make what's happening now look like child's play. And people are disappearing.' Many critics referred to choice remarks made by Republicans in the run-up to the bill's passage that displayed an indifference to their voters' concerns. Senator Mitch McConnell was reported by Punchbowl News to have said to other Republicans in a closed-door meeting last week: 'I know a lot of us are hearing from people back home about Medicaid. But they'll get over it.' And Republican senator Joni Ernst, of Iowa, speaking at a combative town hall in Parkersburg in late May, responded to someone in the audience shouting that people will die without coverage by saying, 'People are not … well, we all are going to die' – a response that drew groans. Cuts to Medicaid feature prominently in Democratic reaction to the bill. Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib described the bill as 'disgusting' and 'an act of violence against our communities'. She said: 'Republicans should be ashamed for saying, 'Just get over it' because 'We're all going to die.' They are responsible for the 50,000 people who will die unnecessarily every year because of this deadly budget.' 'There is no sugarcoating this. This is a dark day for our country,' wrote senator Raphael Warnock. 'Republicans in Washington have decided to sell out working people. As a result, millions will lose their healthcare and many millions more will see their premiums go up. Rural hospitals and nursing homes across Georgia will be forced to close. Children will be forced to go hungry so that we can give billionaires another tax cut.' But budget hawks on the left and the right have taken issue with the effects this budget will have on the already considerable national debt. 'In a massive fiscal capitulation, Congress has passed the single most expensive, dishonest, and reckless budget reconciliation bill ever – and, it comes amidst an already alarming fiscal situation,' wrote Maya MacGuineas, the president of the oversight organization Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, in reaction to the House's passage of the bill. 'Never before has a piece of legislation been jammed through with such disregard for our fiscal outlook, the budget process, and the impact it will have on the wellbeing of the country and future generations.' 'House Republicans just voted – again – to jack up costs, gut health care, and reward the elite with tax breaks,' wrote the House Majority Pac, a Democratic fund. 'They had a chance to change course, but instead they doubled down on this deeply unpopular, toxic agenda. They'll have no one to blame but themselves when voters send them packing and deliver Democrats the House majority in 2026.' 'Republicans didn't pass this bill for the people,' wrote Jasmine Crockett, a Texas Democrat. 'They passed it to please Trump, protect the powerful and push cruelty disguised as policy.'
The Guardian
04-07-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
‘A dark day for our country': Democrats furious over Trump bill's passage
Democrats have erupted in a storm of outrage over the passage of the Donald Trump's budget bill, delivering scathing critiques that offered signs of the attack lines the party could wield against Republicans in next year's midterm elections. Party leaders released a wave of statements after the sweeping tax and spending bill's passage on Thursday, revealing a fury that could peel paint off a brick outhouse. 'Today, Donald Trump and the Republican party sent a message to America: if you are not a billionaire, we don't give a damn about you,' said Ken Martin, the Democratic National Committee chair. 'While the GOP continues to cash their billionaire donors' checks, their constituents will starve, lose critical medical care, lose their jobs – and yes, some will die as a result of this bill. Democrats are mobilizing and will fight back to make sure everybody knows exactly who is responsible for one of the worst bills in our nation's history.' The bill's narrow passage in the House on Thursday, with no Democratic support and only two no votes from Republicans – which came from Thomas Massie of Kentucky and Brian Fitzgerald of Pennsylvania – is 'not normal', wrote congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. Ocasio-Cortez highlighted the contradictions in the bill that Democrats can be expected to campaign on over the next two years, pitting its spending on immigration enforcement against the loss of social benefits for working-class Americans. She noted that Republicans voted for permanent tax breaks for billionaires while allowing a tax break on tips for people earning less than $25,000 a year to sunset in three years. She also noted that cuts to Medicaid expansion will remove tipped employees from eligibility for Medicaid and remove subsidies for insurance under the Affordable Care Act, and reduce Snap food assistance benefits. 'I don't think anyone is prepared for what they just did with Ice,' Ocasio-Cortez wrote on Bluesky. 'This is not a simple budget increase. It is an explosion – making Ice bigger than the FBI, US Bureau of Prisons, [the] DEA and others combined. It is setting up to make what's happening now look like child's play. And people are disappearing.' Many critics referred to choice remarks made by Republicans in the run-up to the bill's passage that displayed an indifference to their voters' concerns. Senator Mitch McConnell was reported by Punchbowl News to have said to other Republicans in a closed-door meeting last week: 'I know a lot of us are hearing from people back home about Medicaid. But they'll get over it.' And Republican senator Joni Ernst, of Iowa, speaking at a combative town hall in Parkersburg in late May, responded to someone in the audience shouting that people will die without coverage by saying, 'People are not … well, we all are going to die' – a response that drew groans. Cuts to Medicaid feature prominently in Democratic reaction to the bill. Congresswoman Rashida Tlaib described the bill as 'disgusting' and 'an act of violence against our communities'. She said: 'Republicans should be ashamed for saying, 'Just get over it' because 'We're all going to die.' They are responsible for the 50,000 people who will die unnecessarily every year because of this deadly budget.' 'There is no sugarcoating this. This is a dark day for our country,' wrote senator Raphael Warnock. 'Republicans in Washington have decided to sell out working people. As a result, millions will lose their healthcare and many millions more will see their premiums go up. Rural hospitals and nursing homes across Georgia will be forced to close. Children will be forced to go hungry so that we can give billionaires another tax cut.' But budget hawks on the left and the right have taken issue with the effects this budget will have on the already considerable national debt. 'In a massive fiscal capitulation, Congress has passed the single most expensive, dishonest, and reckless budget reconciliation bill ever – and, it comes amidst an already alarming fiscal situation,' wrote Maya MacGuineas, the president of the oversight organization Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, in reaction to the House's passage of the bill. 'Never before has a piece of legislation been jammed through with such disregard for our fiscal outlook, the budget process, and the impact it will have on the wellbeing of the country and future generations.' 'House Republicans just voted – again – to jack up costs, gut health care, and reward the elite with tax breaks,' wrote the House Majority Pac, a Democratic fund. 'They had a chance to change course, but instead they doubled down on this deeply unpopular, toxic agenda. They'll have no one to blame but themselves when voters send them packing and deliver Democrats the House majority in 2026.' 'Republicans didn't pass this bill for the people,' wrote Jasmine Crockett, a Texas Democrat. 'They passed it to please Trump, protect the powerful and push cruelty disguised as policy.'
