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We've Seen the Big Print; Here's Some Of the Small Print [1]

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Date: 2025-05-24

Okay, I admit the big print vs. small print analogy I just couldn’t resist using in this post’s headline really isn’t accurate. That’s because the parts of the Republican budget bill passed in the House that I’m going to refer to are probably all printed in the same size type.

My point is there are some really important things in the budget that we need to know about that haven’t made the headlines as much as the general overview of the GOP’s effort to partially pay for $4.5 trillion in tax cuts, mostly for the rich, by cutting programs that help the poor and still add more than $3 trillion to our deficit.

I know, if you’re explaining, you’re losing. Actually, a lot of us are about to become losers – or better yet, suckers. And our country will be the worse for it.

For starters, let’s look at some of the major financial figures we’ve heard the most about in the proposed budget. This is from a summary by the Heather Cox Richardson. The plan:

*Cuts at least $715 billion in health care spending, mostly from Medicaid.

*Cuts $300 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), also known as food stamps.

*Triggers an estimated $500 billion cuts to Medicare because the massive debt increase in the budget triggers a 2010 law requiring offsets.

Cox, crediting economist Robert Reich, pointed out these interesting numbers:

*Americans making between about $17,000 and $51,000 will lose about $700 a year.

*Americans with incomes of less than $17,000 will lose, on average, more than $1,000 a year.

*Those among the top 0.1 percent of earners will gain nearly $390,000 a year.

As people scramble for health care and food, rest assured Trump’s racism-fueled migrant deportation effort will be adequately funded. Richardson said the proposed budget increases the detention budget for Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) from $3.4 billion a year to $45 billion and its budget for transportation and removal operations from $721 million to $14.4 billion.

It also allocates $46.5 billion for the construction of various barriers at the southern border and $45 billion for an adult and family detention center big enough to hold at least 100,000 people.

Richardson put it perfectly when she wrote: “This bill highlights a truism: In the United States, racism has always gone hand in hand with the concentration of wealth among the very richest.”

Of course, it’s this racism that inspires so many non-rich people to vote against their best interests by putting Republicans – who don’t hesitate to feed their basest instincts – in office. The GOP then in turn helps the rich at their expense. Nice gig if you can pull it off.

But there’s more shit flowing from this cesspool. Robert Kuttner of the American Prospect, in a piece titled, “Ten Sneaky Sleeper Provisions in Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill,” listed these nuggets brought to you by the Republican Party. The proposed budget:

*Prohibits any funds from being used to carry out court orders holding executive branch officials in contempt. This is an obvious attempt to protect Trump and his administration when they defy court orders to stop their many illegal acts.

*Repeals the Direct File measure sponsored by the Biden administration that allowed taxpayers in 25 states to use a free IRS tool to file their tax return instead of paying a commercial tax preparer.

*Allows indefinite detention of immigrant children and adds fees to put more burdens on migrants. For instance, a family that wants to reunite with a child who arrived alone at the border would have to pay $3,500. I think that’s called kidnapping. A person seeking asylum will have to pay an application fee of at least $1,000. Maybe they could just buy some crypto.

*The reconciliation text gives the administration the power to designate nonprofits as “terrorist-supporting organizations,” which would speed up the ending of their tax-exempt status. They say this is to be used against pro-Palestinian groups, but anyone who’s seen this president’s retribution tour – such as his multiple attempts to persecute Harvard University – would never count out that this will be added to his abuse-of-power toolbox.

*Blocks the ability for states to regulate AI for the next 10 years. It also calls for the repeal of any such laws already in place. So much for states’ rights. Who wants that when Trump’s tech bros are expecting this kind of cover for all the money they’ve sent his way. Groveling ought to get you something. Shouldn’t it?

*Guts the estate tax by raising the no-tax floor to $15 million for a single person and $30 million for couples. In 2001, 2.1 percent of estates paid some tax. This will lower that to 0.08 percent.

*Weakens the Child Tax Credit. Although it does raise the credit from its current $2,000 to $2,500 per child, it also lowers the eligibility income threshold so that millions of children will now be ineligible. The bill also denies payment for the 4.5 million children who have a parent without a Social Security number but who pay taxes with a tax identification number. This is aimed at the children of immigrants, because when you hate these people as much as Republicans do you see no problem with making these kids suffer in even deeper poverty.

*Expands school vouchers by giving $20 million in tax credits to donors who give money to school voucher programs. It also creates a tax shelter from capital gains taxes to donors who give appreciated stock to voucher schools. Kuttner descries these ploys as “a direct federal subsidy to voucher schools using wealthy individuals as a pass-through.” So, the rich get a payback and the Republicans continue their efforts to destroy public education. I think in GOP circles that’s called a two-for.

*Cuts the Affordable Care Act by allowing tax credits that subsidize ACA premiums to expire at the end of 2025. This will result in higher out-of-pocket costs for insurance and cause millions of people to lose coverage. You can just add them to the millions who’ll lose their Medicaid coverage.

*Repeals the $200 excise tax on the sale of gun silencers. Score a big win for folks who think they need them – like criminals – and a loss for their intended targets, like us.

***

It remains to be seen if any of these GOP wet dreams are stopped by the Senate parliamentarian. The House bill is being taken up in the Senate under the reconciliation process, which eliminates the filibuster and allows the measure to be passed by a simple majority. Only matters involving taxes, spending, and the debt limit are allowed in a reconciliation bill.

Of course, we’ve seen that GOP senators have decided that in the age of Trump the non-partisan parliamentarian can just be ignored. That’s what happened this week when the Senate blocked California’s landmark plan to phase out the sale of gasoline-powered vehicles, despite the fact that the parliamentarian and an independent watchdog said it wasn’t authorized to take this action, the New York Times reported.

Like their cult hero, GOP senators apparently believe that laws are meant to be broken and rulings against them are meant to be ignored. This has ugly situation written all over it.

Republicans have used their control of both chambers of Congress and the White House to launch a titanic effort to enrich the wealthiest among us at the expense of the poor and middle class, replace our system of three equal branches of government with an authoritarian-style oligarchy led by a president-king, end any hope of waging any kind of successful effort against climate change, and make our nation as close to a white nationalist/Christian nationalist country as possible.

This proposed budget is a big part of that. That’s abundantly clear, no matter what size type they use.

***

Thank you for reading my post. You can see my other writings on my blog: Musings of a Nobody. Also, please check out our newsletter: Musings of a Nobody — The Newsletter and our video blog: Musings of a Nobody — The Podcast. Please share and subscribe for free to all or some if you’d like.

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