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The So-Called "Big Beautiful Bill" Is Ugly For Nebraska [1]
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Date: 2025-06-30
The Washington D.C. Republicans are doing everything they can to pass Trump’s so-called “big beautiful bill” before more voters find out what it contains. The more people learn about it, the more they (justifiably) hate it.
The legislation is wildly unpopular because it funds a big tax cut for the rich with regressive cuts to Medicaid and SNAP. It is a huge transfer of income in an upwards direction. MAGA Republicans believe that rich people don’t have enough money and that the poor and middle class have it too easy.
Trump and the GOP’s “beautiful bill” would be very ugly for Nebraska since the Medicaid cuts would take away insurance from approximately 55,000 Nebraskans, including adults and children who have benefited from the Medicaid expansion.
The bill’s proposed cuts to Medicaid could lead to a $4 billion loss in federal funding for the state. The state is already broke due to the 2023 GOP tax cuts for the rich and corporations. These cuts would further jeopardize Nebraska’s already parlous fiscal situation.
Medicaid recipients would not be the only victims of this ugly bill. According to the Kaiser Family Foundation, 111,000 Nebraskans could see their healthcare premiums double at the end of 2025 if subsidies for the purchase of insurance on the ACA exchanges aren’t renewed.
The Biden administration passed more generous subsidies that have saved the average Nebraskan thousands of dollars over the last four years. The elimination of these subsidies would cause insurance premiums to soar. This would be in direction violation of Trump’s promise to cut in half the cost of insurance premiums. He told the voters it would happen very quickly.
The Kaiser Foundation projects that some of the highest premium increases would be experienced by those nearing retirement who reside in rural areas across Nebraska’s 3rd Congressional District. Their study indicates that a 60-year-old couple making $82,000 in CD3 would see a 363% increase in monthly premiums, raising the cost for a plan from $581 to $2,687 per month. A 40-year-old making $31,000 annually would see a 165% increase in premiums in CD3, as well.
The rest of Nebraska will get hurt as well. Residents of CD01 would be hit with a whopping 99% premium increase and it would be 102% in CD2.
The soaring premiums caused by these cuts would cause younger and healthier enrollees to drop coverage, which would further jack up premiums on those who could afford insurance.
The nationwide effect of this bill would be profound and cause a humanitarian crisis. The non-partisan Congressional Budget Office projects that under the House bill, 14 to 16 million Americans would lose health insurance coverage. The Senate bill’s cuts are even deeper than those in the House bill.
This ugly, regressive bill also contains savage cuts to SNAP benefits. Eighteen of Nebraska’s forty nine state senators signed and sent a letter urging Deb Fischer and Pete Ricketts to “preserve and protect” the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) from the proposed cuts contained in Trump and the GOP’s big ugly budget bill.
“Proposed federal cuts and cost-shifting reforms to SNAP in current budget reconciliation discussions pose serious risks to Nebraskans,” the letter read. “If enacted, these changes would — for the first time in the program’s history — shift millions in costs to our state. Some estimates indicate that if the Senate Agriculture Committee’s proposal is adopted, Nebraska would be on the hook for approximately $16 million in benefit costs and an additional $12.1 million in administrative expenses to maintain program operations. The combined cost to Nebraskans would exceed $61 million. These policy choice dynamics would put significant pressure on our state budget and may result in reduced benefits or more restrictive eligibility for our most vulnerable residents.”
The Senate is expected to vote on the Big Ugly bill sometime on Monday. Since the Senate bill differs from the House bill, it goes back over to the House for another vote. The House is expected vote on the bill on Wednesday.
What’s the big hurry? As of Monday morning, there is no complete text for the Senate bill. In addition, the bill was drafted in secret and there have been no hearings. Trump and and the GOP party bosses expect GOP members of Congress to vote on a bill they most likely haven’t read. If this bill is so great, the GOP should welcome an extended debate.
Please call your senators and U.S. House members and urge a no vote using GOP style talking points. Please advise them that the bill increases the debt ceiling by a staggering $5 trillion and that we can’t afford it. The GOP likes to claim that they are responsible fiscal stewards. (LOL. I know.) Appeals to stop Medicaid cuts won’t work with Republican members of Congress because they (falsely) believe that everyone on Medicaid is some kind of lazy bum.
For all of you people who reside in Nebraska CD02, please burn the phone lines to Representative Don Bacon’s office. He won’t be running for re-election and as a result, there is no political downside for a no vote. The original House budget bill passed by only one vote.
The Republicans are committing political suicide by voting for this bill. Already, there has been a huge backlash to Trump and MAGA. The Democrats are winning big in 2025. This is the most under reported story in American politics. The mainstream press is addicted to a “Democrats in disarray narrative.” Despite our divisions, we keep winning elections. We are united against the threat to freedom and democracy posed by Trump and MAGA.
The tide is turning. Be confident going forward. Take nothing for granted. Keep working hard. Blue wave 2026!
Blue wave 2026! Let’s f*cking go!
Sources consulted:
https://www.1011now.com/2025/05/28/proposed-medicaid-cuts-could-impact-hundreds-thousands-nebraskans/
https://www.openskypolicy.org/openskylights-focus-on-nebraska-fiscal-policy-6-20-25/
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