Buried in the budget
An incomplete list of what’s inside the Republican vision for your future
Join us today, Thursday, May 29, at 12:30 p.m. Eastern, when messaging guru Anat Shenker-Osorio returns for a Live conversation. And later today, at 3 p.m. Eastern, we’ll be speaking with Maryland Governor Wes Moore. Download the Substack app and turn on notifications to join, or watch on our homepage.
When we talked to the journalist Karen Hao earlier this week, we touched on how the Republican budget that’s now cleared the House and is on its way to a Senate vote contained a buried provision that would impose a 10-year moratorium on state regulation of A.I. That it’s the largest upward transfer of wealth in American history has already raised eyebrows and fury among Americans. But there’s a lot more in there that you might not have heard about. Let us explain:
It strips the courts of power, blocking them from enforcing injunctions (and from reining in Donald Trump or any future rogue executive). [Newsweek]
Most of its $880 billion in cuts come out of Medicaid and SNAP, leaving up to 8.6 million people hungry and without health care. [AP News]
For those still technically able to access Medicaid, it adds stiff new work requirements, which could leave up to 14.4 million people uninsured by 2034. [Center on Budget and Policy Priorities]
It cancels the Inflation Reduction Act’s energy tax credits, creating a “nightmare scenario” for climate action. [Scientific American]
It makes it easier to buy silencers for firearms. [The New Republic]
It would cut the incomes of the poorest Americans by $1,035 annually — and boost the incomes of the richest by $389,280. [Penn Wharton Budget Model]
It would punish states for providing health care to undocumented immigrants. [KFF Health News]
It imposes punitive new fees on immigrants, including a $1,000 fee for asylum seekers, up from $0. [The New Republic]
It’s “morally wrong and politically suicidal” — according to Senator Josh Hawley.
And after all that, it will save nothing, spiking the federal deficit by an estimated $3.8 trillion. [Congressional Budget Office]
That’s why the economist Paul Krugman called it an “incredible piece of cruelty” when he talked with us the other day.
When we speak with Anat Shenker-Osorio this afternoon at 12:30 p.m. Eastern, we’ll get into the details about how much of this budget proposal has remained in the shadows and what an effective message against it sounds like.
If you appreciate the work that goes into The Ink and haven’t already done so, we hope you’ll become a supporting subscriber.
That’s how we keep the lights on, pay our writers and editors a fair wage, and build the new media we all deserve. When you subscribe, you help us reach more people.
Join us today. Or give a gift or group subscription.
Thank you! I can’t believe the part about the courts isn’t headline news!
Thanks for the excellent synopsis of the big awful budget