Donald Trump and his MAGA buddies in Congress are attempting to slip one by the American people. The mega-spending bill that Trump calls “one big, beautiful bill” is 1116 pages long, contains huge spending and tax cuts, and was dropped on the U.S. House of Representatives just seven days ago. The first committee vote was taken on Sunday night, in case you missed it. And many Republicans hope you did.

Speaker Mike Johnson is pushing for a vote on the massive domestic policy bill by the end of the week, in time for Memorial Day.

Someone needs to call a timeout, or this massive remake of the federal government could be a done deal faster than you can say three-day weekend. The incredibly short timeline is no accident. Trump and Johnson don’t want to give anyone time to read the fine print.

Because then folks would know that the bill would cut $625 billion from Medicaid, pushing more than 8 million of our most vulnerable from its rolls.

People would also be aware that cuts to the food stamp program would target families with children, seniors, and veterans.

Voters would find out that someone making less than $15,000 a year would see their federal taxes increase by 74.3% by 2031. That is not a typo.

Trump claims all of these cuts are necessary to make his $4.5 trillion tax cut for billionaires and corporations permanent.

Share

Now you understand the reason for the rush. Get it signed, sealed, and delivered before the ink is dry, and Americans will be none the wiser. Though it will still have to be reconciled with the Senate bill.

The timeline is so short that the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) has not had time to fully vet the bill and produce estimates of its budgetary impact. How can lawmakers read, research, and debate the bill in mere days? They can’t.

Even with the absurdly short timeline, Johnson is facing opposition from both ends of his party. Four hardline fiscal hawks stalled the bill in committee but ultimately allowed it to move to the full House. They didn’t vote in favor of the bill; they just voted “present.”

This does not bode well for the speaker, who will have to make significant concessions to appease the hawks and get them on board. But every concession he gives them will likely mean a “moderate” Republican will balk. Republicans have only a seven-vote majority in the House.

Those less radical Republicans know the spending cuts and tax giveaways are deeply unpopular. Though the cuts are being framed as a way to root out “waste, fraud and abuse,” most Americans aren’t buying it. They strongly oppose cuts to entitlement programs like Medicaid. They do not favor big tax cuts for billionaires and other very wealthy people.

Where is the president on all of this? For a decade, Trump has repeatedly said he would not cut Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid. As recently as May 4, he said he would veto any bill that included Medicaid cuts. He has been mum on the topic since.

The “big, beautiful bill” dubbed the “big bad billionaire bill” by the Democratic Women’s Caucus has the potential to hurt the overall economy too.

The CBO determined that the tax cuts will add at least $4.6 trillion to the national debt, causing Moody’s to downgrade the U.S. credit rating over the weekend. This change could affect the markets and the interest rate the U.S. government can get to borrow money.

The consequences of some of Trump’s executive orders are now affecting real people in real time. First, the tariffs. Over the weekend, Walmart, the retail version of the canary in the coal mine, said it would be passing on price increases caused by the tariffs to Walmart shoppers. This incensed the president, who jumped on Truth Social to yell at the country’s biggest retailer, insisting that Walmart should, “EAT THE TARIFFS and not charge valued customers ANYTHING. I’ll be watching, and so will your customers!!!”

And with one social media post, Trump finally admitted what he’s long denied — tariffs raise prices. The Budget Lab at Yale estimates the average American household will pay an additional $2,300 a year.

Walmart capitulated, sort of — saying it would pass on just some of the increased costs. The specter of higher prices and inflation has pushed consumer sentiment to its second-lowest level ever.

While the rich are about to get even richer, the rest of America is forced to suffer because of decisions made by the president.

The effects of staffing and budget cuts made by Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency are becoming more pronounced. As tornadoes bombarded Kentucky over the weekend, the state’s weather office scrambled for staff. The office in Jackson, Kentucky, no longer has overnight forecasters after DOGE cut hundreds from the National Weather Service. And that’s just one area of one state. Coming soon: hurricane season, on June 1.

A single week has produced a plethora of unpopular policy, courtesy of the Trump administration. And now we have the alarming announcement of President Joe Biden’s cancer diagnosis. One would hope that, even in this highly toxic and divisive political environment, people would be decent, at least in the short term. But not even 24 hours after the news broke that Biden has aggressive prostate cancer, MAGA rancor is ratcheting up. After all, they need to gin up a distraction from all the bad news for which they are responsible.

Donald Trump Jr. was one of the first to make accusations. “What I want to know is how did Dr. Jill Biden miss stage five metastatic cancer or is this yet another coverup???” he posted on social media. Apparently he doesn’t know that Dr. Biden is a Ph.D., not a medical doctor.

Benny Johnson, a far-right influencer, called Biden’s cancer diagnosis “the most dangerous cover-up in the history of the presidency.” Should we explain Watergate to him?

The news will most certainly reopen the case against Biden’s decision to run for reelection. And Republicans are all too happy to force that distraction. But if Democrats want to stop this administration’s embrace of authoritarianism and destruction of the rule of law, they need to focus solely on fighting Trump and his weekly chaos. And pay close attention to the fine print.

Steady is free. To support my team’s efforts to protect our democracy through the power of independent journalism, we hope that those of you who are able will consider joining as paid subscribers. That keeps Steady sustainable and accessible for all. Thank you.

No matter how you subscribe, I thank you for reading.

Stay Steady,
Dan