Republican reconciliation bill would force major cuts to Medicare
By 
The new Republican economic populism!
President Donald Trump and congressional Republicans’ mammoth tax and immigration bill would add so much to the national debt that it could force nearly $500 billion in cuts to Medicare beginning in 2026, Congress’s nonpartisan bookkeeper reported late Tuesday.
Trump and the GOP’s budget reconciliation package — officially titled the One Big Beautiful Bill Act — would add $2.3 trillion to the deficit over 10 years, the Congressional Budget Office projected, forcing budget officials to mandate across-the-board spending cuts over that window that would hit the federal health insurance program for seniors and people with disabilities.
When legislation significantly adds to the national debt, which already exceeds $36.2 trillion, it triggers “sequestration,” or compulsory budgetary reductions. In that scenario, Medicare cuts would be capped at 4 percent annually, or $490 billion over 10 years, the CBO reported in response to a request from Rep. Brendan Boyle (Pennsylvania), the top Democrat on the Budget Committee.
This is consistent with a bill that for all but the richest people is all stick no carrot:
The Bush-era tax cuts gave crumbs to the lowest earners; the current Trump tax cut being proposed reduces their incomes instead, by an alarming amount. Why? The thin House majority explains a lot of it, but I think a 2002-era meme, the Lucky Ducky, helps. mikekonczal.substack.com/p/republican…
[image or embed]— Mike Konczal (@mtkonczal.bsky.social) May 21, 2025 at 9:55 AM
Congratulations to every reporter who treated claims that the Republican Party was shifting to the left because of something Josh Hawley said on a podcast or something as being credible. You were an important part of the con!