I'm not sure what timeline I'm in that I find myself agreeing with Josh Hawley for a second time in a month, and I don't care for it. But at least his opposition helped. This bill is a joke and I'm angry that my tax money is going to a military parade and a useless golden dome.
Victoria, I’m from MO, and Josh (the Destroyer of Democracy) is my Senator. When he says something, “is both morally wrong and politically suicidal,” please know the man has no morals, only political ambitions. (Unless you consider being an admitted Christian Nationalist “morals.”)
You don’t really agree with him, because he doesn’t believe the lie he is telling.
Thank you for your anger, please put it to good use!
Can we talk about how cutting people off Medicaid leads to more death and ultimately costs everyone more? When people can’t receive preventative or chronic care they end up in our ER’s. There they present much sicker and are at risk of dying a/o they receive unreimbursed care that the entire country pays for through tax dollars, long ER wait times, and shuttered hospitals. Wouldn’t it make a whole lot more sense to keep people on Medicaid? We spend $ for it regardless, but it’s much cheaper and morally responsible to do it on the front-end. Otherwise humans suffer needlessly. More often than not bad health, similar to poverty, is largely due to bad luck (and bad systems). We are willing to pay for a $45 million dollar parade but force millions of kids and disabled persons currently covered by Medicaid to not have health insurance? How does anyone support this? Why do people in Red states who depend on these types of resources continue to vote for the people who trash them? Trump’s own voters will be most harmed by this bill.
We also need to talk about the effect this will have on rural hospitals and medical care. Experts predict that this will lead to many closures in a care landscape that has already been teetering on the brink. When the closest hospital is 150 miles away, people will die.
I live in a rural area. We have a small hospital here. I need to find out what percentage of people who are seen there utilize medicaid. I worry our hospital would fail if enough people lose Medicaid/coverage under the ACA. After that the closest hospital is an hour away. It also makes me concerned about encouraging doctors to work here. It’s already difficult, when I say rural I mean rural. And not everyone wants that. At this point I don’t think any doctors in the county are taking new patients. Cuts to medicaid/aca could be harmful in that arena as well.
You’re right. It will certainly cost a lot of lives. What I think is missing from your comment is that the deaths are a feature, not a bug. The majority of the GOP is looking for a white nation where the vast majority works sixty to eighty hours a week, gets one week of vacation, and can’t afford health insurance. Everyone else can die out. It will take time to get there, but make no mistake they aren’t worried about the deaths of poor people.
This whole plan is disgusting. Unfortunately (and I certainly include myself in the blame for this), there probably won’t be many conservatives commenting on why any of this is necessary. So I’ll be Uncle Mike, the MAGA, for a sec. Why shouldn’t those Medicaid takers have stronger work requirements? Well, because, Uncle Mike, most Medicaid recipients already work. Federal data shows that in 2023, 44 percent of recipients worked full time, another 20 worked part time, and another 12 percent couldn’t work because they were family-caregivers, like those who have young children in the home. The rest were disabled, in school, retired, or looking for work and couldn’t find any. Many of those who work and receive Medicaid are on the program simply because they can’t afford private insurance—a problem the Affordable Care Act was meant to address when it was expanded. Great! If they already work then regular reapplying, processing and documentation will be easy! Sorry Uncle Mike, when two states tried this exact same thing in the past they had to shut it down because thousands of people who should’ve been eligible were kicked off due to poor websites, understaffed processing, onerousness of proof requirements, etc.
I just cannot believe that America is letting millions around the world face death and starvation due to the myth of fraud and abuse at USAID (less than 1% of the federal budget); has done absolutely nothing at all to ferret out waste, fraud and abuse in the gigantic, bloated military budget (more than 15% of the federal budget); is sending hordes of ICE agents out across the country to find and snatch people whose only transgression has been to work and live here without documentation and take them to detention camps run by private companies, costing us untold millions or billions and spending billions more for the stupid wall, all due to the myth of violent criminal immigrant hordes; will somehow justify cutting nutrition and healthcare to poor children in the U.S. with the fraud and abuse bogeymen; all the while making sure the wealthy and corporations, many of whom were already making record profits, keep their tax breaks. And that deficit and national debt that Republicans always hate when there’s a Democrat in the White House? Even with these draconian cuts it will skyrocket by the trillions from the tax breaks and trillions more from Republican decimation of the IRS. Looks like Trump’s billionaires will get what they paid for and the rest of us will be left to pick up the pieces.
Just think about it. Where is it written that we have to make things so, so difficult for the poorest among us, the people who are working multiple jobs, trying to take care of their families and just do all the right things, while giving even more breaks to the wealthiest among us? I know, it’s not written anywhere it’s just that some people have multi-million dollar lobbying budgets and some people just have their votes, assuming they can get over all of the hurdles in the way of even that.
I just saw an interview with Leavitt on Fox “News” and she adamantly claimed that there is NO increase to the deficit and in fact this plan is saving the country 1.6 trillion dollars.
So they are ok with this because apparently there will be no increase to deficit at all.
Hi Sharon, thank you so much for all you do. I have a request. Would you mind breaking down why it’s so hard for kids to pay off their student loan debt vs 20-30 years ago. I think a lot of people at a certain age don’t understand. I think that would be very helpful.
I’ll call Ted Budd and Tillis. What’s interesting to me is when I graduated in 2008, I wasn’t really cognizant of the recession so much because of my privilege, but I can remember that ACA meant a lot of my friends could be on their parents insurance which was a huge advantage because Tricare had more stipulations and didn’t give military dependents the same benefits. That definitely affected my decision between keeping a full time job at the time vs spending money on school when I didn’t know what I wanted to do. How many people are being funneled into the workforce rather than trying to attain an ability to social climb via education, etc. I feel like all I hear about from people right now is trade school this, trade school that. It makes me paranoid there’s going to be a fallout again where they go through what I felt I went through. Years where I luckily didn’t get pregnant because I wasn’t making a wage that would carry to anything sustainable. And the AI stuff for 10 years seems incredibly negligible considering Jonathon Haidt’s reflections on Social Media and the lack of guardrails we put on that before unleashing it to the world. It makes me think by the time the working class that comes out of the generation gets their footing will AI take over? What are the jobs going to look like in 10 years while also basically incentivizing people to immediately get working when not everywhere is hiring, while also paving the way for AI. Do no laws mean no laws in favor and it’s just used experimentally or am I misunderstanding that part?
My previous job was as a hospice nurse and so many patients use the Medicaid hospice benefit…even people with private insurance. There is a ton of fraud in that industry and was part of the reason why I left…the non-profit I worked for was sold to a for-profit and I didn’t care for how they ran things. They would routinely admit elderly couples even if one didn’t really meet the criteria of “six months or less of life”. They did this to ensure the company would be getting their business when it was their time for hospice since they were already admitted. And they would essentially get double the reimbursement in the meantime. But it meant more work for the nurses and less time with patients who actually needed hospice care.
This is what galls me about DOGE and people who support it…they’re not really going after fraud, they’re just making life more difficult for those who need assistance. Instead of cutting spending by going after these businesses they’re taking benefits from people. It’s so backwards.
Gosh I really hate to hear about shady hospices. We have utilized hospice twice for our family and the providers and nurses were just amazing. It's such an important and needed service. The companies defrauding the government definitely need to be investigated.
Thank you Sharon for always being a reliable source of factual information.
This infuriates me. Countless people will suffer if this passes. We are the richest nation in the world and so many people are fighting tooth and nail for a right as basic as healthcare.
It's also terrifying that they included the right to basically shutter any nonprofit they disagree with. The AI stuff also feels pretty dystopian.
I don't know what else to say other than everyone keep contacting your reps. 😮💨
I am guessing the bill does not include the common sense infrastructure investment in new technology for the IRS. I know Sharon has said many times they are working on very old equipment, which limits them in who they can hire and in their ability to collect the tax we are actually owed. It would be great if we redirected some of the military spending proposed here (who is threatening us with missiles urgently enough that we need a Golden Dome?) into a department that could actually help collect revenue that we can then use to bolster various government programs.
As someone who has worked for the IRS for 20+ years, we were given funds under the Inflation Reduction Act to modernize and were on track to do just that and republicans clawed back the majority of those funds leaving our modernization efforts on hold. IRS collects 95% of the revenue for the nation and this administration has gutted this agency. At the beginning of this year we were understaffed, but had been hiring and were getting closer to our staffing goals, now through executive orders, hiring freeze (review one of his first EOs and it puts IRS on an indefinite hiring freeze), and mandatory staffing cuts we are down to a skeleton crew, with Collections being one of the hardest hit areas. No one wants to pay taxes, but our tax system is based on voluntary compliance and in the past we have had around an 80% compliance rate, no longer. This filing season there was a significant drop in people filing and paying taxes and IRS no longer has the personnel to pursue those who aren’t filing and paying. This will lead to an even larger deficit because the funds Congress is counting on the pay for the parade, detention centers, etc. won’t be there. Add in the administrations requirement to stop focusing audits, collections, and fraud investigations against the wealthy and you have a recipe for disaster. All of this has been conveyed to Congress and the WH and they don’t care. Their goals are to make themselves and their donors wealthier, shield them from paying taxes, and continue to follow Project 2025.
As a Nurse, i am deeply concerned should this bill and future bills proposing tax cuts to medicare or medicaid. Our health system is already struggling and arguably broken in so many ways. We cannot handle the onslaught that will come when populations are getting even sicker down the line from lack of adequate care now.
Well it passed last night and is moving forward. The cowards scheduled the first meeting at 1am on Wednesday. I'm angry at these selfish Republicans who don't listen to their constituents and do whatever Trump and the Project 2025 team ask. I'm so very scared of the repercussions for our elderly, displaced, low income AND for the future we leave our young. Raging and heartbroken.
Thanks as always, Sharon, for a comprehensive look at this complicated topic. You're one of the sources I use to become better educated about government. One of the things I feel so frustrated with is the "sound bite" voter. Both parties are guilty of this and as a retired teacher I believe this is a result of under-educated voters. Reading and math are incredibly important, but so are the study of civics and history. As a nation, we need to do better as "we the people" are entrusted to choose our elected officials. This bill is massive and has many things that will impact us for years to come. No one will agree with everything, but I implore all citizens to PLEASE look past just the headlines and educate yourself. Policies over party!
When trump gets done with his reign of terror, this country will be unrecognizable. We will rebuild, but the cost of his uneducated vision will haunt us for decades. This is why I have no respect for anyone who voted for him, and I wish economic pain for all of them. I hope they suffer greatly for their votes.
I feel your same disdain only it’s for the previous administration and whoever was controlling the narrative that Biden was actually in charge. I am curious if the latest news regarding Biden’s health has changed any opinions from those on the left? Until those who continue to fail to acknowledge one of the biggest cover ups since Watergate actually admit we were all played (and demand answers), I have no capacity to listen to any criticism for the current administration.
I just call it like it is. If you think President Biden conducted himself in any way the same as don has actually done, then you are fooling yourself, and the truth isn’t what you’re after.
Surely you don’t still believe this whole thing is a CP!! I would have hoped by now you also would want answers as to who was actually calling the shots as well as who was assisting in covering up Biden’s health. I don’t believe it was a huge circle, but I have zero doubts it was occurring. (Cue up: Obama, Pelosi, Schumer, Harris, Jill Biden). There is no chance the timing of the news release regarding his cancer diagnosis today and the upcoming book releases and audio releases are coincidental. Not. A. Chance!!!
There actually is a chance, Robyn, because nothing that you have mentioned has yet been verified. It's just a story, based on some evidence (Biden's decline) and a whole lot of imagination, a satisfying series of connections based on personal and political bias, but that doesn't make it real. Like most conspiracy theories, it stands about as much chance of being real as you might stand to accurately call a coin toss: 50/50. So you absolutely could be right, but you're just as wise to understand that you could be wrong.
Which is why I won't say that Biden's cancer *couldn't* have been covered up, but will acknowledge that Biden's diagnosis story is one of many just like it, and it is equally possible for late-stage cancer to go completely undetected until randomly discovered. My biggest shock today has been learning how many people are apparently shocked by this very basic fact about prostate cancer.
To be fair, the aggressive nature of Biden’s prostate cancer strongly suggests the disease developed over the course of several years, making the idea of a sudden diagnosis highly implausible. Medical experts typically recognize such advanced cancer as the result of a prolonged progression, not a recent onset.
This fits the broader pattern of concealing Biden’s health issues, as we now know (most of us knew all along). The recently released audio from the Robert Hur interview shows Hur actually downplayed the severity of Biden’s cognitive decline, despite the widespread criticism of Hur at the time.
Considering all available evidence, it seems far more likely Biden’s inner circle was aware of his cancer diagnosis well before it was made public. And yet, they still pushed him to run again. It’s almost unbelievable, and it makes it clear just how little confidence they all had in Harris as a candidate.
Again, you could be right! My only note of caution is against believing that you *are* right and disregarding all other possibilities (and yes, that goes for ALL of us who presume to know what goes on behind closed doors in rooms we are not in).
This theory makes the most sense if you already assume the worst of the Biden family, administration, and/or Democrats broadly, the very same way that Trump's opponents will believe some extremely unsubstantiated things about him just because they do not like the man himself.
Because of course metastisized prostate cancer (aka, the "silent killer") can go completely undetected for years, even with regular exams and PSA testing (which is contraindicated for men over 70, though I'm not sure it's clear if Biden was still having that testing done). It can also progress through the stages of spreading from prostate to bone in a matter of months. At this point, picking one possibility over any other is a matter of choice, and that choice says as much about what we already believe to be true as it does about the facts of the situation.
Even if the cancer diagnosis came completely out of nowhere, does it really matter? The Hur interview happened in 2023. Have you had the opportunity to listen to any of the audio? Does that sound like someone who could realistically serve as president for another five years at that point? We understood why the administration was so determined to keep it quiet, despite the already available transcript, but it’s still deeply troubling. The extent to which they went to hide it, alongside a complicit mainstream media, is profoundly unethical.
While many on the left will go as far as saying they wish Biden had dropped out earlier to make way for a different candidate, many more still won’t acknowledge the truly disturbing reality: people inside this administration had to have known about Biden’s actual condition, and yet they actively worked to conceal it from the public while pushing him into a second term. That’s not just bad judgment, it’s a betrayal of public trust. Even Sharon avoids calling a spade a spade, choosing instead to frame Biden’s condition through the lens of her father and her personal experiences, an empathy she likely wouldn’t extend to Trump under similar circumstances.
I'm assuming the people involved in the cover-up believed a cognitively impaired Biden was the lesser evil compared to a second Trump term. That’s something they’ll have to reconcile for themselves. But let’s be honest, this is a major scandal, and yet it seems like only people on the right are willing to talk about it seriously.
"Even if the cancer diagnosis came completely out of nowhere, does it really matter"
It matters to this discussion because it's the very specific claim that kicked it all off, so in that vein it's specifically what I/we have been responding to.
"Does that sound like someone who could realistically serve as president for another five years at that point? We understood why the administration was so determined to keep it quiet, despite the already available transcript, but it’s still deeply troubling. The extent to which they went to hide it, alongside a complicit mainstream media, is profoundly unethical."
I haven't listened to the tapes, but that's more an auditory processing thing for me personally: I always prefer transcripts. I do also agree with you, personally, which I have stated before and will state here again, but that never seems to be *enough* because I don't also agree with the "And therefore..." speculations that inevitably follow. There is an allure to the certainty that follows from feeling like you've pieced together disparate pieces of an interconnected narrative, but I feel strongly that should be resisted - or at least be very honestly recognized as the headcanon that it is - and I don't really care who or what the speculation is about. "Now we see but through a glass darkly" and all that...we are all looking at the same bits of information, but our personal bias and the voices we trust will shift how we see those bits resolving into a larger picture.
"While many on the left will go as far as saying they wish Biden had dropped out earlier to make way for a different candidate, many more still won’t acknowledge the truly disturbing reality: people inside this administration had to have known about Biden’s actual condition, and yet they actively worked to conceal it from the public while pushing him into a second term. That’s not just bad judgment, it’s a betrayal of public trust."
Completely agreed! Even with the most generous reading - that many people, as I'm sure we've both witnessed, can remain in prolonged denial about the cognitive state of someone they care about, *especially* if that person continues to have good moments or good days (as Biden did, and it appears still does) - it is a vastly different thing to not grasp the reality of that person's decline when they are a private citizen versus being the leader of the free world. The moment administration personnel moved to start blocking outside observers from grasping the full picture of the President is the moment they should have had at least preliminary conversations about the 25th Amendment. Perhaps they did! We may never know.
"an empathy she likely wouldn’t extend to Trump under similar circumstances."
This right here? Speculation. WILD speculation, one that's unkind and ungenerous at that. It calls to mind how many people say that Trump would "never behave kindly/lovingly/selflessly/etc" cutting off his personal agency at the knees - nevermind denying him the grace of reconciliation - because we're convinced that we know a stranger's heart better than they know themselves. Does it help to assume the worst? We should be wise as serpents, but also innocent as doves: we can know what we've seen, but we should not claim to know what it *means* about what we have not seen. Claiming to know how people *truly* are in their deepest heart, or believing that we know how they act out of our sight, nurtures an unhealthy level of ego and pride within ourselves. We should at least have the humility to recognize that we are all just guessing, like blind men each trying to describe an elephant based on the small bit of information we have found.
"this is a major scandal, and yet it seems like only people on the right are willing to talk about it seriously."
I also agree with that! The blanket and immediate denial, dismissal, etc. from the left is not a good or healthy response. While yes, far too many on the right have swung over to adding this cancer diagnosis to their web of interconnected conspiracies about the Bidens, they're also talking about it more frankly than certainly many on the left seem comfortable doing.
I don't disagree with you and I think there are more people who typically vote Democrat that are discussing this than people realize. It might not be here on the Preamble. But it's happening. I've had the discussion with family and friends. I don't watch the news - no cable! So I don't know what cable news is saying or how. I typically read my news from a variety of sources and I found one thing interesting yesterday. A number of sources who I would consider left leaning were brutal about the announcement between the cognitive issues and especially the cancer diagnosis. And one more right leaning source was the most compassionate. I'm hopeful that we learn how to have those tough discussions because it's needed. About policy and political decisions and how we can move forward in a better way. Part of that is absolutely discussing why and how those around Biden decided protecting him was more important than the election. Another similar example is Diane Feinstein. She should have been out of Congress years before she was. Discussing Sharon's coverage of Trump - I remember her coverage after Trump's assassination attempt. She didn't belittle him or spread conspiracy theories - https://www.instagram.com/p/C9YefxWO4l9/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
I agree Emily. His cognitive issues paired with this is giving fodder to these conspiracy theories. Which again could be true! Could be false. I’m sure many of us know someone diagnosed with aggressive cancer what feels like out of nowhere.
The cognitive issues are why many of us who aren’t Trump fans didn’t want Biden to announce he was running again in 2022. And I can be angry at the way his small inner circle hid that and still feel bad when someone is given an aggressive cancer diagnosis.
I often think of how little we used to know about the President’s health and it’s kind of hysterical now. Like can we imagine Grover Cleveland in today’s media landscape having surgery on a boat to remove a tumor? Or the rumors of Reagans own cognitive decline and Nancy running things. Not that I *want* that to be the norm. Just we’ve come a long way as far as being privvy to important medical information.
I sincerely doubt that Josh Hawley gives a rats ass about morals, but he clearly does understand political suicide when he sees it. This is a regime that is perfectly fine with ridiculous amounts of waste, as long as their dear leader is happy.
I'm not sure what timeline I'm in that I find myself agreeing with Josh Hawley for a second time in a month, and I don't care for it. But at least his opposition helped. This bill is a joke and I'm angry that my tax money is going to a military parade and a useless golden dome.
Victoria, I’m from MO, and Josh (the Destroyer of Democracy) is my Senator. When he says something, “is both morally wrong and politically suicidal,” please know the man has no morals, only political ambitions. (Unless you consider being an admitted Christian Nationalist “morals.”)
You don’t really agree with him, because he doesn’t believe the lie he is telling.
Thank you for your anger, please put it to good use!
Oh I know what kind of dangerous human Hawley is. That why I don't like "agreeing" with him. Thanks!
Thank you, Victoria, for spreading the word!
What is your understanding of the golden dome?
That's it's money that can absolutely be spent in better places
Oh….. while I appreciate your personal input and opinion, do you know where I can find more information on it?
https://www.google.com/amp/s/thehill.com/policy/defense/5280612-trump-golden-dome-missile-defense/amp/
The White House website has their information on it, plenty of news sources from both sides have reported on it. Quick web search will do it. 🙂
Thank you!
Can we talk about how cutting people off Medicaid leads to more death and ultimately costs everyone more? When people can’t receive preventative or chronic care they end up in our ER’s. There they present much sicker and are at risk of dying a/o they receive unreimbursed care that the entire country pays for through tax dollars, long ER wait times, and shuttered hospitals. Wouldn’t it make a whole lot more sense to keep people on Medicaid? We spend $ for it regardless, but it’s much cheaper and morally responsible to do it on the front-end. Otherwise humans suffer needlessly. More often than not bad health, similar to poverty, is largely due to bad luck (and bad systems). We are willing to pay for a $45 million dollar parade but force millions of kids and disabled persons currently covered by Medicaid to not have health insurance? How does anyone support this? Why do people in Red states who depend on these types of resources continue to vote for the people who trash them? Trump’s own voters will be most harmed by this bill.
We also need to talk about the effect this will have on rural hospitals and medical care. Experts predict that this will lead to many closures in a care landscape that has already been teetering on the brink. When the closest hospital is 150 miles away, people will die.
I live in a rural area. We have a small hospital here. I need to find out what percentage of people who are seen there utilize medicaid. I worry our hospital would fail if enough people lose Medicaid/coverage under the ACA. After that the closest hospital is an hour away. It also makes me concerned about encouraging doctors to work here. It’s already difficult, when I say rural I mean rural. And not everyone wants that. At this point I don’t think any doctors in the county are taking new patients. Cuts to medicaid/aca could be harmful in that arena as well.
You’re right. It will certainly cost a lot of lives. What I think is missing from your comment is that the deaths are a feature, not a bug. The majority of the GOP is looking for a white nation where the vast majority works sixty to eighty hours a week, gets one week of vacation, and can’t afford health insurance. Everyone else can die out. It will take time to get there, but make no mistake they aren’t worried about the deaths of poor people.
Yes! I agree. This will cost everyone more in the long run.
This whole plan is disgusting. Unfortunately (and I certainly include myself in the blame for this), there probably won’t be many conservatives commenting on why any of this is necessary. So I’ll be Uncle Mike, the MAGA, for a sec. Why shouldn’t those Medicaid takers have stronger work requirements? Well, because, Uncle Mike, most Medicaid recipients already work. Federal data shows that in 2023, 44 percent of recipients worked full time, another 20 worked part time, and another 12 percent couldn’t work because they were family-caregivers, like those who have young children in the home. The rest were disabled, in school, retired, or looking for work and couldn’t find any. Many of those who work and receive Medicaid are on the program simply because they can’t afford private insurance—a problem the Affordable Care Act was meant to address when it was expanded. Great! If they already work then regular reapplying, processing and documentation will be easy! Sorry Uncle Mike, when two states tried this exact same thing in the past they had to shut it down because thousands of people who should’ve been eligible were kicked off due to poor websites, understaffed processing, onerousness of proof requirements, etc.
I just cannot believe that America is letting millions around the world face death and starvation due to the myth of fraud and abuse at USAID (less than 1% of the federal budget); has done absolutely nothing at all to ferret out waste, fraud and abuse in the gigantic, bloated military budget (more than 15% of the federal budget); is sending hordes of ICE agents out across the country to find and snatch people whose only transgression has been to work and live here without documentation and take them to detention camps run by private companies, costing us untold millions or billions and spending billions more for the stupid wall, all due to the myth of violent criminal immigrant hordes; will somehow justify cutting nutrition and healthcare to poor children in the U.S. with the fraud and abuse bogeymen; all the while making sure the wealthy and corporations, many of whom were already making record profits, keep their tax breaks. And that deficit and national debt that Republicans always hate when there’s a Democrat in the White House? Even with these draconian cuts it will skyrocket by the trillions from the tax breaks and trillions more from Republican decimation of the IRS. Looks like Trump’s billionaires will get what they paid for and the rest of us will be left to pick up the pieces.
Just think about it. Where is it written that we have to make things so, so difficult for the poorest among us, the people who are working multiple jobs, trying to take care of their families and just do all the right things, while giving even more breaks to the wealthiest among us? I know, it’s not written anywhere it’s just that some people have multi-million dollar lobbying budgets and some people just have their votes, assuming they can get over all of the hurdles in the way of even that.
Exactly--how are Republicans okay with increasing the deficit by trillions of dollars??
Because it doesn’t affect them, only their constituents. As their constituents, We have to make it painful for them.
These aren’t your grandpa’s republicans. This is the MAGA party. It exists to inflate 47’s ego and not much else.
I just saw an interview with Leavitt on Fox “News” and she adamantly claimed that there is NO increase to the deficit and in fact this plan is saving the country 1.6 trillion dollars.
So they are ok with this because apparently there will be no increase to deficit at all.
Well, if KL is "adamant" that the BBB won't increase the deficit, then it must be t--total BS.
*sigh* I hate our dystopian reality, with the cruelest people in charge.
Everyone call your reps and tell them to vote NO, no compromises!
Hi Sharon, thank you so much for all you do. I have a request. Would you mind breaking down why it’s so hard for kids to pay off their student loan debt vs 20-30 years ago. I think a lot of people at a certain age don’t understand. I think that would be very helpful.
She wrote a Preamble last week about student loans. If you haven’t read that yet it definitely gave me some clarity on the situation.
Hi Suzanne, here’s the link to last Wednesday’s Preamble that she wrote about this subject.
https://open.substack.com/pub/sharonmcmahon/p/the-student-loan-problem-isnt-what?r=40c0um&utm_medium=ios
I’ll call Ted Budd and Tillis. What’s interesting to me is when I graduated in 2008, I wasn’t really cognizant of the recession so much because of my privilege, but I can remember that ACA meant a lot of my friends could be on their parents insurance which was a huge advantage because Tricare had more stipulations and didn’t give military dependents the same benefits. That definitely affected my decision between keeping a full time job at the time vs spending money on school when I didn’t know what I wanted to do. How many people are being funneled into the workforce rather than trying to attain an ability to social climb via education, etc. I feel like all I hear about from people right now is trade school this, trade school that. It makes me paranoid there’s going to be a fallout again where they go through what I felt I went through. Years where I luckily didn’t get pregnant because I wasn’t making a wage that would carry to anything sustainable. And the AI stuff for 10 years seems incredibly negligible considering Jonathon Haidt’s reflections on Social Media and the lack of guardrails we put on that before unleashing it to the world. It makes me think by the time the working class that comes out of the generation gets their footing will AI take over? What are the jobs going to look like in 10 years while also basically incentivizing people to immediately get working when not everywhere is hiring, while also paving the way for AI. Do no laws mean no laws in favor and it’s just used experimentally or am I misunderstanding that part?
The AI portion is concerning to me, as well. 10 years is a LONG time, especially in the tech world.
Allison, the AI restriction is for Musk’s benefit. He hates restrictions on his projects. I would say it’s the most dangerous
/impactful long-term ingredient in this poison pill.
My previous job was as a hospice nurse and so many patients use the Medicaid hospice benefit…even people with private insurance. There is a ton of fraud in that industry and was part of the reason why I left…the non-profit I worked for was sold to a for-profit and I didn’t care for how they ran things. They would routinely admit elderly couples even if one didn’t really meet the criteria of “six months or less of life”. They did this to ensure the company would be getting their business when it was their time for hospice since they were already admitted. And they would essentially get double the reimbursement in the meantime. But it meant more work for the nurses and less time with patients who actually needed hospice care.
This is what galls me about DOGE and people who support it…they’re not really going after fraud, they’re just making life more difficult for those who need assistance. Instead of cutting spending by going after these businesses they’re taking benefits from people. It’s so backwards.
Gosh I really hate to hear about shady hospices. We have utilized hospice twice for our family and the providers and nurses were just amazing. It's such an important and needed service. The companies defrauding the government definitely need to be investigated.
Thank you Sharon for always being a reliable source of factual information.
This infuriates me. Countless people will suffer if this passes. We are the richest nation in the world and so many people are fighting tooth and nail for a right as basic as healthcare.
It's also terrifying that they included the right to basically shutter any nonprofit they disagree with. The AI stuff also feels pretty dystopian.
I don't know what else to say other than everyone keep contacting your reps. 😮💨
It has now passed out of the House Committee https://www.npr.org/2025/05/19/nx-s1-5403378/trump-house-conservatives-budget-bill
How unsurprising. Not a single Republican has a backbone anymore.
I am guessing the bill does not include the common sense infrastructure investment in new technology for the IRS. I know Sharon has said many times they are working on very old equipment, which limits them in who they can hire and in their ability to collect the tax we are actually owed. It would be great if we redirected some of the military spending proposed here (who is threatening us with missiles urgently enough that we need a Golden Dome?) into a department that could actually help collect revenue that we can then use to bolster various government programs.
As someone who has worked for the IRS for 20+ years, we were given funds under the Inflation Reduction Act to modernize and were on track to do just that and republicans clawed back the majority of those funds leaving our modernization efforts on hold. IRS collects 95% of the revenue for the nation and this administration has gutted this agency. At the beginning of this year we were understaffed, but had been hiring and were getting closer to our staffing goals, now through executive orders, hiring freeze (review one of his first EOs and it puts IRS on an indefinite hiring freeze), and mandatory staffing cuts we are down to a skeleton crew, with Collections being one of the hardest hit areas. No one wants to pay taxes, but our tax system is based on voluntary compliance and in the past we have had around an 80% compliance rate, no longer. This filing season there was a significant drop in people filing and paying taxes and IRS no longer has the personnel to pursue those who aren’t filing and paying. This will lead to an even larger deficit because the funds Congress is counting on the pay for the parade, detention centers, etc. won’t be there. Add in the administrations requirement to stop focusing audits, collections, and fraud investigations against the wealthy and you have a recipe for disaster. All of this has been conveyed to Congress and the WH and they don’t care. Their goals are to make themselves and their donors wealthier, shield them from paying taxes, and continue to follow Project 2025.
And that right there is one of the most glaring examples of waste in the whole federal government!
I am so sorry that you have to go through that, Allison. Thanks for adding your perspective!
Waiting until there’s a military threat = too late…
As a Nurse, i am deeply concerned should this bill and future bills proposing tax cuts to medicare or medicaid. Our health system is already struggling and arguably broken in so many ways. We cannot handle the onslaught that will come when populations are getting even sicker down the line from lack of adequate care now.
Well it passed last night and is moving forward. The cowards scheduled the first meeting at 1am on Wednesday. I'm angry at these selfish Republicans who don't listen to their constituents and do whatever Trump and the Project 2025 team ask. I'm so very scared of the repercussions for our elderly, displaced, low income AND for the future we leave our young. Raging and heartbroken.
Thanks as always, Sharon, for a comprehensive look at this complicated topic. You're one of the sources I use to become better educated about government. One of the things I feel so frustrated with is the "sound bite" voter. Both parties are guilty of this and as a retired teacher I believe this is a result of under-educated voters. Reading and math are incredibly important, but so are the study of civics and history. As a nation, we need to do better as "we the people" are entrusted to choose our elected officials. This bill is massive and has many things that will impact us for years to come. No one will agree with everything, but I implore all citizens to PLEASE look past just the headlines and educate yourself. Policies over party!
When trump gets done with his reign of terror, this country will be unrecognizable. We will rebuild, but the cost of his uneducated vision will haunt us for decades. This is why I have no respect for anyone who voted for him, and I wish economic pain for all of them. I hope they suffer greatly for their votes.
I feel your same disdain only it’s for the previous administration and whoever was controlling the narrative that Biden was actually in charge. I am curious if the latest news regarding Biden’s health has changed any opinions from those on the left? Until those who continue to fail to acknowledge one of the biggest cover ups since Watergate actually admit we were all played (and demand answers), I have no capacity to listen to any criticism for the current administration.
To be nonpartisan is to remain critical of all sides.
The be nonpartisan is to not state a deeply partisan conspiracy theory as proven fact.
Oh the kool aid is flowing with you.
Exactly the reply expected. Sadly, most commenters here are guilty of what you accused.
I just call it like it is. If you think President Biden conducted himself in any way the same as don has actually done, then you are fooling yourself, and the truth isn’t what you’re after.
Surely you don’t still believe this whole thing is a CP!! I would have hoped by now you also would want answers as to who was actually calling the shots as well as who was assisting in covering up Biden’s health. I don’t believe it was a huge circle, but I have zero doubts it was occurring. (Cue up: Obama, Pelosi, Schumer, Harris, Jill Biden). There is no chance the timing of the news release regarding his cancer diagnosis today and the upcoming book releases and audio releases are coincidental. Not. A. Chance!!!
There actually is a chance, Robyn, because nothing that you have mentioned has yet been verified. It's just a story, based on some evidence (Biden's decline) and a whole lot of imagination, a satisfying series of connections based on personal and political bias, but that doesn't make it real. Like most conspiracy theories, it stands about as much chance of being real as you might stand to accurately call a coin toss: 50/50. So you absolutely could be right, but you're just as wise to understand that you could be wrong.
Which is why I won't say that Biden's cancer *couldn't* have been covered up, but will acknowledge that Biden's diagnosis story is one of many just like it, and it is equally possible for late-stage cancer to go completely undetected until randomly discovered. My biggest shock today has been learning how many people are apparently shocked by this very basic fact about prostate cancer.
To be fair, the aggressive nature of Biden’s prostate cancer strongly suggests the disease developed over the course of several years, making the idea of a sudden diagnosis highly implausible. Medical experts typically recognize such advanced cancer as the result of a prolonged progression, not a recent onset.
This fits the broader pattern of concealing Biden’s health issues, as we now know (most of us knew all along). The recently released audio from the Robert Hur interview shows Hur actually downplayed the severity of Biden’s cognitive decline, despite the widespread criticism of Hur at the time.
Considering all available evidence, it seems far more likely Biden’s inner circle was aware of his cancer diagnosis well before it was made public. And yet, they still pushed him to run again. It’s almost unbelievable, and it makes it clear just how little confidence they all had in Harris as a candidate.
Again, you could be right! My only note of caution is against believing that you *are* right and disregarding all other possibilities (and yes, that goes for ALL of us who presume to know what goes on behind closed doors in rooms we are not in).
This theory makes the most sense if you already assume the worst of the Biden family, administration, and/or Democrats broadly, the very same way that Trump's opponents will believe some extremely unsubstantiated things about him just because they do not like the man himself.
Because of course metastisized prostate cancer (aka, the "silent killer") can go completely undetected for years, even with regular exams and PSA testing (which is contraindicated for men over 70, though I'm not sure it's clear if Biden was still having that testing done). It can also progress through the stages of spreading from prostate to bone in a matter of months. At this point, picking one possibility over any other is a matter of choice, and that choice says as much about what we already believe to be true as it does about the facts of the situation.
Even if the cancer diagnosis came completely out of nowhere, does it really matter? The Hur interview happened in 2023. Have you had the opportunity to listen to any of the audio? Does that sound like someone who could realistically serve as president for another five years at that point? We understood why the administration was so determined to keep it quiet, despite the already available transcript, but it’s still deeply troubling. The extent to which they went to hide it, alongside a complicit mainstream media, is profoundly unethical.
While many on the left will go as far as saying they wish Biden had dropped out earlier to make way for a different candidate, many more still won’t acknowledge the truly disturbing reality: people inside this administration had to have known about Biden’s actual condition, and yet they actively worked to conceal it from the public while pushing him into a second term. That’s not just bad judgment, it’s a betrayal of public trust. Even Sharon avoids calling a spade a spade, choosing instead to frame Biden’s condition through the lens of her father and her personal experiences, an empathy she likely wouldn’t extend to Trump under similar circumstances.
I'm assuming the people involved in the cover-up believed a cognitively impaired Biden was the lesser evil compared to a second Trump term. That’s something they’ll have to reconcile for themselves. But let’s be honest, this is a major scandal, and yet it seems like only people on the right are willing to talk about it seriously.
"Even if the cancer diagnosis came completely out of nowhere, does it really matter"
It matters to this discussion because it's the very specific claim that kicked it all off, so in that vein it's specifically what I/we have been responding to.
"Does that sound like someone who could realistically serve as president for another five years at that point? We understood why the administration was so determined to keep it quiet, despite the already available transcript, but it’s still deeply troubling. The extent to which they went to hide it, alongside a complicit mainstream media, is profoundly unethical."
I haven't listened to the tapes, but that's more an auditory processing thing for me personally: I always prefer transcripts. I do also agree with you, personally, which I have stated before and will state here again, but that never seems to be *enough* because I don't also agree with the "And therefore..." speculations that inevitably follow. There is an allure to the certainty that follows from feeling like you've pieced together disparate pieces of an interconnected narrative, but I feel strongly that should be resisted - or at least be very honestly recognized as the headcanon that it is - and I don't really care who or what the speculation is about. "Now we see but through a glass darkly" and all that...we are all looking at the same bits of information, but our personal bias and the voices we trust will shift how we see those bits resolving into a larger picture.
"While many on the left will go as far as saying they wish Biden had dropped out earlier to make way for a different candidate, many more still won’t acknowledge the truly disturbing reality: people inside this administration had to have known about Biden’s actual condition, and yet they actively worked to conceal it from the public while pushing him into a second term. That’s not just bad judgment, it’s a betrayal of public trust."
Completely agreed! Even with the most generous reading - that many people, as I'm sure we've both witnessed, can remain in prolonged denial about the cognitive state of someone they care about, *especially* if that person continues to have good moments or good days (as Biden did, and it appears still does) - it is a vastly different thing to not grasp the reality of that person's decline when they are a private citizen versus being the leader of the free world. The moment administration personnel moved to start blocking outside observers from grasping the full picture of the President is the moment they should have had at least preliminary conversations about the 25th Amendment. Perhaps they did! We may never know.
"an empathy she likely wouldn’t extend to Trump under similar circumstances."
This right here? Speculation. WILD speculation, one that's unkind and ungenerous at that. It calls to mind how many people say that Trump would "never behave kindly/lovingly/selflessly/etc" cutting off his personal agency at the knees - nevermind denying him the grace of reconciliation - because we're convinced that we know a stranger's heart better than they know themselves. Does it help to assume the worst? We should be wise as serpents, but also innocent as doves: we can know what we've seen, but we should not claim to know what it *means* about what we have not seen. Claiming to know how people *truly* are in their deepest heart, or believing that we know how they act out of our sight, nurtures an unhealthy level of ego and pride within ourselves. We should at least have the humility to recognize that we are all just guessing, like blind men each trying to describe an elephant based on the small bit of information we have found.
"this is a major scandal, and yet it seems like only people on the right are willing to talk about it seriously."
I also agree with that! The blanket and immediate denial, dismissal, etc. from the left is not a good or healthy response. While yes, far too many on the right have swung over to adding this cancer diagnosis to their web of interconnected conspiracies about the Bidens, they're also talking about it more frankly than certainly many on the left seem comfortable doing.
I don't disagree with you and I think there are more people who typically vote Democrat that are discussing this than people realize. It might not be here on the Preamble. But it's happening. I've had the discussion with family and friends. I don't watch the news - no cable! So I don't know what cable news is saying or how. I typically read my news from a variety of sources and I found one thing interesting yesterday. A number of sources who I would consider left leaning were brutal about the announcement between the cognitive issues and especially the cancer diagnosis. And one more right leaning source was the most compassionate. I'm hopeful that we learn how to have those tough discussions because it's needed. About policy and political decisions and how we can move forward in a better way. Part of that is absolutely discussing why and how those around Biden decided protecting him was more important than the election. Another similar example is Diane Feinstein. She should have been out of Congress years before she was. Discussing Sharon's coverage of Trump - I remember her coverage after Trump's assassination attempt. She didn't belittle him or spread conspiracy theories - https://www.instagram.com/p/C9YefxWO4l9/?utm_source=ig_web_copy_link&igsh=MzRlODBiNWFlZA==
I agree Emily. His cognitive issues paired with this is giving fodder to these conspiracy theories. Which again could be true! Could be false. I’m sure many of us know someone diagnosed with aggressive cancer what feels like out of nowhere.
The cognitive issues are why many of us who aren’t Trump fans didn’t want Biden to announce he was running again in 2022. And I can be angry at the way his small inner circle hid that and still feel bad when someone is given an aggressive cancer diagnosis.
I often think of how little we used to know about the President’s health and it’s kind of hysterical now. Like can we imagine Grover Cleveland in today’s media landscape having surgery on a boat to remove a tumor? Or the rumors of Reagans own cognitive decline and Nancy running things. Not that I *want* that to be the norm. Just we’ve come a long way as far as being privvy to important medical information.
This bill seems criminal.
I sincerely doubt that Josh Hawley gives a rats ass about morals, but he clearly does understand political suicide when he sees it. This is a regime that is perfectly fine with ridiculous amounts of waste, as long as their dear leader is happy.