The Awful Alliterative Bill
On July 3, just hours before Trump’s vaunted deadline of July 4, the House of Representatives passed the 900-page domestic spending bill that Trump had christened with an alliterative name that we will not dignify here. The bill passed with all but two Republicans voting for it, and all Democrats voting against. Key elements of the bill include extending tax cuts passed in 2017 during the first Trump administration, new tax cuts for income on tips and overtime, and increased funding for defense and so-called border security. It also cuts approximately $1 trillion from Medicaid, and more from other government assistance to the poor. It phases out tax credits passed during the Biden administration for clean energy projects. And it increases the federal debt limit to $5 trillion “a measure Republicans are typically unwilling to support,” in the words of the New York Times, but “necessary to avert a federal default later this year.”