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House Republicans passed a federal budget bill by a vote of 215 - 214
early Thursday morning that includes massive cuts for Medicare and
Medicaid in order to extend tax breaks to billionaires. The vote came
after Democrats forced delays for more than 24 hours with amendments and procedural challenges, in what may be the closest thing possible to a filibuster in the House.

Two Republicans, Massie and Davidson, voted against the bill, and
Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris voted "Present." All Democrats voted
against.

The budget bill H.R. 1, known as "One Big Beautiful Bill" based on
Trump-speak, drastically cuts funding for public services, including
Medicare, Medicaid, and food assistance programs, while extending tax
cuts for billionaires, in one of the biggest transfers of wealth in
American history from the most vulnerable in this nation to the most
wealthy.

Republicans had scheduled a Rules Committee hearing for 1am Eastern Time Wednesday - when no one would be watching - to advance the bill to the
floor. House Democrats, starting with Leader Hakeem Jeffries, lined up
for hours starting at 1am to introduce over 500 amendments to the bill
during 5 minute speeches each, causing the Rules Committee hearing to go
on and on through the day and into the next night.

When the bill finally made it out of committee and went to the House
floor, Democrats continued to delay by introducing procedural challenges
to the rules. Rules on the bill finally passed the House at 2:30am
Eastern Time Thursday, with floor debate on the bill itself finally
beginning at 3am, over one full day after the Rules Committee gaveled
in.

"Democrats have given Republicans more than 500 opportunities to protect working-class Americans - and Republicans have sided with the
billionaires each time," Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin
said in a statement. "Despite fully knowing the devastating
consequences, Republicans are jamming through a budget that puts
struggling Americans last and the most callous elites first. Voters will remember this betrayal."

According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, the bill
would drastically cut federal spending on programs for the bottom 10% of Americans, while increasing federal benefits for the top 10%, all while exploding the federal deficit by $3.8 trillion.

"The agency estimates that in general, resources would decrease for
households in the lowest decile (tenth) of the income distribution,
whereas resources would increase for households in the highest decile,"
the CBO report reads.

The CBO also stated that the bill would trigger $500 billion in
automatic cuts to Medicare under the Statutory Pay-As-You-Go (PAYGO)
Act.

"This Republican budget bill is one of the most expensive-and
dangerous-bills Congress has seen in decades," Pennsylvania Democrat
Brendan F. Boyle, Ranking Member of the House Budget Committee said.
"The nonpartisan CBO makes it clear: the deficit will explode so badly
it will trigger automatic cuts, including over half a trillion dollars
from Medicare."

According to the CBO, effects of the bill include:

An increase in the federal deficit of $3.8 trillion attributable to tax changes, including extending provisions of the 2017 tax act $698 billion
less in federal subsidies from changes to the Medicaid program $267
billion less in federal spending for SNAP $64 billion less in spending,
on net, for all other purposes. That includes increases in outlays for
defense, immigration enforcement, and homeland security. Those are
offset by reductions in federal pensions, receipts from spectrum
auctions, and changes in receipts and outlays associated with changes to emissions regulations $78 billion in additional state spending, on net, accounting for changes in state contributions to SNAP and Medicaid and
for state tax and spending policies necessary to finance additional
spending. The bill also contains multiple extremist MAGA policies,
including:

Increasing ICE funding to nearly $80 billion
$351 billion in cuts to student aid - including ending Biden's student
debt forgiveness program and making it harder to qualify for Pell Grants Greenlighting fossil fuel extraction on public lands
Dismantling protections for federal workers and independent oversight
agencies Killing green energy funding from the Inflation Reduction Act -
and adding a new tax on EVs Limiting federal judges' authority and
making it easier for Congress to sabotage future regulations Several Republicans in the Senate have stated the bill is dead on arrival
because of the tax burden it forces on states.

MeidasTouch Co-Founder Ben Meiselas sat down with several House
Democrats for exclusive interviews about the MAGA Republican budget bill
prior to the final vote:

https://meidasnews.com/news/republicans-pass-bill-gutting-medicare-and-me dicaid-in-middle-of-night-vote

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