Transcript
Host or Commentator (0:00)
The latest on the Big beautiful bill in President Trump's agenda. Also, what's the deal with Europe? All of that and more today on a post Memorial Day 10 minute drill. Everybody get up. Get up. The story of America is the story of an adventure.
Donald Trump (0:17)
I can hear you. The rest of the world hears you. We are a nation under God and I believe God intended for us to be free.
Host or Commentator (0:30)
On this vote, the yeas are 215. The nays are 214 with one answering present. The bill is passed. Now the Republicans in the House of Representatives have passed President Trump's big beautiful bill. A massive victory for Speaker Johnson and leaders in the House that will move on to the Senate. But what we want to talk about today is, is some of the political dynamics around that bill. One thing that we talked about last week is the fact that pieces in this bill are overwhelmingly popular. Everyone believes it is time for a tax cut. They see the cost of living, they have a little bit of economic anxiety and they believe they should get a tax cut. We've seen polling that shows about 60 to 70% of people agree with that point. We also know that there's major support for shoring up our immigration system and providing more funding for, for deporting illegal immigrants, particularly those who have a criminal record. Another part of the Big Beautiful bill program. But the third component of this that is particularly important is the popularity of cutting, waste, fraud and abuse. We have seen polling from the beginning of the Trump administration that people believe there is major fraud, waste and abuse in government. And one of the places where that is most prominent is in these programs like Medicaid and snap, the food assistance programs. We've talked a lot about Medicaid. We've talked about the fact that over a million illegal immigrants are currently getting Medicaid benefits, actually slowing down and harming that program. We've also talked about the fact that 6 to 8 million more people are currently getting Medicaid who are ineligible for the program. And what this bill will do is institute work requirements and other state level checks to ensure that people are not getting Medicaid benefits who should not be getting Medicaid benefits. That's an incredibly important part of this. You cannot say you support Medicaid and you want Medicaid to serve future generations. If you're also arguing that those benefits need to go to illegal immigrants and need to go to people who are able bodied who should not be getting those benefits. SNAP is another program with similar eligibility issues. According to the House Agricultural Committee during the Pandemic SNAP rules increased by 6 million people. States make $13 billion a year in erroneous payments. Only 28% of able bodied adults without dependence on SNAP have earned income from work. It's so important to remember that these safety net programs began as a widows and orphans program. They are intended for the most vulnerable. But over the years under President Obama, but also during the pandemic, rules around them were relaxed to make it easier for people to get around those eligibility requirements and to get around work requirements so that this program began serving millions and millions of able bodied people who are making the program more bloated, more expensive, but also less able to to provide those services for the widows and orphans they were built for. One analogy I think of when I look at these programs that do provide a critical resource. Consider if you are on a desert island with four friends and you've got one pizza to survive and one of your four friends says we can only eat that pizza if we also throw a portion of it into the ocean so nobody can get it. That's the same thing that Democrats are arguing right now with SNAP and Medicaid. This program can only serve the widows and orphans and people who actually need it. If you also put a portion of it, two people who should not be on the program at all, whether it be illegal immigrants, ineligible people, things like that. You cannot say you support SNAP or Medicaid serving widows, orphans, low income children, anyone who needs it. If you're also arguing that it has to go to illegal immigrants, able bodied young men who should be working and get insurance and SNAP food benefits through any other programs, it just doesn't work. You have to pick one, one or the other. And that's gonna be Democrats challenge as they message against this. People overwhelmingly have concerns about fraud, waste and abuse even in Medicaid and snap. And if we don't address this now, when do you think another president's gonna come along who can say let's take an ax to the fraud, waste and abuse. And I also think it's important to look at all the forces that are working against making those simple cuts to fraud, waste and abuse. Look at CBO who has worked now for decades to against any effort to cut fraud, waste and abuse. Every time that there's an effort to reform or cut spending on anything, CBO's specific data is positioned to work against those reforms. But look at the media, look at Democrats and look at every left wing group that lines up to say they're hurting the poorest among us. When these reforms are actually intended to help the poorest among us by making sure that these small resources available to them are not being divvied up among people that shouldn't have access to them, like illegal immigrants and able bodied young adults. Take a look at this clip from Ayanna Pressley.