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Political Commentator
This MAGA Republican budget bill blowing up already? They're calling it a big beautiful bill, but it looks like a big beautiful disaster. MAGA Republican Senator Ron Johnson from Wisconsin was on right wing propaganda media today and he was sending a message saying we don't know what the hell these MAGAs are doing in the House of Representatives, but we ain't supporting what they're doing in the Senate. That was an interesting note. Let's play this clip arguing over, you.
Senator
Know, additional tax provisions and getting down to a reasonable pre pandemic spending level. But that's not the path we chose. So I think the sooner we acknowledge the fact that this current effort is doomed to fail. I'm so, I'm sorry, I've got a disagreed present on this. It's doomed to fail. I'm not going to vote for it. I know a number of senators who will not even come. We're not even contemplating this. This is not right now as it's being written. We would actually increase the deficit. Yeah, I don't think many people realize that we would actually increase the deficit. That's a complete non starter. So no, we're, we're not even close.
Political Commentator
It's not Memorial. But if you were to listen to MAGA Mike Johnson and some of the reporting we did earlier in the day, you know, you would say it's all going well. It's one big beautiful bill. The beautiful bill. So big. It's beautiful. It's going amazing. So the other tact that I guess this Trump regime is taking now is that when they send their people to even show up before committees that oversee, you know, budgets, whether that's in the House of Representatives or the Senate, like they don't even do their homework. And when I was watching this clip of Cash Patel who somehow the FBI director showing up in front of the Senate without submitting the most basic outline of what the FBI budget is and seeing Senator Murray say where's, where's the budget? Like can I look at it? And cash? But I was like, it's not ready. It just reminds me of the like the kid who just doesn't does his home, who doesn't do his homework. At the most basic level, it's just like competence. Here, watch this.
Congressman Brendan Boyle
I have a timeline on that.
Shopify Representative
It was due last week by law.
Congressman Brendan Boyle
I understand.
Shopify Representative
And your answer is you just understand you're not going to follow the law.
Congressman Brendan Boyle
My answer is that I am following the law and I'm working with my interagency partners to do this and get you the budget that you are required to have.
Shopify Representative
And you have no timeline.
Congressman Brendan Boyle
No.
Political Commentator
And you know, the MAGA Republicans though, in the House were focused on all the most important pressing issues as our economy is shrinking, as Main street regular folk, regular Americans are suffering. As Donald Trump is saying, your little girls give them one doll, only five pencils. That's what Trump regime central planning is saying. Here's what they were focused on in the House of Representatives. MAGA Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who launched massive Doge hearing on USA fencing yesterday, followed up with a doozy. Here, play this clip.
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene
Honored to be here today in front of the American people as we debate the merits of the Gulf of America Act. This would rename the body of water formerly known as the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. This is such an important thing to do for the American people. The American people.
Political Commentator
It's about as much as I can handle of hearing her voice. Let's bring in Democratic Congressmember Brandon Boyle. Congressmember Boyle, you're the ranking member on the Budget Committee. But let's, I guess, first talk about, let's first talk about the status of the budget, what's going on there. Then let's move in, talk about the economy and some other things. When you see all those clips, what the hell is going on here?
Congressman Brendan Boyle
When I see all those clips, I think, my God, why did I run for Congress? Why am I doing this, calling someone like Marjorie Taylor Greene a colleague? So aside from rethinking my life's choices, I will say that in terms of the budget and the big beautiful bill for billionaires that Donald Trump and Mike Johnson are pushing, I think at this moment, well, there are two things. First, Republicans have scheduled markups, basically voting committee meetings in a few very important committees, including Ways and Means, on which I serve, and Budget Committee, also on which I serve as the lead Democrat or ranking member. Ways and Means has been scheduled for Tuesday of next week and Budget has been scheduled for Friday. However, despite their scheduling those voting meetings, I have to say at this moment I don't think they're anywhere close to having a final bill. And here's why. Ron Johnson, who's a very conservative senator from Wisconsin, a conspiracy theorist, he alluded to the fact quite accurately, they are badly internally divided. On the other side, they're divided on Medicaid cuts. You have a group in the House led by the Freedom Caucus, who continue to push the largest cuts to Medicaid in American history, would absolutely devastate the program. You have some moderate Republicans who want no cuts to Medicaid or very small cuts. You also have the SALT issue, the ability to deduct state and local income taxes. When that cap came into place by Donald Trump and Republicans eight years ago, it basically became a middle class tax increase in places like Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, California, Virginia and some other states. So those are two of the big issues for internal disagreements between House Republicans and Senate Republicans, also within the House Republican Conference. So at this moment, I have to say, unless real progress is made over the next 48 hours, I do not believe the happy talk from Mike Johnson. And I'll believe that we really have vote next week when I say it.
Political Commentator
I want to share this next clip with you as we talk about the overall state of our economy right now. The Trump propaganda machine, before the election, you know, they would have these MAGA parents dress up their little girls in the MAGA shirts and they would talk about how Trump was gonna make their Barbies cheaper. This was actually part of the campaign that Trump was running. Here, let me show you this clip. For example, what do you want him to do? What do you want him to say today? I want him. I want him to lower prices and lower the taxes and make Barbies cheaper. Make Barbies cheaper.
Congressman Brendan Boyle
Yeah.
Political Commentator
Tell me more about that. Have they gotten expensive? Yeah.
Congressman Brendan Boyle
And Polly Pockets, all my favorite toys are so expensive.
Political Commentator
And now you got, now you got this guy, you got Trump up there literally saying, you know, while he's doing deals with the Abu Dhabi Fund for his crypto and Trump resorts in Qatar, I saw a report the Trump family's net worth increased by $2.6 billion just over the past 100 days. He says, little girls, you get. I can't believe I'm actually quoting the guy. He's like, you get two dolls and five pencils and they'll cost more and you shouldn't complain about it. What do you make about all that? But more seriously, just the state of the economy right now and how Main Street's feeling.
Congressman Brendan Boyle
Yeah, I mean, I have an 11 year old daughter. Good luck telling my daughter that she will get two dolls and five pencils, by the way. I think she'll happily trade the pencils from her dolls is my impression, at least based on one 11 year old girl. The reality is that Donald Trump is probably the greatest con man in American history. And he was able to convince a lot of people, especially in my state of Pennsylvania, that he would actually bring down costs and make their lives better. And just the last three months, the exact opposite has happened. And this isn't my opinion. We don't have to take my word for it or any Democrats word for it. Just last week, Trump's own Labor department released the receipts. The first quarter, contrary to everyone's prediction, a few months ago, the economy actually contracted. We are right now in a recession. No one was predicting that. No conservative economists, no liberal economist. No one was predicting that we're in a recession. We are in a contracting economy. And at the same time, prices are going up. Inflation jumped from the low 2% range to the mid threes. That's the biggest jump we've seen since the COVID pandemic. So this economy is in a bad place and it is entirely because of Trump's tariffs. And everyone knows that no amount even the greatest con man in the history of America, Donald Trump, can't get people to believe things that are so contrary to to their own lives and their own experiences. So there's a reason why Trump's approval rating has actually dropped faster than any new president in the history of polling. And I think it's going to continue to get worse because in all likelihood, the quarter that we're in right now, the data will actually come out and show that things are far worse than even it was in the first quarter because we're just now starting to see the full impact of the Trump massive tariffs.
Political Commentator
You know, I've called this Trump regime the Ponzi scheme presidency or the rug pull presidency. And it seems rather than unlocking actually how to benefit the people, in his own mind, he's like, oh, I can unlock a new Ponzi scheme and a new scam. And the new one that he seems to do is that he's realized with his tariff war against the world, that if he makes certain statements about a new deal, it impacts the markets and the markets get manipulated based on his statements and there's incredible volatility, but people can make a lot of money on it. So he'll say something like, I did a trade deal with the uk he didn't Do a trade deal with the uk. He talked about doing something with Range Rovers and that the price of a Range Rover goes from 20%, tariffs 25 to 10% when they were 0% a while ago. He's like, we're talking to China when he was not talking to China. And then he'll attack China. And to me, then you have this market volatility which also abstracts the GDP contraction and all these other systemic issues that you're seeing. So what do you think along those lines around the kind of what's going on in the markets and what's going on in people's kitchen tables?
Congressman Brendan Boyle
Well, again, here are the numbers. I mean, the Dow Jones down since the Trump presidency began. S&P 500 down since the Trump presidency began. Nasdaq down since the Trump presidency began. All of those were up just a few months ago. There's a tremendous amount of volatility. And we're actually seeing at the beginning of the year again, just a few months ago, everyone was projecting there would be three Fed cuts of about 75 basis points. So that would have a dramatic impact in lowering people's mortgages and lowering people's auto loans. Now the likelihood is we won't have any Fed cuts. Why? Because of the Trump inflation that he caused as a result of his tariffs. As far as trade deals, I mentioned before, I serve on Ways and Means Committee. I'm on the Trade Subcommittee. We have jurisdiction over that. So I will have the opportunity to review this so called US UK Trade deal. Look, I would welcome a trade deal with the European Union, which is a market of almost 500 million people. A trade deal with the UK, a trade deal with Canada, trade deal with Mexico. But Donald Trump announcing that he has a trade agreement is a little like the arsonist claiming credit for putting out one of the fires he started. After all, Donald Trump is the person who came in and slapped tariffs on all these countries. We already had a trade deal with Canada in operation. It was one actually. Donald Trump negotiated along with Democrats in Congress in 2019. So I go back to what I said before. Donald Trump is the ultimate con man. This is just one big reality show for him. He loves the attention. He loves having the media into the Oval Office. He loves doing those bogus signings of executive orders, many of which aren't even real executive orders. They're essentially press releases. He just loves the show. And it's just sad to me, and I have to admit I'll never quite understand it, how many people have actually been suckered by him and believe his tremendous amount of bs.
Political Commentator
And on that last point, getting suckered by the BS while their Medicaid, while their healthcare is on the line, and.
Congressman Brendan Boyle
While Trump makes billions off it, while he makes billions, people will be poor as a result of it.
Political Commentator
You know, we saw the CBO nonpartisan scoring of what would actually happen with people losing health care, millions of people losing health care. You know, off of what these MAGA Republicans are doing. Can you speak to the. The attack on Medicaid, though, and what that really means for Americans? I know MAGA Republicans were talking about shifting all of the kind of Medicaid cost share to states, which would basically, in many states that have trigger laws mean no Medicaid at all, or even if they didn't have trigger laws, they're not able to fund it. So what's going on there?
Congressman Brendan Boyle
Yeah, I mean, so first, the House passed. The House Republicans passed the bill, their first part of reconciliation that we Talked about earlier. $880 billion worth of cuts to Medicaid, by far the biggest in American history. There's some Senate Republicans who want to chop that figure down to about $500 billion. Well, okay. They would still be the biggest Medicaid cuts in American history and still have a devastating impact. Now, some of them will attempt to pull the wool over the eyes of the American people and say, oh, no, they're not taking away Medicaid. We're shifting the cost to the states. Yeah, you're shifting the cost to states who don't have the money to do it. Keep in mind that I'll just use my state as an example. Pennsylvania Medicaid represents more money to the state of Pennsylvania than all of the other federal dollars we give Pennsylvania combined. And that's pretty representative, actually, of the way the financing works. So the reality is, for the 44% of people in my district who are on Medicaid, for the other tens of millions of people on Medicaid nationwide, they will lose Medicaid coverage, or if they don't lose Medicaid coverage entirely, depending on their state, they will see a drop in what that coverage actually covers. This will have a devastating impact and why, in order to help subsidize tax cuts for the top 1% of Americans. It's truly immoral. It's bad economics. It really shows you that Trump's economic policy is a rich man's war, poor man's fight.
Political Commentator
Congressman Brendan Boyle, thanks for joining us as always. I'm sure you're gonna be coming back here as we go through whatever the next steps are of this big, beautiful disaster called the MAGA Republican Budget Bill. Thank you so much.
Congressman Brendan Boyle
Thank you everybody.
Political Commentator
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The MeidasTouch Podcast: Rep. Brendan Boyle on Trump’s Big Disastrous Budget
Release Date: May 11, 2025
Introduction
In this episode of The MeidasTouch Podcast, hosts Ben, Brett, and Jordy Meiselas engage in a deep conversation with Democratic Congressmember Brendan Boyle. The discussion centers around the controversial MAGA Republican budget bill promoted by former President Donald Trump and fellow Republicans. The episode delves into the bill's implications for American democracy, the economy, and everyday citizens, while highlighting internal divisions within the Republican Party.
Overview of the MAGA Republican Budget Bill
The podcast begins with a critique of the MAGA Republican budget bill, which has been dubbed a "big beautiful bill" by its proponents. However, Congressmember Boyle vehemently opposes this characterization, labeling it a "big beautiful disaster."
Congressmember Boyle elaborates on the bill's shortcomings, emphasizing its potential to increase the national deficit and its failure to address pre-pandemic spending levels responsibly.
Internal Divisions Among Republicans
A significant portion of the discussion highlights the fractures within the Republican Party. Senator Ron Johnson's skepticism towards the budget bill exemplifies the lack of unified support.
Boyle points out that disagreements over Medicaid cuts and the SALT (State and Local Tax) deduction cap are causing major rifts.
Impact on Medicaid and Healthcare
One of the most alarming aspects of the budget bill is its proposed cuts to Medicaid, which Congressmember Boyle describes as the most significant reductions in American history. These cuts threaten to strip millions of Americans of their healthcare coverage.
He further explains how shifting Medicaid costs to states would disproportionately affect those in states without the financial means to sustain current healthcare levels.
Economic Analysis and Trump's Policies
The conversation transitions to an analysis of the current economic state under Trump's policies. Boyle argues that Trump's tariffs have led to economic contraction and increased inflation, contradicting earlier promises of economic prosperity.
He criticizes Trump's trade policies, highlighting their role in the current economic downturn and increased market volatility.
Trump's Influence and the Media Circus
Boyle characterizes Trump's approach to governance as theatrical, prioritizing media attention over substantive policy-making. He accuses Trump of manipulating markets through misleading statements about trade deals.
Boyle echoes this sentiment, describing Trump's executive orders as mere press releases devoid of real legislative intent.
Conclusion and Final Thoughts
The episode concludes with Boyle expressing frustration over the current political climate and the potential fallout from the proposed budget cuts. He emphasizes the real-world consequences for Americans, especially those relying on Medicaid, and urges listeners to recognize the moral and economic failings of the MAGA Republican agenda.
The hosts reaffirm their stance against the budget bill, calling it a "big beautiful disaster" detrimental to American democracy and economic stability.
Notable Quotes
Political Commentator (00:28): "They're calling it a big beautiful bill, but it looks like a big beautiful disaster."
Congressman Brendan Boyle (01:28): "This is doomed to fail. We're not even close."
Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene (03:21): "This would rename the body of water formerly known as the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America. This is such an important thing to do for the American people."
Congressman Brendan Boyle (07:40): "We are in a recession. Inflation jumped from the low 2% range to the mid threes."
Congressman Brendan Boyle (12:59): "Donald Trump is the ultimate con man... it's just a big reality show for him."
Conclusion
In this compelling episode, The MeidasTouch Podcast brings to light the critical flaws and potential dangers of the MAGA Republican budget bill through insightful analysis and firsthand commentary from Congressmember Brendan Boyle. The discussion underscores the importance of safeguarding healthcare, economic stability, and democratic values against policies that favor the wealthy at the expense of the majority.
For more in-depth discussions and updates, subscribe to The MeidasTouch Podcast every Tuesday and Friday morning, and catch live video sessions on their YouTube channel every Monday and Thursday night at 8p ET/5p PT.