Wakeup call for the MAGAs

Senate Majority Leader John Thune, accompanied by Sens. John Barrasso and Mike Crapo, speaks to reporters after the Senate passes President Donald Trump's agenda package at the US Capitol on July 1, 2025.
  Andrew Harnik/Getty Images

The pictures says it all as these guys get a guaranteed income ... for life. America, with the passage of the big beautiful bill, will break the vulnerable in ways unimagined until now. If you're a senior, you're relatively ok but if not and not truly solvent, cruelty comes to mind without question.

To whit.

Seniors, students, taxpayers, children, parents, low-income Americans and just about everyone else will be affected by the massive tax and spending bill being hashed out in real time on Capitol Hill.

Republicans call it President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” but there have been several versions. The latest passed the Senate on Tuesday with Vice President JD Vance’s tie-breaking vote.

Senate Republicans’ version of the bill differs in key ways from what the House passed in May. Both chambers will ultimately have to pass the same version to send the package to Trump’s desk by his desired July Fourth deadline.

But the general contours of the massive piece of legislation are known. It extends Trump’s first-term tax cuts, funds his vision for a border wall, and offsets some of that revenue loss and additional spending with cuts to federal support for the social safety net that helps Americans afford food and health insurance.

Here’s what we know about how the Senate bill will affect …

… people on Medicaid: millions will lose coverage

For many Medicaid enrollees, the biggest impact would be the new work requirement. Certain able-bodied Americans ages 19 to 64 who are enrolled through the Medicaid expansion would have to work, volunteer, attend school or participate in job training at least 80 hours a month. The mandate would also apply to parents of children ages 14 and older.

In addition, expansion enrollees would have their eligibility reviewed more frequently and would have to pay up to $35 for certain care.

Overall, Medicaid enrollees could face other changes, since states would receive less federal funding for the program. This could force some states to eliminate certain benefits or tighten enrollment, among other alterations.

Nearly 12 million more people would be uninsured in 2034, with many of them losing coverage because of the Medicaid provisions in the bill, according to a Congressional Budget Office analysis published Sunday, before subsequent changes to the bill that the Senate ultimately passed.

Jaqueline Benitez, who depends on California's SNAP benefits to help pay for food, shops for groceries at a supermarket in Bellflower, California, in 2023. Allison Dinner/AP

 … people who need help affording food: fewer will get it

More Americans who receive food stamps would have to work to keep their benefits. The bill would broaden the existing work mandate to enrollees ages 55 to 64 and parents of children ages 14 and older, as well as to veterans, former foster youth and people experiencing homelessness.

Enrollees in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, known as SNAP, the formal name for food stamps, may also face other changes: Many states would also have to cover part of the benefit costs for the first time and pay more of the administrative costs, both of which may force them to tighten benefits, cut eligibility or make other alterations, including potentially withdrawing from the safety-net program. Also, the growth of food stamp benefits would be limited in the future.

… people with Affordable Care Act policies: more difficulty getting covered

Americans looking for coverage on the Obamacare exchanges could have a tougher time enrolling in plans and receiving federal subsidies to help pay their premiums. The bill would increase verification requirements and would effectively end automatic reenrollment. The CBO estimates that millions of people would lose their Obamacare coverage.

… people who aren’t on Medicaid, Obamacare or SNAP: may still feel the cuts

Just because you aren’t on Medicaid doesn’t mean your health care wouldn’t be affected by the bill. Hospitals are warning that the steep cuts to Medicaid could force some hospitals — particularly in rural locations — to close their doors, limit services and reduce staff.

“The real-life consequences of these reductions will result in irreparable harm to access to care for all Americans,” Rick Pollack, CEO of the American Hospital Association, wrote in a letter to senators Sunday.

The bill could also affect those who don’t receive food stamps. A trade group for independent grocers warned that cutting federal support for the program could hurt local food retailers, which increase access to groceries, provide jobs and help local economies — particularly in rural and underserved areas.

When thinking about the tacky 50 mil Bezos wedding, anger comes to mind. Think MAGAs who believed Trump would help them. Violence of a different kind looms.

Lest we forget ...

Elon Musk in the Oval Office at the White House on May 21, 2025. Chip Somodevilla/Getty Images

The self appointed genius got what he wanted but its never enough.

Musk is furious about the bill and howling about it on social media. Not only does he disagree with the deficit-exploding tax cuts, he would also prefer more spending cuts.

The Tesla CEO also vehemently opposes the abrupt end to EV tax credits.

“It gives handouts to industries of the past while severely damaging industries of the future,” he wrote on X. He predicted “political suicide” for Republicans if they turn this bill into law.

Last but not least ...

… people worried about the national debt: also not happy

The bill would increase the deficit by $3.3 trillion over the next decade, according to the Congressional Budget Office report published Sunday. Republicans have embraced a budget gimmick to argue the impact of the bill is much smaller. But nobody should expect the roughly $36 trillion national debt to shrink as a result of the package.

The legislation would also raise the debt ceiling by $5 trillion to allow the Treasury Department to borrow more to pay the bills that have already been incurred.