Zip-Tying Our Seniors

No worries. “We’re all going to die,” and “they’ll get over it."

The Big, Beautiful Arrests

Senior citizens in wheelchairs gathered at the Russell Senate Office Building to protest massive cuts to Medicaid proposed in the budget reconciliation bill, and had their hands zip-tied as Capitol Police arrested them.

President Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill,” which a majority of Americans find heartless, cruel, and ugly, proposes to cut federal Medicaid spending by $793 billion over the next ten years.

The Annals of Internal Medicine estimates this would reduce federal Medicaid outlays by up to $900 billion, and increase the ranks of the uninsured by up to 3.9 million. Up to 838,890 people would likely have to forgo needed medical care, causing more than 12,000 medically preventable deaths annually.

At a packed Town Hall on May 30 in Parkersburg, Iowa, Republican Senator Joni Ernst was fielding angry questions about Medicaid cuts when a woman shouted, “People are going to die!”

In her astonishingly condescending, dismissive, and insensitive answer, Senator Ernst retorted, “Well, we all are going to die, for heaven’s sakes, folks."

During a closed-door meeting of Republican senators this week, Senator Mitch McConnell of Kentucky noted about the effort to pass the bill, “Failure is not an option. I know a lot of us are hearing from people back home about Medicaid. But they’ll get over it."

Big, Beautiful Tax Cuts for the Wealthy

But there’s good news for the top 0.1% of wealthiest Americans. They will enjoy an average tax break of $255,155 under the Senate legislation. The top 1% will receive an average break of $68,000.

In all, the richest 5% of Americans would receive 45% of the net tax cuts. The poorest would receive 1%.

The Big, Beautiful Crackdown

The budget reconciliation bill also provides about $75 billion in additional funding to U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) over the next five years.

Steven Miller, Deputy Chief of Staff for Policy and Homeland Security Advisor, is a leading architect of Trump's hardline immigration policies.

Miller reportedly holds a significant financial stake in Palantir, a tech company that has lucrative contracts with ICE to track and monitor undocumented immigrants.

More than 65,000 migrants have been arrested thus far this year. A large majority of them have no criminal record.

The Big, Beautiful Debt Increase

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projects that the “Big, Beautiful Bill” passed by the House will increase the national debt by $2.4 trillion over the next ten years.

House Speaker Mike Johnson is warning privately that the House GOP could lose its majority next year if Senate republicans push through deeper Medicaid cuts.

He’s gone public with a new Big, Beautiful Lie about the budget bill:

"We are not cutting Medicaid. The president has said that and I have said that. We're all said that. We're strengthening the program."

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Resources:

Capitol Police Zip Tie Seniors in Wheelchairs During Medicaid Protest ~ Newsweek

Projected Effects of Proposed Cuts in Federal Medicaid Expenditures on Medicaid Enrollment, Uninsurance, Health Care, and Health ~ Annals of Internal Medicine

Stephen Miller Has Financial Stake In Company Helping ICE with Deportations ~ Rolling Stone

Who Created the Immigration Crisis? ~ Perspectives

From “Operation Ajax” to the "Bunker Buster” ~ Perspectives

Enemies of the State ~ Perspectives

They Are Human Beings… ~ Perspectives

Betraying Our Afghan Allies ~ Perspectives