The Common Ills: The Snapshot

Wednesday, July 02, 2025

The Snapshot

Wednesday, July 2, 2025. Since "we're all going to die," the GOP decides to rob the American people before they're in the grave.

Donald Chump's desire to rob from the poor to give to the rich bill has passed the Senate and has gone back to the House which is expected to vote for it today so that they can rush home to their districts where they will continue to ignore their constituents while sleeping in their own beds. Edith Olmsted (THE NEW REPUBLIC) notes, "A survey by The Washington Post found that 42 percent of Americans opposed the bill, while only 23 percent supported it, leaving the legislation with a net favorable rating of -19 -- and that was the most positive that the results got. A Pew Research Center poll found that the bill had a net favorable rating of -20, Fox News found a net favorable rating of -21, Quinnipiac found a net favorable rating of -26, and KFF found a net favorable rating of -29."

The American people are not being listened to and this is going to harm the GOP in next year's midterm elections. Some grasp that and are bailing with announcements right now that they won't be seeking re-election. Most others will be shown the door by others.

Yesterday, Andrew Keshner (MARKET WATCH) reported:

America’s social safety net is poised to become thinner if the Republicans’ massive tax and spending bill crosses the finish line, at a time when low-income consumers are struggling and recession fears linger.

On Tuesday, the Senate passed its version in a 51-50 vote. Vice President J.D. Vance cast the tie-breaking vote. The version that passed the Senate included last-minute adjustments to try strengthening the finances of rural hospitals, which treat many Medicaid enrollees. Next the bill goes back to the U.S. House of Representatives for a final vote.

If President Donald Trump signs the megabill into law, it would result in stingier subsidies and tighter eligibility rules for government-funded healthcare. It would potentially create more requirements for people to qualify for food stamps, and those benefits would do less to keep up with grocery prices over time. The bill would also create more paperwork for people who want to keep using these anti-poverty programs and tax credits.

“Overall, we would be left with an economic security system that barely functions in the best of economic times and will be completely overwhelmed when we encounter our next economic downturn,” said Indivar Dutta-Gupta, a distinguished visiting fellow at the National Academy of Social Insurance.

Medicaid is in the center of the debate on whether to scale back government aid and how to do it. But the proposed Medicaid cuts are only one of the ways the megabill will touch safety-net programs that Americans have relied on for decades. The nearing overhaul also targets other programs including the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, also known as food stamps, and tax subsidies for people who buy their health insurance through the Affordable Care Act’s exchange.

For anyone not getting it, Yasmeen Abutaleb (WASHINGTON POST) explains:

The Senate version of President Donald Trump’s massive tax and immigration spending plan would wipe out many of the strides made by the Affordable Care Act in reducing the number of uninsured Americans, resulting in at least 17 million Americans losing their health coverage, according to nonpartisan estimates and experts.

The bill, which narrowly passed the Senate on Tuesday and now heads back to the House, would effectively accomplish what Republicans have long failed to do: unwind many of the key components of the ACA, President Barack Obama’s signature domestic achievement that dramatically increased the number of Americans with access to health insurance.

To start, the Congressional Budget Office estimated that the Senate version of the bill would result in 11.8 million more uninsured in 2034, mostly because of Medicaid cuts, compared with 10.9 million if the House version became law.

In addition, both versions of the bill would allow pandemic-era enhanced subsidies for health insurance through ACA marketplaces to expire at the end of the year, sharply raising out-of-pocket costs for millions of Americans. The CBO estimates that 4.2 million people would lose insurance as a result. An additional 1 million are likely to become uninsured because of a combination of other Trump administration cuts and the Republican legislation, according to the CBO.

The bill also includes other, less-noticed changes that over several years would make it harder for states to maintain the ACA’s Medicaid expansion at existing levels, which currently cover some 20 million Americans, according to KFF, a health policy research organization.

“This bill-- if passed, and if the enhanced subsidies expire -- will be a very effective undermining of the vision of the Affordable Care Act to move the United States to a country where universal coverage is in sight,” said Joan Alker, executive director of Georgetown University’s Center for Children and Families. “This was the 100-year fight to get to the passage of the Affordable Care Act.”

Senator Patty Murray is the longest serving Democrat on the Senate Budget Committee. Her office issued the following:

In Washington state, at least 328,695 people will lose health care under Republican bill; 900,000 Washingtonians could see SNAP benefits reduced or eliminated; 14 rural hospitals will be at risk of closure

ICYMI: In Senate Floor Speech, Murray Rails Against Republican Bill That Rips Away Health Care, Nutrition Assistance, Abortion Access & Balloons National Debt to Fund Tax Cuts for Billionaires; VIDEO HERE

ICYMI: On Senate Floor, Murray Again Slams Republicans for Using Deceptive Tactics to Hide True Cost of Deficit-Busting Tax Cuts for Billionaires

ICYMI: Republicans Block Murray Amendment to Stop Republicans’ Big Ugly Betrayal Bill From Defunding Planned Parenthood

Washington, D.C. – U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee, released the following statement on Senate Republicans passing their partisan reconciliation bill—the so-called “One Big Beautiful Bill Act”—by a vote of 51-50 on Tuesday, with Vice President Vance voting with Republicans to break the tie, after an overnight “vote-a-rama” where Democrats forced Republicans to take dozens of tough votes on a wide array of issues, from protecting rural hospitals to preserving food assistance for families to extending expiring tax credits that help millions of families afford health care. The nearly 30-hour vote-a-rama came after Democrats forced more than 10 hours of debate and a full reading of every word of Republicans’ 940-page bill that will kick 17 million Americans off their health care and make the largest cuts to Medicaid and nutrition assistance in history to pay for tax cuts for billionaires.

Senator Murray put forward an amendment to strike a provision of the legislation that achieves anti-abortion extremists’ long-sought goal of “defunding” Planned Parenthood by cutting off Planned Parenthood health centers from receiving federal Medicaid funding for the care they provide for millions of low-income women across the country—including birth control, cancer screenings, STI testing and treatment, and wellness exams. Republicans blocked the amendment, 51-49.

“This monstrosity of a bill is about one thing: Republicans’ insistence on passing more tax breaks for billionaires and giant corporations while they kick working people off their health care, rip away nutrition assistance, and make it harder for struggling families to get by. It’s about taking away programs that give American families a hand up in hard times, to pay for a handout for the people who need it the least.

“This should be obvious: if a bill is so bad that you have to exempt entire states from its consequences to win the votes you need—just don’t pass the bill!

“Republicans’ legislation will mean 17 million Americans will lose their health insurance, including more than 328,000 people in Washington state who rely on Apple Health and Affordable Care Act coverage. Families will lose the SNAP benefits they rely on to afford food because of new Republican red tape positively meant to keep people from getting the benefits they are eligible for. Rural hospitals in Central and Eastern Washington that are already operating on the tightest of margins will be forced to close their doors, ripping away health care access from entire communities. Planned Parenthood health centers will shutter and women will be left with nowhere they can go to get birth control, cancer screenings, and other preventive care they can actually afford.

“When it comes to the all-out assault on clean energy in this bill, even Elon Musk understands the plain facts of the matter—Republicans’ cuts are ‘utterly insane and destructive’ and will ‘destroy millions of jobs in America.’ Republicans are also ripping away tens of millions of dollars for critical NOAA facilities in Washington state as part of this bill.

“This fight is not over—this bill is not yet law and I am not going to stop raising my voice and making sure the American people know exactly what is in it. Communities in Eastern and Central Washington will be among the hardest hit by these gigantic cuts to Medicaid and SNAP—now is the time to raise your voices and tell your Republican Members of Congress to vote NO. Republicans in the House need to listen to the American people and abandon this disaster of a bill.

“In the end, every Republican who votes for this bill will have to explain to their constituents why they voted to shutter local hospitals and punish struggling families to pay for tax cuts for billionaires.”

Earlier on Sunday, Senator Murray delivered a lengthy speech on the Senate floor where she laid out in detail how Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act will rip away health care from millions of Americans, shutter the doors of hospitals and health care clinics across the country, make the largest cuts to Medicaid and nutrition assistance in history, and blow up the national debt—all so Republicans can fund massive tax breaks for billionaires. Murray also spoke out repeatedly during debate on the Senate floor against Republicans’ use of a so-called “current policy baseline” to hide the true cost of their deficit-busting tax cuts for billionaires.

Republicans’ 940-page bill, which they released in the dead of night, cuts more than $900 billion from Medicaid—$100 billion more than the House bill. That means about 17 million Americans will lose their health care, according to estimates from the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO), and more than 300 rural hospitals and over 500 nursing homes could close because of the legislation. The legislation makes the largest cut to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in history and will rip away nutrition assistance entirely from more than 5 million Americans and shift tens of billions of dollars in costs to states. The legislation also increases the debt by nearly $4 trillion dollars—nearly a trillion more than the House bill. About two in three Americans oppose the bill.

In Washington state, 1.95 million people rely on Apple Health, Washington state’s Medicaid program, and over 300,000 Washingtonians access coverage through the state’s Affordable Care Act marketplace (Washington Healthplanfinder). The Joint Economic Committee estimates that at least 328,695 people in Washington state would lose their health insurance under the Republican legislation—that includes 198,050 people who would be kicked off Medicaid and 108,262 people who would lose their coverage under the Affordable Care Act. Among other things, Republicans’ bill would institute work reporting requirements for Medicaid, which have been proven not to increase employment and just strip health care coverage from people who are already working or exempt—this would put more than 620,000 Washingtonians at risk of losing their health care coverage or having it delayed. Fourteen rural hospitals in Washington state would be at risk of closure under the Republican bill. The legislation also “defunds” Planned Parenthood for the next year, threatening the closure of up to 200 health centers across the country—90 percent of them in states where abortion is legal. 11 percent of Washington state residents rely on SNAP, and the Washington State Department of Social and Health Services estimated that more than 900,000 people across the state could their see SNAP benefits reduced or eliminated under the House bill—the Senate bill is just as extreme.

Senator Murray has held constant recent events—including multiple events in Washington state—to sound the alarm on Republicans’ devastating reconciliation bill and encourage constituents to raise their voices and call on their Members of Congress to oppose the legislation.

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The bill has been sent back to the House, it has not yet been passed. Many are urging people to contact their House Representatives and urge them not to vote for the bill.

Paul Krugman explains:

Does anyone remember the 1995 government shutdown and why it happened? Basically Newt Gingrich, fresh off a big Republican victory in the midterm election, was trying to force Bill Clinton to make big cuts in Medicare. He failed, in large part because Medicare was and is an immensely popular program.

A decade later, George W. Bush tried to privatize Social Security. But he, too, failed, because Social Security is also immensely popular.

But the Republican quest to rip up as much of the social safety net as possible never ends. And for the past 15 years or so that has meant steering clear, for now, of Medicare and Social Security, which are middle-class programs, and going after Medicaid instead. If the One Big Beautiful Bill Act — which is, incredibly, the legislation’s actual name — goes into effect, Medicaid will be cut by around a trillion dollars over the next decade. (As of this morning, the fate of that bill remains uncertain.)

What is Medicaid? Like Medicare, it’s government-provided health insurance. But unlike Medicare, it’s “means-tested”: your income has to fall below a certain level before you’re eligible. This makes Medicaid a program for the poor or near-poor — and that, for many on the right, suggests a political opportunity.

Ostensibly, the right attacks Medicaid because it costs too much. I mean, it’s a government program, which means that it must be riddled with waste, fraud, and abuse, right? And surely there must be millions of lazy people getting health care through Medicaid who should be getting up off their couches and going to work.

The reality is that none of this is true.

MSNBC this morning states the GOP can only afford to lose three votes in the House.

As more facts come out, Nikki McCann Ramirez (ROLLING STONE) notes that liars like the vice president rush to weigh in:

President Donald Trump and the GOP's so-called "Big Beautiful Bill" is far from beautiful and deeply unpopular with the public. Battling concerns from voters about increased barriers to accessing programs like Medicaid and food assistance; massive transfers of wealth from less fortunate Americans to corporations and the rich; and the mass deregulation of industries like crypto and AI, Vice President J.D. Vance is attempting a new tactic to persuade the hesitant: ignore all of that and focus on how much money the bill is giving to ICE.

"The thing that will bankrupt this country more than any other policy is flooding the country with illegal immigration and then giving those migrants generous benefits. The [One Big Beautiful Bill] fixes this problem. And therefore it must pass," Vance wrote Tuesday on X.

"Everything else - the CBO score, the proper baseline, the minutiae of the Medicaid policy - is immaterial compared to the ICE money and immigration enforcement provisions," he added.

The millions of people who are expected to lose access to their health insurance as a result of the legislation would likely beg to differ.

I think Miss Sassy's confused. Millions losing health insurance, JD, is not "minutiae." Minutiae is actually that lifeless, little extension in the front of your pants.

Governor Gavin Newsom's office issued the following two weeks ago:

With the risk of catastrophic wildfire on the rise as peak fire season sets in across California, the state’s firefighting and prevention resources are facing new strain resulting from President Trump’s actions.

President Trump’s illegal militarization of Los Angeles is cutting into valuable firefighting resources. As a federal judge noted yesterday in ruling that President Trump’s actions are illegal and should be halted, five of California’s 14 National Guard fire crews – who staff Joint Task Force Rattlesnake – are now understaffed due to the federalization and diversion of 300 California National Guard (CalGuard) soldiers from those crews to armories in the Los Angeles region. That represents three-quarters of CalGuard’s fire response and prevention resources.

Trump is endangering communities across California. He’s pulling National Guard members off of critical wildfire prevention and response missions for his political stunt in Los Angeles. And this is on top of his dangerous cuts to the Forest Service.

It’s critical that Trump heeds his own advice: restore funding to the Forest Service, support federal firefighters and Make America Rake Again.

Governor Gavin Newsom

The National Guard impact is on top of the Trump administration’s dangerous cuts to the U.S. Forest Service, which also threatens the safety of communities across the state. The U.S. Forest Service has lost 10% of all positions and 25% of positions outside of direct wildfire response – both of which are likely to impact wildfire response this year. The cuts come as the President issued an executive order yesterday on wildfire response – another order that rings hollow given the President’s actions.

“In just the first five months of 2025 California has experienced more than 2,300 wildfires,” said CAL FIRE Director and Fire Chief Joe Tyler. “Having the necessary firefighting apparatus and personnel is critical to our mission at CAL FIRE.”

Now Gen Gregory Guillot is asking for 200 to be returned to him to continue the California wildfire mission. No one wanted to address the needs to fight the wild fires -- not even the Supreme Court. Fighters needed for that effort have been sent to Los Angeles where they slept on floors and waited around for something to do. Wasted resources.

Moving over to Florida, Josh Fiallo (DAILY BEAST) notes:

A Florida city welcomed President Donald Trump to the state Tuesday by making life harder for his ICE goons.

Hours before Trump touched down at Florida’s so-called “Alligator Alcatraz,” city commissioners in Key West voted 6-1 in favor of scrapping an agreement requiring local police to coordinate with federal immigration officials.

The vote “basically invalidated the city’s most recent agreement with ICE,” which was reached in March, reported Local 10.

“People who are seeking political asylum are important members of our community,” Commissioner Samuel Kaufman said, according to WLRN. “We have thousands of them here, by the way. And they deserve the respect that anybody else does.”

On the deathcamp that Chump and Doo-Doo DeSantis are creating, Alex Leary and Meridith McGraw (WALL STREET JOURNAL) report:

President Trump traveled to the steaming hot heart of the Everglades for a tour of a newly constructed migrant detention center—and a reunion with one of his fiercest political rivals.

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis has worked over the past year to mend a tattered relationship with the president after challenging him in the 2024 Republican presidential primary. DeSantis has sought to make Florida a proving ground for Trump’s policies. And he is selling a nickname for the detention facility that has caught Trump’s eye: Alligator Alcatraz.

“That’s not a place I want to go hiking any day soon,” Trump said Tuesday. “We’re surrounded by miles of treacherous swampland and the only way out is really deportation.” The president added, “It might be as good as the real Alcatraz.”

As we noted yesterday, attacks on immigrants is big business and a lot of trash is getting rich on these attacks. Andrew Perez and Nikki McCann Ramirez (ROLLING STONE) note just how big the business is:

As it turns out, two contractors who worked to quickly build out Alligator Alcatraz, which Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis (R) has called a "one-stop shop" for detention, adjudication, and deportation of migrants, have been significant donors to DeSantis and Trump.

Trump and DeSantis, who were bitter rivals in the 2024 Republican presidential primary, toured Alligator Alcatraz together on Tuesday alongside Kristi Noem, who leads Trump's Department of Homeland Security (DHS). "Ron worked beautifully with Kristi and all of the people at Homeland Security and got it done in how many days, Ron?" Trump marveled.

Earlier Tuesday, Bloomberg News identified several contractors working on Alligator Alcatraz - a group of disaster relief firms selected by Florida's Division of Emergency Management, which is part of DeSantis' administration.

Among the contractors is CDR Companies, which Bloomberg reported "will run medical services and did some site preparation." CDR's president Carlos Duart and businesses affiliated with his firm have made significant donations to DeSantis and Trump, as well as Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.

CDR Enterprises donated $1 million in December 2023 to Fight Right Inc., a super PAC that supported DeSantis' presidential campaign. Late last year, DeSantis announced he was appointing Duart to the board of trustees at Florida International University, and named his wife, Tina Vidal-Duart, to the Florida Atlantic University Board of Trustees.

Isaiah's THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "The Debbie Downers of the Dining Set" went up yesterday.

Isaiah's latest THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS "The Debbie Downers of the Dining Set." Pray they never crash your dinner party. Border czar and War Criminal Tom Homan sighs, "People die." Senator Joni Ernst heaves, "We're all going to die." The hostess complains, "No one wants to sit next to them!" While the host asks, "Who invited them?" Isaiah archives his comics at THE WORLD TODAY JUST NUTS.

A person dies in Florida detention and Homan says, "People die." That's at least the fourth immigrant who has died in detention in Florida since the start of the year and Holman's response is "People die." Senator Joni Ernst is confronted by her own constituents who do not want these cuts to Medicaid, who point out to her the people will die as a result and Joni Phoney's response? "We're all doing to die."

Those are the GOP slogans: "We're all going to die" and "People die." That explains why they take no action on climate change.

Why bother because "People die" and "We're all going to die." It's their excuse for doing nothing to help the American people or anyone else.

Fight back. That's the only answer. In "Media shocks (Ava and C.I.)," Ava and I noted the various shocks last week and concluded with this:

It's very distressing but people are standing up and speaking out.

And with that in mind, last week actually contained one more shock. Chump was threatening to sue various outlets -- one of which was THE NEW YORK TIMES. In response to his ranting and raving, the paper's deputy general counsel David McGraw stated, "No retraction is needed. No apology will be forthcoming. We told the truth to the best of our ability. We will continue to do so."

Contrast that response with the caving on the part of ABC NEWS and the expected caving on the part of Sheri Redstone on behalf of CBS NEWS and McGraw's stance is a very happy shock.

Ahmad Austin Jr. (MEDIAITE) reports:

CNN fired back at President Donald Trump on Tuesday for threatening to prosecute the network over its reporting of a new ICE-tracking app.

The day before, CNN ran a segment about the creation of ICEBlock, an app used to track the movements of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in the area. At the time of the reporting, there were more than 20,000 users on the app — with a large portion of users the users in Los Angeles.

Hours after that report, Trump Border Czar Tom Homan called for the Justice Department to investigate CNN for “pushing” the app. He also called the segment “disgusting.” The CNN report on the app made clear that it was “controversial.”

The next day, Trump and Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem revealed that they intend to prosecute CNN over the reporting. Those comments were made during a visit to “Alligator Alcatraz,” the new migrant detention center located in the Florida Everglades.

Ailia Zehra notes Chump backed down after raging at another media outlet:

President Donald Trump has quietly withdrawn his lawsuit against prominent Iowa pollster J. Ann Selzer and the Des Moines Register.

The lawsuit, initiated in December 2024 under Iowa's Consumer Fraud Act, accused Selzer and the newspaper of “brazen election interference” after her final pre‑election poll showed former Vice President Kamala Harris leading Trump by three points in deep‑red Iowa — a poll that ultimately missed the mark by approximately 16 points, as Trump won the state by 13 points.

However, the craven always collapse. Sara Fischer (AXIOS) reports this morning:

CBS parent Paramount Global on Tuesday said it would pay $16 million to settle a voter interference lawsuit filed by President Trump last October, even as press freedom advocates warned the company was buckling to political pressure.

Why it matters: A settlement likely clears the way for Paramount Global to merge with Skydance Media.

Paramount and Skydance agreed to merge in a deal worth more than $8 billion last July.
The deal is largely seen as an escape valve for owner Shari Redstone, who has faced pressure from shareholders to offload the legacy TV asset while it still has value.

We'll wind down with this press release from Senator Elizabeth Warren's office:

Watch the Video (YouTube)

Washington, D.C. — In a new video reacting to the passage of President Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill,” U.S. Senator Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) slammed Senate Republicans for “cheer[ing] over taking away health care from around 17 million people… giving huge tax breaks to a handful of billionaires.”

On Tuesday, the Senate completed 26 hours of debate on the “Big, Beautiful Bill,” following Democrats' successful delay of the bill’s passage. Despite Republicans’ efforts to rush the bill through, it only passed after Vice President JD Vance broke the 50-50 Senate tie.

During the debate and amendment process, Senate Democrats successfully pushed to strike provisions that would have devastated the deployment of clean energy and prohibited the regulation of artificial intelligence (AI) at the state level for ten years.

“[W]e proved why we stay in the fight, because actually, there are pieces of this bill that we got better…It's always the reminder: all of those calls matter,” said Senator Warren.

The bill now heads back to the House of Representatives for consideration of the Senate’s amended version of the bill.

Senator Warren urged people across the country to continue fighting back as the bill continues to make its way through Congress.

“We stay in it not because it's an easy fight, not because we're guaranteed to win every time. We stay in it, because it's the right fight,” Senator Warren concluded.

Transcript: Senator Warren’s Reaction to Senate Passage of the “Big, Beautiful Bill”
July 1, 2025

Senator Elizabeth Warren: I’m leaving the Senate now at the end of the vote. When the Republicans won, they cheered.

They cheered over taking away health care from around 17 million people. They cheered over giving huge tax breaks to a handful of billionaires. They cheered over running up the national debt by another three and a half trillion dollars.

You know, this bill is bad. It's bad economically, it's bad morally. This bill is just wrong.

But, we stay in the fight. We stay in the fight. And we proved why we stay in the fight, because actually, there are pieces of this bill that we got better.

We got the tax on solar and wind knocked out, and that's going to help with clean energy. We got a few different pieces and made them better. So that's reason number one. It's always the reminder: all of those calls matter.

Reason number two is: it’s still not over. The bill has now got to go back over to the House, and there are a lot of Republicans who are feeling really squeamish about this bill at this point, so that means we got to stay in the fight.

And reason number three is: yeah, they may do this now, but come November 2026, they're going to have to face the voters. They're going to have to face the people, the families of the people whose health care they took away, and they're going to have to explain exactly what they just did just now on the floor of the United States Senate and whatever they do next.

So, this is hard, but damn, we stay in the fight. We stay in it not because it's an easy fight, not because we're guaranteed to win every time. We stay in it, because it's the right fight.

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The following sites updated: