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More Than 20 House Republicans Now Opposing Trump Budget Bill

President Donald Trump was hoping that the House of Representatives would pass the U.S. Senate's version of H.R. 1 — his "Big Beautiful Bill" — as-is. But that looks to be increasingly unlikely.

That's according to a Tuesday article in Axios, which reported that a growing number of House Republicans are threatening to revolt over the changes the Republican-controlled Senate made to the legislation the House previously passed by a one-vote margin. According to one of Axios' unnamed Republican sources in the House, there are now "well over 20" House Republicans who are now against Trump's signature domestic policy package.

"Our bill has been completely changed," said Rep. Ralph Norman (R-SC), who is a member of the far-right House Freedom Caucus. "It's a non-starter."

One of those Republicans is likely Rep. Andy Ogles (R-TN) who is another stridently conservative Freedom Caucus member. Ogles announced on his official X account that he filed an amendment that would delete the Senate bill's full text and replace it with the House's previously passed version.

Rep. Andy Biggs (R-AZ), who chaired the Freedom Caucus between 2019 and 2022, told Punchbowl News on Tuesday: "I’m talking to colleagues and I don’t know anyone who’s happy." Also on Tuesday, Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) dismissed claims that the Senate bill was fiscally responsible as "garbage." The pushback from House Republicans comes despite Trump threatening GOP members of the House that they could "suffer the consequences" if they don't pass the legislation expeditiously.

House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) acknowledged the revolt within the House Republican Conference, but insisted he was focused on passing the Senate bill verbatim, so it could advance directly to President Trump's desk without having to go back to the Senate. He added he would "do everything possible" to pass the Senate version ahead of Republicans' self-imposed July 4 deadline.

"I'm not happy with what the Senate did to our product, but we understand this is the process. It goes back and forth. And we will be working to get all our members to yes," Johnson told reporters on Tuesday.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Former GOP Governor Warns Trump Bill Will Devastate Rural Health Care

The Republican-controlled. Senate is expected to vote Monday night on President Donald Trump's signature domestic policy legislation, and one former high-ranking Republican is now urging his fellow conservatives to take a stand against it.

During a Monday segment on MSNBC's "The Weeknight," former Montana Governor Marc Racicot — a Republican who led the Big Sky State between 1993 and 2001 — slammed the bill as uniquely harmful for Americans in rural states like his. After hosts Michael Steele, Symone Sanders-Townsend and Alicia Melendez played a clip of Rep. Michael McCaul (R-TX) defending the bill as good for the country, Racicot blasted his fellow Republicans as being in thrall of an "autocrat" and being more afraid of angering Trump than hurting their own constituents.

"That's patent nonsense. It's absolutely ludicrous," Racicot said. "In the state of Montana ... we have 56 counties. We're spread over 150,000 square miles, and 50 out of our 56 counties do not have the kind of facilities that allow for people to be treated without Medicare and without Medicaid."

"We don't have rural clinics or hospitals that can respond," he continued. "In addition to that, we have we have seven Indian reservations that, again, are placed in in harm's way ... the infrastructure that we put in place as a result of Medicaid serves those families as well. So it's just unbelievable to me that these Republicans would proceed thinking that they're people of conscience, and somehow they're doing something good for the country. I don't think they even know what's in the bill."

The Senate's version of the legislation already cuts Medicaid by roughly $1 trillion over 10 years, meaning many rural hospitals in predominantly red states like Montana are at risk of closing if the current version of the bill is signed into law. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito (R-W.Va) has already acknowledged that her constituents could be deeply impacted by the legislation.

Racicot went on to opine that one main reason the bill could be passed is because Republicans in Congress are operating "upon the basis of bigotry and the whining and complaining and grievance and resentment" of their fellow Americans. He added that it was "incredibly unfortunate" that so many members of his party were working "to the great detriment of the people of this country."

"What I'm really fearful of is that when they find out what this does, when they learn what it is — and I wish we could avoid the catastrophe — but I'm fearful we can't avoid this calamity until it happens," Racicot said. "And then it's going to be an ultimate disaster."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

'We've Been Lied To': Margie Says Iran Strike Exposed Ruinous Rift In GOP

One of President Donald Trump's loudest supporters in Congress has become increasingly vocal in her opposition to his latest decision to conduct strikes on Iran.

CNN reported Monday that Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) is now directly warning her party that the "very big divide" could end up costing Republicans their majorities in Congress next year if the GOP becomes bogged down in another foreign war while Americans' material needs go unmet. The Georgia Republican sought to stake out common ground between herself and the president, telling CNN that both she and Trump were elected on a promise of "no more foreign wars, no more regime change."

"We’ve been lied to too many times, and I think it’s right to be skeptical," Greene said in response to a question about whether Trump's policies risked losing the support of the MAGA faithful.

"If this war were to continue, and we were to see, sadly, see American troops coming home with on flag-draped coffins, I think you would see Americans totally saying the same thing I’m saying, I hope that never happens again," Greene said, emphasizing that she still believes "President Trump has us on a path to peace."

According to Greene — who has consistently opposed sending resources to Ukraine in its war with Russia — American voters are expecting their leaders to put their concerns front and center, arguing that voters are "very much focused on their American life and their American problems." And she said that new escalations in the Middle East could prove to be a tipping point for many voters next fall.

"Republicans need to earn Americans’ votes," she said. "I don’t think we’re earning our votes in the midterm, and that’s on Congress."

Greene unleashed on the Trump administration on social media earlier on Monday, saying that as a 51 year-old American, she had "watched our country go to war in foreign lands for foreign causes on behalf of foreign interests for as long as I can remember." And she added that while she supports Israel's right to defend itself, she opposed U.S. military involvement in Israeli matters.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Bad News For Trump's New (Made In China) Smartphone Venture

Earlier this week, the Trump Organization (President Donald Trump's family-run business) unveiled its latest business venture – a smartphone that the company says is made in the United States. But that's an impossible feat, according to one American smartphone manufacturer.

ABC News reported that Trump Mobile will soon roll out a new phone dubbed the "T1," which its selling for $499 apiece. The company is offering plans for $47.45 per month (a nod to Trump being the 45th and 47th president of the United States) and promises to use the same communication networks that the biggest three cell service providers rely on for their coverage (Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T). CNBC reported that the phones will likely be made in China.

And according to Todd Weaver, who is the founder and CEO of Purism — the only smartphone manufacturer based in the U.S. — there's no way to end-run China in the supply chain. Weaver told NBC News on Wednesday that making a phone entirely in the United States costs a lot more than what the Trump Organization is aiming to get for the T1 phones.

Purism's Liberty phone, which costs $2,000, has a higher price tag than the iPhone 16 Pro, and only half of its memory capacity. It's also significantly thicker, and users are somewhat limited in the number of apps they can install on the device. And Weaver said that while approximately 90 percent of the phone's components come from the United States, Canada and Europe, a crystal that makes the device's motherboard work is only available in China.

"There just isn’t a company yet providing that single crystal," Weaver told NBC.

Weaver also said that it took approximately six years from the time Purism was founded in 2014 to the point where it could start manufacturing phones, whereas Trump Mobile has promised to build a phone from scratch in the United States and begin selling it this August. The Purism CEO added that Trump's mercurial approach toward imposing tariffs makes it very difficult for business owners like him to adapt to an economic climate that's constantly in flux.

“It’s terrible,” Weaver said. “If you have no idea, and you can’t predict [the policy], it’s very hard for any company, for any business owner. From t-shirts, textiles, to high tech, it is very hard to make a long term business decision when you’re in a whipsaw.”

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Federal Judge Rules Trump Guard Deployment Was 'Illegal,' Enraging MAGA

On Thursday night, a federal judge issued a ruling that struck down President Donald Trump's deployment of National Guard troops to Los Angeles, California. The decision enraged many of Trump's most vocal supporters.

In a 36-page ruling, U.S. District Judge Charles Breyer (a Clinton appointee who is the brother of former Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer) observed that Trump did not follow the "congressionally mandated procedure for his actions." And he found the president in violation of the 10th Amendment to the U.S. Constitution, which delegates certain rights to states.

"His actions were illegal," Breyer wrote. "He must therefore return control of the California National Guard to the Governor of the State of California forthwith."

Breyer's ruling was heavily criticized by MAGA influencers on social media. Even though the White House is appealing the decision to the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, pro-Trump attorney Mike Davis called on the Trump administration to directly defy Breyer.

"This is another one of those orders by Democrat activist judges that is so lawless and dangerous to our national security that the President of the United States, as commander-in-chief, has the constitutional duty to ignore it," Davis tweeted.

Popular MAGA social media personality Catturd dismissed Breyer as a "California leftist judge," and insisted that the president was still in control of the California National Guard. Attorney Todd Aldinger suggested that the far right instigate a coup against blue state governments using MAGA-aligned county sheriffs. Far-right activist Chaya Raichik, who runs the LibsofTikTok account also mentioned the ruling.

"A JUDGE BLOCKED TRUMP FROM SENDING THE NATIONAL GUARD TO L.A. — TOTAL JUDICIAL OVERREACH," Newsmax columnist Gregory Lyakhov tweeted. "EVERY PRESIDENT SHOULD HAVE THE RIGHT TO STOP RIOTS AND SAVE CITIES."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet

Trump And Melania Booed 'Mercilessly' At Kennedy Center Opening Night

Just before the Kennedy Center's opening night performance of the musical "Les Miserables," President Donald Trump and First Lady Melania Trump stood to be recognized. They were met with a loud chorus of boos.

Video of the moment shows the boos mixed with some cheering, with Reuters White House correspondent Jeff Mason observing that some Trump supporters in the audience shouted "USA" chants in an attempt to drown out the booing. In addition to the First Couple, both Vice President JD Vance and Second Lady Usha Vance were also in attendance.

"In an absolutely embarrassing moment, Donald Trump was just booed mercilessly at the Kennedy Center," former Lawrence County, Tennessee commissioner Chris D. Jackson tweeted.

The president and vice president were at the Kennedy Center — which is led by Trump after he appointed himself chairman earlier this year — for the opening night performance of the musical "Les Miserables," which is about a populist rebellion against a tyrannical king. The performance is on the same night of the official arrival of approximately 700 U.S. Marines Trump deployed to Los Angeles to quell protests in the second-largest U.S. city.

Prior to Trump's arrival, New York Times White House correspondent Shawn McCreesh tweeted video of a group of drag queens entering the theater, who were met with cheers from the crowd. The drag queens told the Independent that they were there not only to see "Les Miserables," but to also protest Trump banning drag performances at the Kennedy Center after he put himself in charge (the Kennedy Center went on to schedule multiple shows featuring characters in drag, like "Mrs. Doubtfire").

"Theater is supposed to be a place of community, a place of storytelling, a place of celebration, joy, catharsis and it should be open and available to all," drag performer Vagenisis told the Independent.

Others in attendance also protested Trump's presence at the show. Former Capitol Hill staffer Jason Tufele Carl Johnson tweeted a photo of himself and his date wearing t-shirts that read "democracy has no kings" and "abolish ICE," with the caption: "When you can't change your Kennedy Center tickets cause Trump turned it into a fundraiser for his fascist friends, you make a statement out of it."

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Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Musk Blowup's Fallout: Trump Allies Keep Turning On Each Other

President Donald Trump's public falling out with Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is now prompting additional infighting in MAGA circles between some of Trump's most high-profile supporters.

Semafor reported Monday that "War Room" podcast host Steve Bannon – who was White House chief strategist in the first Trump administration – is now setting his sights on venture capitalist and second Trump administration AI czar David Sacks (who is close to Musk and co-hosts the popular "All In" podcast). The MAGA pundit mentioned Sacks on a recent episode of his podcast, and accused him of exploiting his relationship to Trump to further his own goals.

"You’re dangerous," Bannon said of Sacks and his co-hosts. "It’s all about you, not the country."

However, Trump administration spokesperson Harrison Fields said that Sacks was "deeply committed to advancing the president's vision" on cryptocurrency and AI issues, and credited the billionaire Trump donor with being "a trusted ally and early supporter of President Trump."

While the White House defended Sacks himself, an unnamed source told Semafor that the administration was indeed having ongoing conversations "regarding the future of some of these big names that came to the federal government in that wave of Elon [Musk] coming here." The source also teased the possibility of some of Musk's hires being let go, calling it a "mutual separation" between the tech billionaire's team and the administration.

Whether Musk's Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) — which has spent the first several months of 2025 slashing the federal workforce across multiple agencies – remains in place is also an open question. Some DOGE staffers reportedly have been texting each other wondering if their own jobs will be next on the chopping block. Semafor's source also said that while the work itself of reducing the federal workforce may continue, Trump may rebrand it.

“Maybe we don’t call it DOGE,” the source said. “The mission is what we want to stay focused on.”

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Why House Republicans May Still Tank Trump's 'Big Beautiful Bill'

As the Republican-controlled U.S. Senate mulls changes to President Donald Trump's "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," one House Republican is warning his Senate counterparts against tweaking one particular section.

During a Sunday interview with CNN congressional correspondent Manu Raju, Rep. Mike Lawler (R-NY) cautioned Senate Republicans against making any changes to the state and local tax (SALT) deduction he and others negotiated with House Republican leadership. The SALT deduction cap is currently at $10,000, but House Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA.) agreed to raise the cap to $40,000 in order to convince House's SALT caucus to support the legislation.

"This is an issue that not just impacts blue states, it impacts nearly every state in the country," Lawler said. "29 states blew through the $10,000 cap over the last seven years. And so lifting the cap on SALT is critically important. It provides middle-class tax relief. And that's exactly what we did here."

"I've been very clear with leadership all this past week that if the Senate changes the SALT deduction in any way, I will be a no," he continued. "And I'm not going to buckle on that. And I've spoken to my other colleagues, they will be a no as well."

Lawler's remarks come as Senate Republicans have spoken openly about slashing the SALT deduction, which they say is overwhelmingly beneficial to Americans in blue states (which typically have higher state and local tax rates). Sen. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), who chairs the Senate Finance Committee, said last week that senators are likely to nix the SALT deal in the package they intend to send back to the House of Representatives.

"There’s not a single [Republican] senator from New York or New Jersey or California, and so there’s not a strong mood in the Senate Republican caucus right now to do $353 billion for states that basically the other states subsidize," Crapo said on Wednesday.

The House only narrowly passed the massive 1,037-page budget bill by a 215-214 margin in May, and only did so with the help of the SALT caucus, which includes representatives like Andrew Garbarino (R-NY), Young Kim (R-CA) and Nick LaLota (R-NY, as well as Lawler. Should they withhold their support from a final bill that cuts the SALT deduction, the legislation would likely fail to pass.

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Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Bannon Urges Trump To Investigate, Defund And Deport Musk

The feud between President Donald Trump and Tesla/SpaceX CEO Elon Musk is rapidly intensifying, and now one of Trump's most influential backers is calling on the president to deport the South African centibillionaire.

According to a Thursday report by the New York Times' Tyler Pager, Steve Bannon – who went from being Trump's 2016 campaign chairman to Trump's official White House chief strategist during his first term – wants his former boss to send the world's richest man back to South Africa. The MAGA podcaster told the Times that he was convinced that Musk's immigration status should be scrutinized.

"They should initiate a formal investigation of his immigration status because I am of the strong belief that he is an illegal alien, and he should be deported from the country immediately," Bannon said.

The far-right media figure is also suggesting that Trump suspend Musk's security clearances while investigating his immigration status. He added that the administration should also conduct an official probe into Musk's alleged drug use, which the Times reported on in late May, while also investigating the tech magnate's attempt to get a classified briefing at the Pentagon about the United States' war plans with China should a conflict between the two global superpowers break out.

Bannon has long viewed Musk — who was one of Trump's top campaign donors in the 2024 cycle – as one of his chief rivals. Just before Trump officially kicked off his second term, Bannon and Musk had a public feud over whether the incoming administration should increase or curtail the number of H-1B visas granted to foreign workers.

The ongoing spat between the world's richest man and the 47th president of the United States stems from Musk coming out in opposition to Trump's so-called "One Big Beautiful Bill Act," calling it a "disgusting abomination" and demanding Congress "KILL the BILL." His public criticism of the bill has also led to several Republicans who voted for the bill now attempting to distance themselves from it.

Bannon and Musk also symbolize the two dueling factions within the MAGA coalition, according to conservative journalist Jonah Goldberg of The Dispatch. Goldberg told CNN host Anderson Cooper on Wednesday that Bannon represents the populist/nationalist wing of MAGA that wants to halt immigration and protect social safety nets, whereas Musk represents the tech faction that wants to severely slash safety nets while loosening restrictions on immigration.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

GOP Senator: 'It Will Take A Miracle' To Pass Trump's Big Ugly Bill

While Senate Republicans were meeting during a closed-door lunch at the U.S. Capitol, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk posted several tweets slamming President Donald Trump's so-called "Big, Beautiful Bill." This appeared to cause further fractures among the Senate Republican Conference.

That's according to a Tuesday article in NOTUS, which reported that Musk's tweets appeared to result in the rapid undoing of any progress achieved during the meeting, with GOP senators reportedly now "even further from consensus." The outlet reported that "the more likely a senator was to agree with Musk on the reconciliation bill, the more likely they were to have seen his online broadsides."

Musk's posts — in which he called the first major Republican legislative domestic policy push of Trump's second term a "disgusting abomination" — were primarily focused on the bill's ballooning of the federal deficit by trillions of dollars over 10 years. But other Senate Republicans have expressed worry about how the legislation's cuts to Medicaid will affect their constituents. A chorus of Republicans are now reportedly chiming in with proposed changes to the megabill, which would still need to be approved by the House of Representatives should it pass the Senate.

"It's called negotiating," Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-OK) said. "Everyone wants their fingerprints on it."

Other more moderate Republicans, like Sens. Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AL), are coming out against other elements of the bill. Collins has said she would oppose the legislation's cuts to PEPFAR — which funds AIDS relief efforts in underdeveloped nations — while Murkowski has railed against Medicaid cuts. Pro-Trump Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) has also repeatedly warned that any bill that cuts Medicaid would not get his support, citing the high number of his constituents who rely on the program.

Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) — a more moderate member of the Republican conference — has not openly said whether he would support or oppose the bill in its current form, and has stayed mostly quiet on Musk's outburst, telling NOTUS that the tech titan is "entitled to his opinion." However, he notably said that it would likely take "a miracle" for the Senate to get on the same page on the bill anytime soon.

Even though Republicans enjoy a 53-47 majority in the Senate, and even though the GOP is taking the "reconciliation" route to pass the bill which only requires 51 votes, Republicans can only afford three defections if they hope to send any legislation back to the House. And even staunch conservatives like Sens. Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Rand Paul (R-KY) have gone on the record opposing the bill over its impact on the deficit.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Johnson Rebukes Musk For Calling Trump's Big Budget Bill 'An Abomination'

On Tuesday, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk came out swinging against President Donald Trump's so-called "big, beautiful bill" and lawmakers who supported it in a series of tweets. And his tirade has caught the attention of House Speaker Mike Johnson.

Politico congressional correspondent Marianna Sotomayor tweeted that Johnson is now — delicately — giving public criticism of the world's richest man and one of the largest donors to Trump's 2024 campaign. The speaker gave his remarks following Musk calling the legislation a "massive, outrageous [and] pork-filled ... disgusting abomination."

"It will massively increase the already gigantic budget deficit to $2.5 trillion (!!!) and burden America citizens with crushingly unsustainable debt," Musk added.

"For him to come out and pan the whole bill is, to me, just very disappointing, very surprising," Johnson said. "It's a very important first start. Elon is missing it, okay, and it's not personal."

Johnson had been previously attempting to win Musk over to his side after the South African centibillionaire recently told CBS Sunday Morning that the legislation "undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing" given its projected multitrillion-dollar cost. The speaker also admitted to sending the tech magnate a "long text message" attempting to persuade him to get behind the bill.

Musk's public criticism of Trump's first major domestic policy push is likely to further complicate the administration's attempts to get the legislation through the Senate, despite Republicans having a 53-47 majority in the upper chamber of Congress. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said on Tuesday that it was Trump's view that Sens. Ron Johnson (R-WI) and Rand Paul (R-KY) were "blatantly wrong" for insisting that the bill would increase the federal deficit by trillions of dollars.

The version of the bill that narrowly passed the House of Representatives by a 215-214 margin in May cuts federal support for Medicaid (the program that provides health insurance for low-income and disabled Americans) by hundreds of billions of dollars in order to extend Trump's 2017 tax cuts — which are overwhelmingly skewed toward the richest Americans — for another 10 years. Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) said in a Tuesday press release that the bill would result in 51,000 more Americans dying every year.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Top GOP Pollster: Trump Budget Will Hurt 'A Great Many' Of His Voters

The impact of President Donald Trump's so-called "Big Beautiful Bill Act" will be felt acutely in areas that voted overwhelmingly for Trump, according to one Republican pollster.

Politico reported on Monday that the administration is now embracing a "stark messaging shift" as it attempts to shepherd the massive legislative package through the U.S. Senate. While the White House has insisted that the hundreds of billions of dollars in cuts to Medicaid (which provides health insurance to low-income and disabled Americans) would only be for "waste, fraud and abuse," administration officials are now notably pivoting to saying that the bill will be focused on "kicking illegal immigrants off of the program and implementing commonsense work requirements."

Even though the Senate has a 53-47 Republican majority, Politico observed that even talk of cutting Medicaid funding is "politically delicate." This has resulted in the administration hoping to re-define "cuts" to voters – rather than outright cutting benefits, the administration aims to impose different forms of austerity like increased eligibility redeterminations and additional work requirements that stipulate Medicaid recipients have to jump through additional hoops to get health insurance.

Some senators like Susan Collins (R-ME) and Lisa Murkowski (R-AL) have expressed hesitancy about the additional bureaucratic roadblocks that the proposed enhanced work requirements would create, while others like Josh Hawley (R-MO) have spoken out specifically against cutting Medicaid due to the high number of constituents who depend on it.

Aside from the difficulties the administration faces in getting 51 votes out of 53 senators (or 50 votes with Vice President JD Vance as the tie-breaker), Politico reported that there could also be backlash among Republican voters depending on the scope of the cuts in the final bill. Republican pollster Whit Ayres told the outlet that he doubted voters would be able to distinguish "reforms" from "cuts," especially if they're directly affected.

“The fact remains that a great many Trump voters are on Medicaid, particularly in rural areas,” Ayres said. “If no one loses coverage, how are you going to cut $500 billion?”

Even strident conservatives among the Senate Republican Conference have pledged to oppose the bill in its current form. Sens. Ron Johnson (R-WI ) and Rand Paul (R-KY) have been sounding the alarm about the bill's projected cost ballooning the federal deficit by more than $2 trillion over the next 10 years.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Musk: Trump's Tax And Spending Bill 'Undermines Work DOGE Is Doing'

Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk appears to be publicly breaking with President Donald Trump, according to a clip of an upcoming interview that was released Tuesday evening.

CBS Sunday Morningteased the clip of correspondent David Pogue's interview with Musk, which will air on Sunday, June 1. In the video, Musk gave a blunt assessment of Trump's so-called "big, beautiful bill" that narrowly passed the House of Representatives on a 215-214 vote, and faces an uphill battle in the U.S. Senate. The South African centibillionaire opined that the bill essentially negates efforts by his Department of Government Efficiency's attempts to reduce the federal budget.

"So, you know, I was like, disappointed to see the massive spending bill, frankly, which increases the budget deficit and not decrease[s] it, and undermines the work that the DOGE team is doing," Musk told Pogue.

"I actually though that when this 'big, beautiful bill' came along, and I mean, like 'everything [Musk]'s done on DOGE gets wiped out in the first year," Pogue said.

"I think a bill can be big, it can be beautiful, but I don't know if it could be both," Musk quipped.

According to the Congressional Budget Office's estimate, the One Big Beautiful Bill Act would increase the federal deficit by approximately $3.,8 trillion over a 10-year period. Much of that increase in the deficit comes from extending Trump's 2017 tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans by another decade. Republicans have proposed paying for the tax cuts by cutting Medicaid and Medicare by hundreds of billions of dollars, though because the tax cuts are so costly, any deficit reduction made by those cuts is minimal.

One of the most outspoken opponents of the bill among the Senate Republican Conference is Sen. Ron Johnson (R-Wisc.), who has repeatedly harped on the legislation's sky-high price tag. In addition to Johnson, Sens. Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Rand Paul (R-Ky.) have also indicated their plans to oppose it.

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Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

House Republicans Urge New Social Security Chief To Act With 'Caution'

After financial services executive Frank Bisignano was confirmed this week to lead the Social Security Administration (SSA), a group of 15 House Republicans is now urging him to seriously address some of the lingering issues within the agency — including problems exacerbated by President Donald Trump's administration.

The Arizona Republic recently reported that a group of 15 House Republicans who are predominantly from swing districts co-signed a letter to Bisignano about their "concerns" with the SSA following his Tuesday confirmation vote. In the letter — which the Republic's Laura Gersony observed "alternated between praise and polite uneasiness" — the lawmakers told Bisignano that they hoped he would use his time as commissioner to focus on improving the SSA's increasingly poor customer service.

"We commend and support the continued efforts to make our bloated bureaucracy more efficient for the American people," the 15 Republicans wrote. "However, we must use caution and consider the impact any changes would have so there are no disruptions in services for our seniors and disabled who depend on the Social Security Administration to receive retirement benefits and supplemental security income."

The letter comes on the heels of a statement by former acting SSA commissioner Leland Dudek, who led the SSA after former acting commissioner Michelle Wolf resigned in February after she clashed with Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) representatives. Dudek acknowledged the long wait times and packed lobbies that have long plagued retirees — but blamed them on former President Joe Biden's administration "advancing radical DEI [diversity, equity and inclusion] and gender ideology over improving service for all Americans."

Dudek also spearheaded an effort to downsize the SSA's 57,000-member workforce, and convinced roughly 3,000 of them to take buyouts. Last month, the SSA announced that all official communications would be done exclusively through X (which is owned by DOGE co-founder and Tesla CEO Elon Musk) rather than issue press releases. DOGE also cancelled leases for SSA offices in multiple rural communities, meaning that retirees and disabled people who depend on Social Security now have to drive for several hours to their nearest office just to have basic questions answered.

Advocates warned that those measures could result in eligible recipients losing benefits they are entitled to through no fault of their own, given that many beneficiaries are elderly and may not have the ability to use new technology or leave their home to travel to an SSA office.

""I wish I had a better answer for people, but this is going to end in checks not going out, the money that we have earned not getting into our hands," Social Security Works executive director Alex Lawson told MSNBC host Rachel Maddow in April. "And I believe strongly that that's the point. The cuts they've made have no other rhyme or reason except to literally destroy the system."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Phoning In To Cable Town Hall, Trump Provokes Mocking Laughter

President Donald Trump joined a town hall appearance by phone on the NewsNation network Wednesday night, and the audience couldn't hold their laughter after hearing his response to one particular question.

The town hall, which was hosted by former CNN host Chris Cuomo and former Fox News host Bill O'Reilly, included progressive activist Nina Turner and sports talk host Stephen A. Smith. At one point, O'Reilly read a question from an audience member asking Trump what he felt was his biggest mistake of the first 100 days of his second term.

"I'll tell you, that's the toughest question I can have because I don't really think I've made any mistakes," Trump said, prompting audible laughter from the audience.

Trump's response to the question was met with mockery and ridicule on social media, with musician Nikos Unity tweeting: "The biggest mistake was thinking that was a real answer." Historian Beth Martin suggested that Trump's unwillingness to admit to mistakes hinted at a glaring personality flaw.

"Malignant narcissists cannot admit to mistakes, even understandable small mistakes," she wrote. "They cannot acknowledge or face their mistakes, so they also never learn from them."

On Bluesky, University of South Australia lecturer Dr. Collette Snowden quipped that Trump was "sounding more and more like a shoe sales guy who claims the shoes will fit better and be soooo comfortable once they're worn in, or stretched ... but you know they're never going to fit." SiriusXM host Dean Obeidallah simply responded with "LOL."

"Ego and vanity working overtime as usual," writer David Hirsch posted to Bluesky. "Surprised if he doesn't plan to get their names for 'audits' and surveillance."

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

Billionaire Trump Backer Bemoans Dollar 'Erosion' Amid Economic Chaos

One of the Republican Party's biggest billionaire benefactors is now lamenting the "damage" that President Donald Trump has already done just less than 100 days into his second term.

Semafor reported Wednesday that Ken Griffin, who is the founder and CEO of the investment firm Citadel, is now loudly condemning Trump's handling of the economy, and tarnishing the United States' "brand." He blasted the administration for "eroding" the power of the U.S. dollar and U.S. Treasury securities.

"We put that brand at risk,” Griffin said. “It can be a lifetime to repair the damage that has been done.”

Griffin was particularly worried that institutional investors around the world were no longer viewing U.S. Treasury securities as a valuable investment, despite them typically being regarded as one of the safest ways to park money given that they're backed by the full faith and credit of the United States. He observed that, in comparison to the Euro, the United States "has become 20% poorer in four weeks." And he lamented that the United States' allies were now looking at it in a lesser light.

“There’s no great opportunity when the pie is rapidly shrinking,” he said. “All you’re trying to do is tread water and not drown.”

“How does Canada feel about our country today versus two months ago? How does Europe feel about the United States today versus two months ago?” He continued. “And some people scream, well, it just doesn’t matter. But you know what? It matters for a very profound reason. The entire Western world is engulfed in a debt crisis.”

Griffin's remarks are particularly noteworthy given that he was one of the top five donors to Republican causes in 2024. According to campaign finance data compiled by Open Secrets, Griffin gave more than $100 million to outside groups backing Republicans last year, and was only surpassed by banking heir Timothy Mellon, Tesla and SpaceX CEO Elon Musk, Dallas Mavericks owner Miriam Adelson (the widow of GOP megadonor Sheldon Adelson) and shipping industry titans Dick and Elizabeth Uihlein.

Reprinted with permission from Alternet.

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