GOP megabill littered with special tax breaks

“Special tax breaks for venture capitalists, Alaskan fisheries, spaceports, private schools, rum makers and others — together costing tens of billions of dollars — quietly caught a ride on Republicans’ sprawling domestic policy megabill.”

Pork pork pork. Where’s the tea party!?

https://www.politico.com/news/2025/07/04/from-rum-to-gun-silencers-tailored-tax-breaks-add-billions-to-megabill-00438962

How Trump’s Very MAGA Tax Cuts Break with GOP Tradition

“For decades, Republicans have extolled the virtues of removing loopholes and carveouts from the tax code, arguing it would make the system fairer and more efficient, while allowing for lower overall tax rates.”

“Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill is not an exercise in tax simplification.

Instead, it began with a push to extend the party’s 2017 tax cuts — which despite some streamlining also introduced some complexity — and piled more on top, in line with a slew of presidential campaign promises. Add in a heavy dose of congressional politics, and the result was a sprawling and quirky piece of legislation that is distinctively Trumpy: lower taxes and a bigger pile of tax breaks.”

“several economists I spoke with worried it is the worst of all combinations: increasing the debt to pay for tax breaks that lead to neither growth nor other economically useful outcomes.”

https://www.politico.com/news/magazine/2025/07/05/trump-tax-cuts-megabill-republicans-00439787

Three reasons why Republicans cut Medicaid

“As Republicans began to consider their bill in January, Trump promised to “love and cherish” Medicaid. But he ultimately embraced the cuts as necessary to get the bill passed and lobbied reluctant GOP representatives and senators to go along.”

“Other entitlements like Medicare and Social Security, which both serve elderly people, were deemed too politically risky to touch. Trump has been even more adamant about not reducing benefits in Medicare and Social Security, a cornerstone of his first campaign in 2016, than he was about Medicaid.”

https://www.yahoo.com/news/why-republicans-t-quit-medicaid-184536906.html

4 ways Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ could impact your wallet

4 ways Trump’s ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ could impact your wallet

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/4-ways-trumps-big-beautiful-183228278.html

The Disaster That Just Passed the Senate | The Ezra Klein Show

Trump’s big beautiful bill hits Medicaid hard, which provides health insurance for low-income people. The bill adds onerous paperwork requirements that many people will fail to complete. Republicans represent the cuts as getting able-bodied young men back to work, but for Medicaid to save money, it has to no longer pay medical bills, which do not primarily come from able-bodied young men.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7q7LwNuOTs4