The cracks are showing
My most fervent hope is that the Republican senators who are speaking out on the Big Ugly Bill vote against its passage. Rand Paul is the most vocal, calling Trump “the emperor with no clothes.” Ron Johnson, an undisputed MAGA senator, is also against the bill. Even though his reasons are selfish, his action in voting against this bill will greatly benefit the American people.
According to the Economic Times, Johnson is leading the charge against the bill. Johnson takes issue with there being no provisions addressing the debt problem. According to the Congressional Budget Office, the bill will add $3.8 trillion to the national debt, which has already ballooned out of control at $36 trillion. When the House passed the bill (by one vote), the Economic Times reported that the bond market crashed because of investor fears that the government will not be able to pay its debts. That is merely one part of the idiocy of this bill. They want to give additional tax cuts to people who don’t need them all the while sacrificing the government. But Trump doesn’t and never has given one hoot about the government. Indeed, he exists to tear it down. Speaking to CNN on Memorial Day, Johnson said the holiday “should remind senators about people who died for America” and that they should not leave an impossible amount of debt on their children and grandchildren. These two senators, however, will not be enough to stop the bill. Republicans hold 53 seats, and if even three of them vote against the bill, JD Vance can issue a tiebreaker, and the bill will pass. The goal, then, is to find more Republican senators who find the bill distasteful.
Paul said that the House predicts the debt to go up by $4 trillion, but Paul believes it will be at least $5 trillion. Paul is also against raising the debt ceiling. The bill is poised to raise it to $5 trillion, which Paul said tells him they plan to spend that much over the next few years. The only way Paul will consider voting for the bill is if the debt ceiling stipulation is removed. After hearing Paul’s thoughts, Mike Johnson, who is a classic follower, claimed that: “My campaign promise in 2010, and every campaign after that, was to stop mortgaging our children’s future. It’s immoral, it’s wrong, and it has to stop.” But it’s apparently not immoral or wrong to take food out of people’s mouths and healthcare from their grasp. How about cutting those tax breaks for the rich? That would be moral, right, and make the most sense. They have enough money.
According to USA Today, Johnson believes there are enough Republican senators to block the bill. Several are against Medicaid reforms, including Josh Hawley, Susan Collins, Lisa Murkowski, and Jerry Moran, and Murskowsi and Moran, along with Thom Tillis and John Curtis, are against phasing out clean energy initiatives, which have been a boon to their constituents’ local economies. If these six plus Johnson and Paul vote against the bill, it’s done.
Shirley is a former entertainment writer and has worked in the legal field for over 25 years