June 4, 2025
Elon Musk’s recent online expression of rage over the House GOP megabill (in a message he posted to Truth Social yesterday Musk referred to the mega bill as a “disgusting abomination”. His statements have rattled House and Senate rank and file members as well as several leaders including House Leader Mike Johnson who claims Musk just doesn’t ‘understand’ the bill. To this point, President Trump has not responded to the Truth Social message Musk sent into the universe yesterday. Lawmakers have reason to be concerned since Musk has threatened to go after (translation: support their opponents financially) Senators and House members who vote in favor of the bill as currently configured. They are concerned about having to face midterm election challenges in 2026.
So now we have a situation in which lawmakers with differing opinions as to why the bill is bad for the country with some complaining about the massive burden it places on our nation’s ballooning deficit, while others oppose the bill for the damage it will undoubtedly do to everyday Americans due to the numerous draconian proposals embedded in the House version.
The Senate can and will push back and make changes to the bill however if it goes too far, it won’t get through the House (ultimately both houses need to come to an agreement on a final package although Republicans have the upperhand in terms of procedural shortcuts they can take to increase their leverage and tip the scales). At the end of the day, no lawmaker wants to cast a public vote on a bill that raises the deficit to historic (and dangerous) levels while others are opposed to making changes that will undoubtedly result in a dismantling of the nation’s safety net.
House GOP gets megabill’s official price tag: $2.4T
06/04/2025 10:21 AM EDT, Politico
Congress’ nonpartisan scorekeeper released its full score Wednesday of the tax and spending package House Republicans passed along party lines last month, predicting that the measure would grow the federal deficit by $2.4 trillion.
It comes days after Elon Musk, freshly departed from serving as chief of the White House Department of Government Efficiency, blasted the measure as “massive,” “outrageous” and “a pork-filled disgusting abomination.”
And while top Republican lawmakers are expected to downplay the significance of the complete price tag from the Congressional Budget Office, the numbers will influence what lawmakers are able to include in the final package they are endeavoring to send to President Donald Trump’s desk this summer.
The scorekeeper’s analysis will also be used to determine whether the bill follows the strict rules of the reconciliation process Republicans are using to skirt the Senate filibuster and pass the measure along party lines.
Because Republicans in the Senate are now making changes to the package the House passed two weeks ago, the budget office will need to score the cost of each piece of the new version senators are assembling, followed by another full price tag for the whole package.
Unlike the earlier scores CBO released of the separate chunks of the House bill, the analysis released Wednesday takes into account how policies in one part of the package might influence the budget and economic impacts of others. It also shows that the House-passed legislation would lead to nearly 11 million people going uninsured, with more than 7.8 million of those individuals getting kicked off of Medicaid and millions more losing coverage through the Affordable Care Act marketplace.
The White House has taken aim at the Hill’s nonpartisan scorekeeper, with press secretary Karoline Leavitt alleging that the number-crunchers at CBO are “partisan and political” with a bias toward Democrats. But current CBO director Phillip Swagel served in the George W. Bush administration and has donated to GOP political candidates.
Swagel was first chosen in 2019 for a four-year term and was reappointed in 2023, with a recommendation by now-House Budget Chair Jodey Arrington (R-Texas).
As you read the following information remember that Congress appropriates the funds that federal agencies utilize to staff (federal) agencies, to fund projects and services that have (to this point) been viewed as a priority in a functional democracy to include national public radio, foreign aid programs like USAID, and other critical functions at national and international levels. You will hear more about the ‘recession package’ that went to the House today. This is the first time the Trump administration has (to date) tried to rescind funding previously appropriated by Congress for the current federal budget year the old fashioned way.
Previously reported plans for President Donald Trump to send DOGE spending cuts to Congress for the first time are coming to fruition.
A $9.4 billion package to codify cuts made by the Department of Government Efficiency has been dubbed the “rescissions” package, and House Speaker Mike Johnson is gearing up to have it on the floor by early next week. Trump sent the proposed package — which would rescind PBS, NPR and foreign aid programs funding — to the Hill yesterday, with the plan to have the House Appropriations Committee mark up, but not change, its provisions, our Meredith Lee Hill reports.
Although Johnson wants to give lawmakers 72 hours to read through the legislation, Meredith shares that some House Freedom Caucus members are pushing for a vote this week. Should Johnson’s desired timeframe proceed as planned, the Rules Committee would approve the measure Monday for floor action later in the week, she says.
The rescissions sum would make up a meager portion of the $1.6 trillion appropriated for government funding this fiscal year. It’s not clear whether the package will even pass the House, with proposed cuts to NPR and PBS perhaps being a difficult proposition for moderate Republicans, such as Nebraska Rep. Don Bacon and Maine Sen. Susan Collins, to get behind.