UPDATE (Frances Langum): And their “budget” just failed a major committee vote. What a bunch of incompetents.
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House Republicans’ tax bill is expected to add trillions to the federal deficit, and that’s bad news for any of them who’d like to stay in office after the 2026 midterms.
The Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget, a nonpartisan think tank focused on fiscal issues, estimates the taxes bill would likely add nearly $3.3 trillion to the national deficit over the next decade, after factoring in interest, new revenue, and cuts to federal spending. Worse, if all of the tax bill’s policies are permanently extended, the bill could add $5.2 trillion to the deficit, according to the CRFB.
The legislation is bound to be rewritten, but it’s unlikely to end up being anything other than a massive giveaway to the nation’s wealthiest, offering a measly amount of savings to everyday Americans. It is also expected to increase costs for some American households in other ways, such as by leading 13.7 million Americans to lose their health insurance.
But good news! House Speaker Mike Johnson and his gang of Republicans do have a plan to generate some revenue: They have proposed adding a 5% tax on remittances, the money that immigrants in the U.S. send to their families back home. The egregious cruelty is very on-brand for today’s Grand Old Party.
But not everything is copacetic in the GOP.
Wisconsin Sen. Ron Johnson called the House tax bill “a sad joke,” and it doesn’t look like others in that chamber’s Republican caucus are on board currently.
Meanwhile, some House Republicans facing tight reelection races in the 2026 midterms are hemming and hawing over various aspects of the bill. New York Rep. Mike Lawler, whose district Democrat Kamala Harris won in last year’s presidential race, has said he will not vote to advance the tax bill unless it raises the limit of state and local taxes Americans can deduct from their federal income tax returns.
In response to Lawler’s hesitancy, Georgia’s answer to decency, Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, attacked him by saying he “usually isn’t the guy in the conference with the best ideas.” Lawler shot back by calling Greene “the ‘Jewish Space Laser’ lady,” a reference to Greene’s antisemitic conspiracy theory that wildfires in California were started using space lasers.
So while the GOP tries to figure out the best strategy to finance tax cuts for the rich, be sure to contact your lawmakers and tell them to leave Medicaid alone.
Republished with permission from Daily Kos.
