I ask you, is it a Big, Beautiful Bill?

Is it a Big, Beautiful, Bill, or a Big, Blowsy Turd?

Honestly, I don’t know, and I don’t trust either party to tell me.

The only thing I am sure of is this: The enormous tax cuts will result in an increase of an almost unthinkable $3.9 trillion addition to our super-stupendous $36.2 trillion national debt.

And I will continue to italicize trillion to make you think hard about it.

Do you even know what a trillion is?

It is 1,000 billion. 

And 1 billion is 1,000 million.

See how that adds up?

These are incomprehensible numbers, which are owned to us by us. Right now every American — man, woman, child, gender-unsecured, dog-faced, whatever — is on the hook for about $106,000. 

And the Big, Beautiful Bill will add to that. We’re damn lucky Republicans are so fiscally conservative or we’d be in big trouble. (Carve out for Sens. Thom Tillis, Susan Collins, and Rand Paul, who voted “nay.”) 

The MAGA people insist that, no, we won’t be adding to the debt, because increased economic activity, plus tariffs, will have us rolling around in money like Scrooge McDuck in his vault. Trusting that belief is like trying to fix jet plane’s wing while in flight. 

I don’t like adding to the national debt because right now  17% of the federal budget, about $1.3 trillion, according to the Congressional Budget Office, is used to pay interest on the debt. That is more than we spend on defense ($850 billion.)

Our budget has to go on a diet. Where to cut? There aren’t a lot of choices.

President Donald J. Trump repeatedly promised no cuts to Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid. He also promised Mexico would pay off our national debt, or something like that.

But the Big, Beautiful Bill indeed does have (at this moment) a cut of about $1.1 trillion (over 10 years) to Medicaid, which Republicans say is not a cut.

Democrats say children, women, the elderly, the infirm, and members of the New York Jets will lose their coverage.

Republicans say the bill is so kind Mother Teresa could have written it and only requires that able-bodied adults with no dependent children over 14, work a job, volunteer, or go to school for 20 hours a week. I have no idea if that is true.

For the following stats, I thank the Philadelphia Inquirer.

It says slashing $1.1 trillion (over 10 years, it failed to say) from Medicaid “would result in roughly 12 million elderly and vulnerable Americans losing health coverage.” I have no idea if that is true. 

What I do know is Medicaid’s annual budget is $606.8 billion. 

The Inquirer failed to say that 78 million Americans receive Medicaid, down from the peak of 94 million in 2023 during the pandemic. Republican Sen. Lindsey Graham repeatedly, and falsely, said Medicaid spending had gone up 50% in the last few years. 

Without citing a source, the Inquirer reported the Medicaid improperly payment rate is estimated to be 5%. That would be $30.3 billion in waste, fraud or abuse. That ain’t chicken feed, even if a billion isn’t what it used to be. The U.S. has 735 billionaires. 

I don’t want to see eligible helpless children, elderly people, or infirm Americans, kicked off Medicaid. I don’t know anyone who does. 

I also think it is reasonable to expect people who are capable of working — even if it is volunteering — to do so in exchange for benefits. I have yet to hear a solid number of how many of the 72 million fall into this category, and how this will save money. If they meet the work requirement, they will still get benefits.

So I am puzzled where the truth lies. 

I’m pretty sure taxes will not be applied to tips, which I understand, nor to overtime, which I don’t. Taxing straight time and not overtime is not logical. 

Then there’s something about not taxing interest on the purchase of American cars, and what happened to not taxing Social Security benefits? And I am sure there are some doozies hidden in the almost 1,000-page bill.

I don’t trust either side. So I will crowdsource here, and ask you to explain, with hard numbers, and authoritative data, what you think the reality is.

I am not interested in political propaganda, TV talking points, or pointing figures. Facts and figures, please.