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CONLEY COMMENTARY (WSAU) – “This bill will take away health insurance from the poor, to pay for tax cuts for the rich.”
“This bill will take away food assistance from the poor, to pay for tax cuts for the rich.”
-Sen. Chuck Schumer, D-NY, on the floor of the U.S. Senate
And, once again Republicans lose the messaging war.
As Senator Ron Johnson correctly points out, we let tens of thousands of people onto medicaid during the COVID years who otherwise wouldn’t have qualified. We increased the foodshare benefits for tens of thousands more. (I personally know of one person who qualified for $50 in supplemental food aid, which was bumped up to $350 once COVID hit.)
The big, beautiful bill takes the first small steps to returning federal spending to what it was during the pandemic. And yet Republicans somehow can’t explain that the public.
Now I’ve just explained it to you. It’s not a complicated argument.
Now that the pandemic is over, healthcare and foodshare should go back to the pre-pandemic rules.
And the big, beautiful bill still doesn’t get us all the way there. We gave stimulus payment directly to families, and to cities and states. Most, but not all, of that has ended. The federal government is still spending more than we were six years ago.
Senator Johnson, who voted “yes” to advance the bill to the Senate floor, is a realist. He knows that debating the bill is the only way to cut funding from it. And anything Senator Johnson can to force spending down is a good thing.
He also knows, as I do, that at the end of the day, this bill is going to pass. Why? Because Republicans cannot allow the tax cuts from Donald Trump’s first term to expire.That can only be accomplished through a reconciliation bill that needs only 50, not 60, votes to pass.
So, what will happen? Lots of wheeling and dealing. But ultimately a slimmed down bill will reach Donald Trump’s desk, and he will sign it. What is amazing is that Republican’s messaging is so bad, that they are unable to counter the argument that they’re taking from the poor to give to the rich.
Chris Conley
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