House Democrats were left aghast when their GOP colleagues made an 11th-hour push to rename their newborn baby investment savings initiative in honor of President Donald Trump.
The proposed idea was for the federal government to open so-called “MAGA accounts” to provide $1,000 of seed investment for every American baby born in the next four years.
Republicans say the MAGA in the bill’s name stands for “money account for growth and advancement” rather than the president’s “Make America Great Again” slogan. Fawning House Republicans have now made a last-minute change to make clear who they believe should take credit for the scheme, stating that the money will be invested into a “Trump Trust.”
During a House Rules Committee meeting Wednesday evening to thrash out details on Trump’s plan for extensive tax cuts as part of his “big, beautiful” spending bill, ranking member Jim McGovern, a Democrat from Massachusetts, asked what an amendment to “strike ‘MAGA’ and insert ‘Trump’” was about.
Republican Virginia Rep. Morgan Griffith explained that the GOP had decided the proposed savings accounts would have their name changed from “MAGA Trust” to “Trump Trust.”
One female voice at the hearing could be heard saying, “Oh hell no” after Griffith’s explanation, with a dumbfounded McGovern responding, “Why?!”
While struggling to contain his laughter, Colorado Rep. Joe Neguse made sure viewers at home understood the proposals.
“So to put a finer point on it, the MAGA baby bonds are now going to be named the Trump baby bonds. That’s what Republicans have spent the better part of the last 24 hours negotiating at the White House. Apparently, the president got his way, and these new savings accounts will be named in his honor,” Neguse said.
“For all the talk of my colleagues not treating him like a king, it sure seems like you are attempting to do so.”
Neguse went on to suggest the GOP would be “screaming bloody murder” if the Democrats had attempted to rename savings accounts in honor of former President Barack Obama.
Pennsylvania’s Mary Gay Scanlon put forward her own mocking suggestion for what the savings accounts for newborns should be called.
“Instead of the MAGA Trust or the Trump Trust, why don’t we call it the Trump Diaper Saving, it could be TDS,” Scanlon said. “Because I think the only way you end up with a stupid name like this is if you have TDS.”
Republicans have used the acronym TDS, or “Trump Derangement Syndrome,” to attack Democrats who are seemingly obsessed with the president.
The House is expected to vote on the massive spending bill—which has deeply divided Republicans on issues such as cuts to Medicaid and the state and local tax (SALT) deduction cap—on Thursday.
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