Even if you haven’t read the entire text of the GOP spending bill—and don’t worry, a number of Republicans didn’t either—you probably won’t have a hard time guessing whom it benefits, given Donald Trump’s enthusiasm for the thing: billionaires, of course, who are the president’s favorite constituency. But according to number crunchers, the bill doesn’t just slash low-income programs like Medicaid and food stamps; when all is said and done, it also hurts low-income households more than it helps them. Oh, and it gives ICE a nice raise too.
The Washington Post reports that a host of nonpartisan analyses show that low-income and working-class families would get screwed by the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, even accounting for the tax cuts they’d receive. Yes, despite Trump’s and the GOP’s claims of caring about the workingman, the Congressional Budget Office said last week that the 30% of households with the lowest incomes would fare worse under the legislation, with households in the bottom 10% ending up worse off by almost $1,600 a year. But don’t take just the CBO’s word for it!
Another analysis of the bill, conducted by the University of Pennsylvania’s Wharton Budget Model, found it would hurt the bottom 60% of households financially when taking into account how much it would force the government to borrow over the next decade.
A third analysis, conducted by Yale’s Budget Lab, found the bill—when combined with the effects of Trump’s tariffs—would make all but the top 20% of households worse off.
Put another way, Yale’s Budget Lab found that 80% of households would be worse off if this bill were to go through. Which is a f–k ton of households.
Of course, while anywhere between 30% and 80% of households are expected to be worse off under the legislation, Immigration and Customs Enforcement is slated to get an extra $75 billion added to its budget over several years, presumably to help the agency go after people at places like Home Depot.
Perhaps not surprisingly, a Quinnipiac poll conducted in June found that just 27% of voters approve of the bill, while 53% oppose it. Maybe Joni Ernst should do some more PR!
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