In today’s edition … How does Christa Pike factor into changing views on the death penalty … We ask you about dating … but first …
Can Democrats do anything about the One Big Beautiful Bill Act?
Republicans’ One Big Beautiful Bill Act has some provisions that have proved popular, like no tax on tips, tax cuts and childhood investment accounts.
But it also has several controversial elements: cuts and new rules that haven’t come into effect yet — things like Medicaid work requirements and reduced federal funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), that are scheduled to begin right when the new Congress starts in 2027.
Democratic lawmakers have said that’s no coincidence.
“The worst is yet to come,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts) said in a video her office put out this summer. “The way Republicans structured the bill made it so the Medicaid cuts won’t kick in until after the November midterm elections.”
Changes coming in 2027 include:
- Requiring Medicaid recipients aged 19-64 to prove they are working at least 80 hours a month or attending school at least half time;
- Barring most legal immigrants and refugees from using premium Affordable Care Act tax credits;
- Cutting asylum grantees and humanitarian parolees off from Medicare;
- Reducing SNAP funding (cuts will vary, depending on the accuracy of a given state’s calculations of SNAP eligibility);
- Shortening the Affordable Care Act’s enrollment window from two months to one month;
- Ending green energy tax credits.
Democrats have been campaigning on the bill’s cuts; those that have already gone into effect and those expected next year. In fact, Democrats have been speaking about the law on the trail more so than Republicans, a Post analysis found, suggesting both parties see the bill as a liability for the GOP.
When Republicans do bring up the One Big Beautiful Bill Act, they’ve focused on the tax cuts included in the law. Democrats have been more focused on the reductions to programs like SNAP — from which more than 4 million people, including more than 1.5 million children, have been dropped since July 2025 — and Medicaid, which is already cutting coverage for hundreds of thousands of people.
Democrats hope to retake the House this fall, and are feeling increasingly bullish about retaking the Senate, too. Part of their focus on the One Big Beautiful Bill Act is likely an effort to try to ensure that if they do have a successful election, voters don’t blame them for policies that take effect while they’re in control of Congress.
But their attacks also allow Democrats to press the cost of living message they’ve been running on this cycle — and to promise that even if there are cuts to food assistance or health care credits coming, they will undo what they can.
“We are going to aggressively focus on making life more affordable,” Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-New York) said at a news conference last month in which he outlined what his caucus will do if they win a majority. “We have to reverse the Medicaid cuts. We should extend the Affordable Care Act tax credits.”
But can Democrats actually do anything about the One Big Beautiful Bill Act?
Maybe not. A Democratic-led House could very likely pass a bill reversing Medicaid cuts, for instance. But President Donald Trump could just as easily veto such a bill, if, that is, it were to make it through the Senate in the first place.
Seemingly aware of these limitations, Democratic lawmakers say they are brainstorming ideas to address individual aspects of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that can win Republican support.
“I think we’ve demonstrated, House and Senate Democrats together, a willingness to make progress for the American people on the affordability issue even when it involves working with our colleagues on the other side of the aisle,” Jeffries said at a news conference Wednesday.
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From across the newsroom
- The volunteer internet sleuths hunting down rogue AI agents, from Gerrit De Vynck and Miriam Waldvogel.
- Trump says Secret Service wants him to ‘take down’ Oval Office, from Dan Diamond.
- Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez debut bill to crack down on Flock cameras, from Theodoric Meyer.
- Judge says U.S. can’t prosecute ex-Olympian again in Reflecting Pool case, from Jasmine Golden and Liam Bowman.
- Treasury releases rules for nation’s first federal school voucher program, from Lauren Lumpkin.
- Renée Good’s family sues Trump officials, saying death was ‘not an accident’, from Silvia Foster-Frau.
What I’m watching
We were inundated with emails about Christa Pike’s upcoming execution before it happened on Wednesday. Later in the day, Pike’s execution did not go as planned, with our colleagues Katie Mettler and Brady Dennis reporting that Pike “continued to breathe for nearly an hour after she was administered two rounds of lethal injection drugs … according to court filings by her legal team, prompting the state to halt her execution and begin emergency medical care.”
Attorneys for Pike said Thursday afternoon that she is alive, in critical condition “and receiving lifesaving medical care.” More on that here.
The reaction has been swift and unequivocal.
Tennessee Gov. Bill Lee (R) said afterward that he would stop all scheduled executions for the rest of the year and ordered a “comprehensive, third-party review to determine exactly what occurred.”
“This is one of the worst botched executions in the modern death penalty era,” Robin Maher, executive director of the nonprofit Death Penalty Information Center, said in an email to our colleagues. “Her attorneys warned of this exact scenario and were ignored.”
As we noted earlier this week, support for the death penalty has been on a steady decline. There have long been warnings about the drugs used for lethal injection causing pain and suffering, and my colleague Victoria Craw has a list of all the recently botched executions in this country.
According to Gallup, support for the death penalty for murder hit an all-time high in 1994, with 80 percent of Americans backing the practice. Support for capital punishment is now at 52 percent, according to the same poll, with opposition hovering at 44 percent.
What does Pike’s botched execution mean for perception of the death penalty going forward? We read through many of the emails you sent on this topic, but wanted to highlight this one message from Ann Shetler, a reader in Texas.
“The death penalty needs to end. … Mistakes get made and innocent people have been killed. Too few have been identified before it was too late,” she wrote. “I hope the fiasco in Tennessee brings more useful attention to the costs and difficulties related to the death penalty.”
In your local paper
Maine Morning Star: How do young people feel about this political moment? This Maine outlet finds they’re concerned about “abuse of political and economic power, including the United States’ role in foreign wars and lack of accountability for bad actors named in the Epstein files.”
Baltimore Banner: All politicians are navigating the changing politics of data centers. But how Maryland Gov. Wes Moore (D) is handling the issue is particularly worth watching because he is one of many Democrats expected to run for president next year.
Post and Courier: A potential law in South Carolina could allow homeowners to carry their ultralow mortgage rates over to a new house. There has been some discussion of pushing this policy on the national level.
Worth your time
The Washington Post has launched a new education newsletter: Paying for College 101.
The newsletter, written by Danielle Douglas-Gabriel, is a six-part series on the complex maze of paying for college, a subject of critical importance for many people.
Are you stressed about student loans? Unsure where to start searching for scholarships? Please consider signing up here.
From you
This isn’t shocking, but none of you want to give Congress a raise.
“While the salary seems small, most of the senators are wealthy and reps less so,” wrote Jim Prah. “Consider too the other perks — health care, subsidies, gym, generous retirement. Insider trading is likely rampant.”
Ann Dunkin said Congress could give itself a raise if it put constraints on the perks it gets and its ability to trade stocks.
“Many — not all — members of Congress trade stock seemingly with inside information and accept trips, meals and entertainment, usually under the auspices of their campaign,” Dunkin wrote. “The fact is that many members of Congress, in spite of their salaries and the cost of living in DC, leave Congress with far more money than they had when they arrived.”
And Beth B. Kennedy lamented how much time Congress is at home.
“When Congress starts working a full-time job, like most Americans, 50 weeks a year with two weeks of vacation, then we could consider what their salary should be,” she wrote. “This year, take a look at what the House of Representatives’ work schedule looks like — it’s a disgrace.”
“At a minimum, they should not be paid during government shutdowns,” Joan Loughran concluded. “They should not be paid for days not spent at their desks in DC when they’re sent home prematurely to avoid inconvenient votes. … No one in the private sector could get away with this kind of behavior. These people are abusing their salaries and perks paid for by our tax dollars.”
Send a reply
Singapore recently launched a government dating app to combat the Asian nation’s plunging birth rates. American birth rates are falling are at historic lows, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Should the federal government launch a dating app? Do you think the U.S. should be concerned about the low birth rate? Let me and your fellow Early Brief readers know at [email protected].
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