Well, late Saturday night, secretive $500B in Medicare cuts were added, in addition to further Medicaid cuts topping $1 trillion, for a combined $1.5T in cuts to poor, disabled, and elderly people who will die or go homeless as a result. No one is paying attention.
0xy · 5h ago
This seems justified given the Biden era GAO flagged 9 figures of fraud and waste in these two programs.
Unless you believe it is prudent for the government to send billions to fraudsters.
pdoege · 4h ago
No
"Of the 2024 Medicaid improper payments, 79.11% were the result of insufficient documentation. These payments typically involve situations where a state or provider missed an administrative step and do not necessarily indicate fraud or abuse."
Depending on the year, that means that intentional fraud is around 1.8%, almost all of it over charging by medical companies and physicians.
The next generation's inheritance has already been spent. Let's not spend any more of their kid's inheritance. We can't afford to kick this can down the road forever, because the road isn't infinite. If we run out of road, everyone might be homeless.
The GOP are not serious about the debt. The Trump tax cuts of 2017 and the big ugly bill is estimated to add 1.5 and 4 trillion to the federal debt. To add insult to injury, it is cutting benefits to the people who need it the most.
hedora · 4h ago
Yeah; best not to let them reach adulthood. The BBB takes away a bunch of their health care and food. That’ll thin the numbers!
Oh wait, were you being serious?
Look at which programs are being cut vs expanded, and their relative cost vs benefit.
Basic arithmetic says this bill is designed to do maximal damage to the future of the US.
For instance, the energy star program saves an average taxpayer 1000x what they pay in taxes to fund it, and is supported by industry, consumer, environmental groups, democrats and republicans.
So, of course it’s getting killed.
linotype · 6h ago
Great, raise taxes and cut spending even further. But taxes never get (meaningfully) raised.
foenix · 6h ago
Exactly. Any discussion about US debt as a barrier to economic process when there are so many other avenues for the state to make revenue is either ignorant at best or disingenuous at worst.
This is good and all. But if they were to remove all of the bits aimed at giving up on the United States, chopping it up, and giving away the pieces to corpos, there would be nothing left. So maybe it's just better to stop trying to pass any of this big ugly spending bill, and start coming to terms with having put a con artist in the White House who doesn't have the first clue of how to actually solve any of the problems he campaigned on.
valianteffort · 10h ago
If congressmen never voted on double edged swords or poison pill legislation out of principle, they'd all be labeled do-nothing grandstanders like Thomas Massie. While it may work for Massie, as his constituents are smart enough to know voting no on every bill is better than voting yes on a bad one, most congressmen would not survive that for long.
It is, solely, the fault of disinterested constituents that congress get away with passing laws for special interests and corporate lobby rather than the country at large.
mystified5016 · 8h ago
It might have something to do with the systematic dismantling of our education system and associated propaganda campaigns convincing the now-uneducated masses that education is evil brainwashing, everyone except white billionaires are actual, literal monsters, voting is pointless, and there's no chance at ever changing anything for the better.
Or maybe several hundred million individual Americans are each bad, lazy people. That sounds more likely.
Unless you believe it is prudent for the government to send billions to fraudsters.
"Of the 2024 Medicaid improper payments, 79.11% were the result of insufficient documentation. These payments typically involve situations where a state or provider missed an administrative step and do not necessarily indicate fraud or abuse."
Depending on the year, that means that intentional fraud is around 1.8%, almost all of it over charging by medical companies and physicians.
https://www.cms.gov/newsroom/fact-sheets/fiscal-year-2024-im...
https://usdebtclock.org/
Oh wait, were you being serious?
Look at which programs are being cut vs expanded, and their relative cost vs benefit.
Basic arithmetic says this bill is designed to do maximal damage to the future of the US.
For instance, the energy star program saves an average taxpayer 1000x what they pay in taxes to fund it, and is supported by industry, consumer, environmental groups, democrats and republicans.
So, of course it’s getting killed.
It is, solely, the fault of disinterested constituents that congress get away with passing laws for special interests and corporate lobby rather than the country at large.
Or maybe several hundred million individual Americans are each bad, lazy people. That sounds more likely.