Action 145. The Big Disaster
Background: The budget bill passed the Senate, 51-50. Susan Collins voted against it. JD Vance was the 51st vote. Now it goes back to the House for a final vote. Trump wants it passed by July 5, this Saturday. Don’t let this happen. If it passes the House, 80% of households will be less well off. This is a result of adding the effects of the cuts in public services, the tariffs, and mass deportations. (1, 2). The cuts in services like health care, food stamps, student aid etc. are a direct hit against low- and middle-income households. The tariffs and mass deportations are an indirect hit, through rising prices that affect everyone. (E.g., deportations raise the price of food.) On top of that, the bill blows the lid off the federal deficit, which means anything you need to borrow money to finance (like a car or a house) is going to cost more. In sum, only the top 10% of households – those with over about $200 K in annual revenue - will see a net gain from the extended tax benefit. The entire bill is a massive transfer of wealth upwards to those who least need it. (3)
The July 4 “deadline” is a completely arbitrary, vanity date set by Trump, a pathological narcissist who wants a Nobel Peace Prize (4) and his face on Mount Rushmore while he is still alive to revel in it. (5) Likewise, the extension of the tax cuts for billionaires is completely arbitrary and a vanity promise from Trump to his rich enablers. (6) Those tax cuts were supposed to be temporary. “Pretending tax cuts are temporary is one of the oldest tricks in the book...when the expiration comes around you blast anyone who supports it as being for ‘“a massive tax increase!”’ (3)
Action: Indivisible once again has a practical prescription for those of us who live in Democratic districts with Representatives who will not vote for the bill. (However, Jared Golden has been squishy on so many things that it won’t hurt to call him too!). Indivisible’s actions are reproduced here along with their links.
📞 Call folks whose GOP representatives are flippable. If you can spare 1-2 hours for the fight, join a phonebank to call people in vulnerable Republican districts, sound the alarm about this bill, and patch them through to let their GOP representative have it. Anyone can join a phonebank; you just need a phone and a computer.
💪 Fight back with friends. We’re stronger together, so encourage your friends and family to take action to stop the cuts to Medicaid and SNAP. Sign up and get access to Empower, an app that has everything you need to text your circle about the Republican tax scam: ready-to-use scripts and messages with links they can use to call their own Members of Congress.
🧑💻 Help spread the word about what’s in this bill using our social toolkit. When people know what’s in the bill, they overwhelmingly oppose it -- but a lot of people still aren’t aware of the details. You can help change that.
Urgency: There is pressure on the House to vote ASAP, so you must act now to have an impact. Rest assured, whether or not the House passes the bill, there will be more to do in the coming weeks. NEVER give up.
Extra Credit:
(1) Economist Jared Bernstein interviewed by Greg Sargent on “The Daily Blast” from the New Republic, interviewed on the DSR Network, June 30
(2) For much more on the bill’s impacts and when they will hit, see
https://www.progressivecaucuscenter.org/unrig-the-rules/2025-07-01
(3) https://econjared.substack.com/p/pictures-of-the-worst-budget-bill
(4) https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/24/us/politics/trump-nobel-peace-prize.html/
(5) https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/06/27/us/mount-rushmore-trump.html
(6) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOzAJOnJtHY