Republicans are about to make everything a whole lot worse

House Speaker Mike Johnson is set to put a Senate-passed tax cut bill up for a vote on Wednesday that would put Republicans one step closer to slashing taxes for the rich while at the same time cutting critical benefits like Medicaid and food stamps.

The Senate passed their budget version in the wee hours of Saturday morning, which would explode the deficit by $5.8 trillion over the next decade in order to extend President Donald Trump’s 2017 tax cuts that overwhelmingly benefit the wealthiest taxpayers.

While the Senate budget does not call for the more than $880 billion in cuts to Medicaid or $230 billion in cuts to food stamps, House Republican leadership is urging Republicans to pass the Senate bill so they can move to the next step of the budget reconciliation process—in which Republicans will have to put actual pen to paper to say what cuts they will make, rather than just provide topline numbers.

House Republican leaders are trying to sell the Senate budget to angry rank-and-file House GOP lawmakers by saying they will still be able to make the massive cuts to Medicaid and food stamps—despite what the Senate budget calls for.

Johnson made that pitch in a Dear Colleague letter he sent to Republicans on Saturday after the Senate budget passed.

“The Senate amendment as passed makes NO CHANGES to the House reconciliation instructions that we voted for just weeks ago. Although the Senate chose to take a different approach on its instructions, the amended resolution in NO WAY prevents us from achieving our goals in the final reconciliation bill,” Johnson wrote.

Rep. Lisa McClain of Michigan, chair of the House Republican conference, made a similar pitch to Republicans on Sunday.

“This week, the House will vote on the next step of the budget reconciliation process. Time is of the essence—we need to instruct our committees. Voting to pass the resolution gets us to the drafting stage, and the Senate amendment does not prevent us from passing a bill that achieves the goals in our resolution,” McClain wrote in a post on X. “Our final one big, beautiful bill will include historic savings and protect essential programs.”

House Republicans want to cut critical social safety net programs that provide medical coverage and food assistance to low-income Americans at the same time that Trump is crashing the global economy by imposing nonsensical tariffs on nearly every country on the planet.

For now, losses are confined to the stock market. The Dow Jones Industrial Average has lost more than 14% of its value over the past month, while the S&P 500 has lost more than 12% of its value in the same time period—wiping out trillions of dollars in people’s savings and retirements. 

If these losses persist, the next thing to go is jobs—as companies embark in layoffs (though it’s already starting) or even go out of business entirely. 

And if Republicans are successful in making cuts to programs like Medicaid and food stamps, it would leave less funds to help low-income Americans survive at a time when there will likely be more people needing economic assistance.

“Just so we’re all clear: The economy is spiraling under Trump’s new tariffs, essential programs like Medicare/Medicaid are under attack, and yet all Republicans want is to pass more tax breaks for billionaires. … Got it,” Rep. Sara Jacobs (D-CA) wrote in a post on X.

Of course, the usual group of fiscal hawks are crowing that the Senate budget doesn’t make enough draconian cuts for their liking, and are vowing to vote it down.

“If the Senate’s ‘Jekyll and Hyde’ budget is put on the House floor, I will vote no,” Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) wrote in a post on X, saying the Senate bill doesn’t make enough cuts. “Failure is not an option. And the Senate’s budget is a path to failure.”

“Just read the Senate’s budget resolution—deeply disappointing. Hard to see how this passes the House. I certainly can’t support it as written,” Rep. Lloyd Smucker (R-PA) wrote in a post on X.

However, Republicans always cave to Trump’s demands in the end. And if he calls and tells Republicans to vote for something, they’ll abide by their Dear Leader’s demands.

Punchbowl News’ John Bresnahan put it best, writing in a post on X:

House Rs weren’t gonna vote for Johnson for speaker …..

House Rs weren’t gonna pass CR …..

House Rs weren’t gonna pass first budget resolution ……

Never bet against Republicans making the absolute wrong decision in the name of Trump.

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