If GOP officials are looking for good news in the Congressional Budget Office's new report on the party's reconciliation package, they won't find any.
In theory, the new CBO score on the Republicansâ megabill would rattle lawmakers and bury the legislation.
In practice, Republicans are too indifferent to the substance of governing to care. www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddo...
— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2025-05-21T13:02:31.942Z
https://www.msnbc.com/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/budget-office-republicans-megabill-give-rich-richer-take-poor-rcna208175
Common sense might suggest that congressional Republicans would want to know basic details about their giant reconciliation package, such as how much it would cost and the practical implications of its provisions. GOP lawmakers are, after all, federal policymakers. It stands to reason that theyd care enough about governing to want to legislate with open eyes......
That did not, however, stop congressional Democrats from asking the CBO to scrutinize the House Republicans proposal, and as The Associated Press reported, the nonpartisan budget offices findings were quite brutal.
A fresh analysis from the Congressional Budget Office said the tax provisions would increase the federal deficit by $3.8 trillion over the decade, while the changes to Medicaid, food stamps and other services would tally $1 trillion in reduced spending. The lowest-income households in the U.S. would see their resources drop, while the highest ones would see a boost, the CBO said.
For Republicans, theres plenty of data to chew on in the CBOs newly released findings, but
if GOP officials are looking for encouraging news in the report, they wont find any. The nonpartisan budget analysts found that the Republicans proposal would:
decrease household resources for the poorest Americans by 2% in the short term, and 4% by 2033 as additional GOP cuts take effect;
increase household resources for the wealthiest Americans, thanks almost entirely to Republican tax breaks;
increase the budget deficit by $3.8 trillion;
take health care benefits from roughly 15 million Americans;
cut roughly $700 million from Medicaid;
and cut $267 billion from SNAP (better known as food stamps).
Democratic Rep. Brendan Boyle of Pennsylvania, the ranking member on the House Budget Committee, said in a statement,
This is what Republicans are fighting for lining the pockets of their billionaire donors while children go hungry and families get kicked off their health care. CBOs nonpartisan analysis makes it crystal clear: Donald Trump and House Republicans are selling out the middle class to make the ultra-rich even richer. Every word out of Trumps mouth about helping working Americans was a lie.