Senate approves Trump project that takes health from the poor and favors billionaires

The United States Senate approved on Tuesday (1st) the main fiscal project of Donald Trump’s second term, an internal policy package that extends tax cuts and institutes new tax benefits for billionaires, increased defense and combating immigration spending, funded by cuts in social programs and increased public debt.

The vote was tight: 51 to 50, with Vice President Jd Vance giving the tiebreaker.

Three Republican Senators – Susan Collins (Maine), Rand Paul (Kentucky) and Thom Tillis (North Carolina) – joined the 47 Democrats and voted against the proposal.

Collins cited worries about Cuts in Medicaid, the country’s main medical care program; Paul rejected the text for not containing deeper spending cuts; Tillis accused the project of betraying voters dependent on the public health system.

The proposal resumes and deepens the fiscal prescription of Trump’s first term. It extends the 2017 tax cuts, creates exemptions on tips and overtime, allows deductions for the purchase of national cars and creates public accounts for newborns.

Meanwhile, it eliminates about $ 1 trillion in funds for Medicaid and SNAP, the food program aimed at the low -income population.

According to the Congress Budget Office (CBO), the project’s approval could leave about 12 million people without health coverage. Yale Budget Lab estimates indicate that 80% of the poorer population will see their available income fall. The richest 10% will receive, on average, $ 12,000 more per year, consolidating the regressive character of the proposal.

Sanders denounces system that transfers income from the poor to billionaires

During the plenary debate, Senator Bernie Sanders reported that the project “is not a gift for the billionaire class. They paid for it. It is the reflection of a corrupt system that allows you to buy elections.” For Sanders, the cuts in social programs represent a death sentence for the poorest.

Vermont’s state parliamentarian cited a joint study of Yale and Pennsylvania universities that estimate unnecessary death of more than 50,000 Americans per year if health cuts are implemented. “We are taking food from the mouth of hungry children to give Mr. Bezos, Mr. Musk and Mr. Zuckerberg,” he said.

The Democrat also compared the project to withdrawal policy: “This project is literally a death sentence for low -income and working class.” In addition to the impacts on health and nutrition, Sanders criticized US $ 350 billion cuts in education, subsidies to the war sector and the dismantling of clean energy investments.

In an attempt to reduce the political impacts of the proposal, the government included some symbolic measures. Among them are the exemption of tips on tips and the deposit of $ 1,000 in public accounts for newborns. Sanders classified these measures as insufficient and disproportionate to the dismantling of structural rights.

Republican resistance exposes impasses in the House of Representatives

After approval in the Senate, the bill goes to the Chamber of Deputies, where the Republican base is also divided. Most of the party are narrow – 220 to 212 – and several parliamentarians have already positioned themselves against Senate changes, especially additional drug cuts and the revocation of incentives for green energy.

On the one hand, Freedom Caucus – the most conservative wing of the party – accuses the proposal of not going far enough in the cuts. On the other hand, moderate parliamentarians warn of the risk of negative impact on their electoral bases, especially in rural areas and states with impoverished population. Even the mayor, Mike Johnson, acknowledged that “the Senate went beyond what many preferred.”

Johnson told Fox News that he wants to vote the text later this week, “depending on storms” affecting the Washington region. The government’s goal is to sanction the project by July 4, the national date in which the US celebrates its independence. The choice of deadline reinforces the political and symbolic use of the project as a “legacy” of trump.

The vote is expected to take place between Wednesday and Friday. To press dissidents, the White House already mobilizes party leaders and directly articulates with undecided deputies. “The president said this is his project. It’s neither from the House nor Senate. It’s the American people project,” Johnson said.

A regressive package anchored in debt and militarism

The fiscal impact of the project is one of the most sensitive points. According to the CBO, the package will increase US public debt by nearly $ 4 trillion in the next decade. The text also raises for $ 5 trillion the legal ceiling of federal debt, already over US $ 36 trillion. Even tax senators who defend austerity ended up retreating and voting for.

Senator Rand Paul denounced the contradiction: “Congress should increase the limit to smaller portions to maintain pressure by spending cuts.” Already Ron Johnson, who had promised to vote against deeper cuts, ended up supporting the most expensive and most aggressive version against Medicaid. In total, 48 hours followed by negotiations in the plenary.

The proposal allocates US $ 160 billion to the Defense Department and another US $ 170 billion for migratory repression. According to Washington Postit is one of the largest allocations ever made for internal security. Part of these features will be used in the continental antimissile shield project called “Golden Dome”, promise of the Trumpist campaign.

Yale Budget Lab leader Natasha Sarin summed up the character of the package: “The correct way to understand this project is that it represents the greatest transfer of wealth from the poorest to the richest in modern history.” The phrase echoes Bernie Sanders’s criticism: “This project will be paid with human lives.”