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Early this morning, Congress buried their collective heads in the sand once again.

After an all-night session in which one GOP Rep. fell asleep and missed the vote, the House passed the massive reconciliation bill by a vote of 215-214.

The bill includes many MAGA priorities and campaign promises from President Trump, including:

  • Makes the 2017 tax cuts permanent
  • Major increase on border security
  • increases the child tax credit
  • No tax on tips or overtime
  • Defunds Planned Parenthood
  • Increases military spending

In that regard, the bill is a monumental step in enacting President Trump's agenda.

+ + How you helped improve the bill...

The grassroots efforts of patriotic Americans like you who called and faxed over the past few days had a significant impact, especially in last-minute changes to the bill, including:

  • The Medicaid work requirements will start at the end of 2026 instead of in 2029, moving the reality of this reform into the near term;
  • The bill now also bars taxpayer funded coverage for so-called "gender affirming" care for both adults and children;
  • Adjustments were made to reduce the incentives for states to continue to expand Medicaid for those above the poverty line;
  • Joe Biden's Green Disaster Deal tax credits for "green" energy were rolled back even more

In addition, President Trump pledged to House conservatives that he will work to implement other priorities not in the bill through executive orders in the near term.

+ + How they buried their heads in the sand... again...

All that said...

Congress is still burying their collective heads in the sand.

The Big, Beautiful Bill, as passed by the House, is yet another fiscal nightmare that fails to change the spending and deficits trajectory that will bankrupt our nation. And everyone knows it.

The real battle for America's future, in regards to government spending, is that trajectory.

As we have noted, this bill front-loads the benefits and pushes the "savings" to after President Trump leaves office (translation: those "savings" will never happen). As a result, the bill, as written, actually INCREASES the federal debt by an estimated $1.5 TRILLION over the next four years. Two graphs that explain:

And this, why we should brace for $2+ TRILLION deficits (perhaps reaching $3 TRILLION?), for the foreseeable future:

Freedom Caucus member Rep. Keith Self called his "yes" vote "the toughest vote of my career" because the bill doesn't change the trajectory: "It does nothing to stop Washington’s out-of-control spending. This bill could take us from $36 trillion in debt to $56 trillion or more in 10 years."

Rep. Thomas Massie, one of two GOP "no" votes, summed it up well when he delivered a "dose of reality about the ticking debt bomb" which he says could realistically add $30 TRILLION to the debt in 10 years:

It is also deeply disappointing that Speaker Johnson used the same tactics that Nancy Pelosi and the Democrats have used for decades to pass their huge spending bonanzas -- back-room deals, last-minute release of the text, contrived deadlines. We reported on this in detail yesterday (I even suggested the Speaker change his name to "Mike Pelosi-Johnson"), and it happened again last night.

The final text of the bill wasn't released until 9pm, after which members of Congress only had a few hours to "read" and consider the ramifications before the all-night debate and forced vote at around 7AM this morning. As Rep. Thomas Massie said, "If [a bill] is beautiful, you don’t do it after midnight.”

One more note: it is disturbing that a full five pages of the final amendment to the bill consisted of changing "MAGA" to "Trump" (as in "MAGA Accounts" to "Trump Accounts"). We don't need a cult of personality. Let's keep "America" first.

+ + How we won...

All that said, here's how patriotic Americans who are concerned about how bloated government is bankrupting our nation won...

The Senate must now consider this bill, and the issues and concerns of patriots like you are FRONT AND CENTER in the discussion. Conservatives in the Senate like Sen. Ron Johnson are already signaling that the House bill fails to address the debt trajectory. He and others are demanding more changes.

The Senate battle comes next. 

In conclusion, I remain deeply concerned that Republicans are repeating the Big Spending mistakes that have led us to the very edge of this fiscal cliff. There is a better way forward. Congress should return our nation to the pre-pandemic spending levels because, as everyone except Congress has noticed, the pandemic is over. The UniParty used the "crisis" of the pandemic to dramatically expand government.

So far, a Republican President and a GOP Congress have NOT been able to claw back any of that extra "pandemic" spending (as we've noted, the "savings" they talk about aren't actually cuts -- they are decreases in projected increases, as if that makes any sense).

So what's next? Like the canary in the coal mine, Grassfire will continue to sound the alarm and keep what's best for America first.

For life, liberty and limited government,

Steve Elliott, Grassfire

P.S. If you made it this far, would you consider helping Grassfire as we continue to stand for liberty and sound the alarm? It's been disappointing to see so many of our conservative friends fall in line with this bill without even offering much criticism, while our nation careens off the fiscal cliff. We could use your help right now. We are far behind our budget for the first half of this year. If you can spare $30 or even $50, it would make a huge difference. Go here.