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Big, Bad, Billionaire Bonus, Budget Busting Bill

Big, Bad, Billionaire Bonus, Budget Busting Bill

Hello CRAGgys!

I have discovered how to bring back a table of contents, helpful when I run too long. (It only shows up in the browser version, not in email.)

Please continue sharing what you're learning, connecting with allies, and passing on tips on local impacts or concerns.

Big, Bad, Billionaire Bonus, Budget Busting Bill passes house

The bill:

  • Is 1,100 pages long, and was posted only hours before the 4 am vote.
  • Cuts food assistance and Medicaid, magnified by adding bureaucratic obstacles that cause people to lose benefits when they get tangled in red tape.
  • "Would block as many as 20 million children in working families from receiving the full $2,500 Child Tax Credit included in the bill because their parents don’t earn enough." cbpp
  • Shifts additional spending to ICE, detention facilities, and "defense."
  • Cuts taxes more than spending, increasing the annual deficit by about 10%.
  • Adds $4 trillion to the U.S. debt.
  • Is a net shift of wealth upwards (again). The minimal tax cuts will be offset by much higher costs imposed on lower income families.

Here's what that looks like (source):

Health care impacts

The bill also hits the ACA (ObamaCare) and contains a sneak attack on Medicare in addition to cutting Medicaid.

The bill cuts clean energy credits, energy assistance, and contain lots of other stuff, including a provision relating to using funds to enforce a contempt citation; this is certainly alarming, though perhaps less than it seems. People are still digesting this whole mess.

Local impacts

The Center for American Progress (CAP) has estimated impacts by state and congressional district. In MI-01 they project:

  • 22,000 people would lose health insurance in the next decade.
  • 21,000 would lose some or all of their SNAP benefits.
  • Nearly 300 people would lose the opportunity for clean energy jobs.
  • Rural hospitals would be threatened by rising numbers of uninsured patients.

Best summary of the bill I've found yet

From G. Elliott Morris

Under Republican government, you are paying more and getting less: You are getting fewer services from the government and sending more of your tax dollars to military involvement overseas; A higher percentage of federal tax revenues is coming from you since the IRS does not have the manpower to chase down tax cheats; You are paying more for goods as a result of a flip-flop tariff strategy from the president that has increased uncertainty, disincentivized building, and extracted nearly zero trade concessions from foreign governments.
And why should we have to pay more for less, anyway? We are the greatest country on Earth, the most prosperous nation to ever exist. We are being told to hold our noses while the incumbent government punishes poor people... for what, exactly? It's one thing to pursue a punitive and regressive tax policy as a way to decrease the budget deficit. It's another thing to do this for essentially no reason whatsoever, while saddling Americans with more debt, and leaving all of us (except the top 0.1%) worse off.

Next steps

The bill heads to the Senate next.

  • Time to call your senators https://5calls.org/.
  • And, as always, tell your local officials and neighbors how Washington actions will hurt us here in the Copper Country.

Bits of good news

Free on-line courses from Harvard

Harvard is offering several free courses on government, civic engagement, justice, and other important topics.

Why and how to attend local meetings

CRAG started with a plea for people to get out to talk to our local public officials. The crisis in democracy spans the spectrum from the very top down to local voters who elected them. See this page for why local democracy is critical.

This report from CRAG member Julie J. shows that local officials are not paying attention to federal issues:

I went to the Laurium Village meeting last night and brought up that I was concerned about the proposed cuts to Medicaid and how this would impact the residents who are at risk of losing health insurance and how this could negatively affect Aspirus. Their general reaction was that they did not know much about these cuts and they were not concerned about Aspirus since there is a 35 million dollar expansion. I said now is a very important time to speak to representatives to prevent cuts, but they seemed unconcerned about this as there were not any cuts yet. One member thought that the cuts were to remove "illegal immigrants" from medicaid. The conversation kind of ended with me just urging them to think and learn about how this would impact the village and to share this with our federal representatives.
A modest proposal for ground-level action for democracy: Get out and talk to your LOCAL elected officials.
Our federal government is failing to protect the fundamental checks and balances of our constitution. So, let’s get down to the ground level of local democracy. Here’s how: What: * Attend local meetings of city, township, and county boards and councils. * Make a statement during the public comment period.
Citizens Rally for Accountable Government (CRAG)Sarah Green

Here's where you can practice this week: City of Houghton budget hearing, including Community Block Development Grant (CBDG) for a water project; the CBDG program is a federal program. Portage Lake District Library, Houghton County, South Range, Calumet Township.

Hints on using the calendar: switch to list view on the upper right, print with the 🖨️ icon, upper left. Select subcalendars (meetings, demos, etc) with check boxes on the left.

How can we get you out to your township/county/other meetings?


Small township meetings are often only 30 minutes long. Check the the CALENDAR for one near you.

  • We can help:
    • Pair you with a buddy 👬;
    • Guidance in preparing remarks. (but just saying a few words from your heart is fine.)
    • Fact sheets on your township (demographics, recent federal funding, number of people on Medicaid, etc).
    • What else can we do? Childcare? Transportation 🚌? Lollipops 🍭? Let me know!

Events and meetings

See CALENDAR link for details on events.

TOMORROW: Tuesday, May 27, 6 pm."How to run for local office"

  • Wednesday, May 28, 6 pm AWAVE. Gathering at Orpheum Theater, Hancock.
    • Agenda: AWAVE Committee Reports; Speaker Organization Reports Attending Community Discussion. We would like to keep our Meeting simple and brief in order to share and discuss local, regional, state, and national issues and to support one another.
  • June 14th. No Kings protests nation-wide. This date is Bridgefest in Houghton. The LWV, Houghton County Dems, and Keweenaw Indivisible are all planning floats in the parade on Friday, June 13. Contact these organizations to contribute.

Ongoing:

KATO Survey on local environmental issues in the Keweenaw

Take the short survey
  • Marquette: Every Saturday morning from 11:30-12:30, between 40 - 80 people have been assembling at the Marquette Post Office, standing in support with long-established Citizens for Peace & Justice.

And, why not, another survey, on home energy:

A Michigan Technological University research project is asking community residents to complete an online survey to provide information about your preferences for energy systems in your homes and communities. This survey should take no more than 15 minutes to complete. The project is surveying residents in select counties across the UP (Houghton and Baraga Counties) as well as WI (Ashland and Iron Counties) and MN (Beltrami and Clearwater Counties). You'll be entered into a drawing for a $25 gift card.

Take the survey

Kestrels

Since the owls are out and about they're rarely visible on the Owlcam, I've started watching this KestrelCam in Wisconsin. The chicks are growing fast!

Thanks for all your support

Stay Well

Sarah

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Jamie Larson
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