GOP Kills Tax on Ultra-Rich, Because GOP™
Even though it would increase debt they claim to give a shit about and even though it might kill their bill, the GOP saved their uber-millionaires
July 1: GOP shoots down lifeline for hospitals … No one will admit immaculate conception of new tax on wind and solar that will be paid by people who use electricity … EXCLUSIVE: This week’s congressional Bible study is about why God hates government entitlements for poor people … U.S. dollar starts the year at post-Nixon low …
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No one on this fine July morning — just three days from America’s birthday and Pres. Donald Trump’s deadline for passing America’s death sentence — needs to know exactly what’s in this precise minute’s Senate version of Trump’s bill, which may or may not pass and, if it does pass, may or may not change in order to may or may not pass the House.
If it does pass, work will begin almost immediately to fix the worst of it, especially as America dedicates their holiday-weekend beach reading scrolling to perusing the menu of death, plague, and famine contained in said bill.
But that doesn’t mean it’s not worth revisiting some of the clownery that ensued over the past 24 hours as the Senate’s 53 Republicans put on an ensemble performance of their homage to the Marx Brothers, Keystone Kops, Benny Hill, Three Stooges, Looney Tunes, Tom & Jerry, and if we’re including Elon Musk, then let’s toss in Rick & Morty.
Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD) and his “leadership” “team” spent the night playing Whack-a-No, with new objections popping up every time they smacked down a previous one.
Remember, this utterly unwanted bill, forced upon Republicans, Congress, America, and Earth by Trump as part of a lifetime of forcing unwanted things upon people, has already cost Republicans two incumbents in next year’s fight for control of Congress: Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) and Rep. Don Bacon (R-NE). There will be more.
But for now, let’s consider some of the comedic stylings on display in last night’s epic performance of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act legislative process…
Republicans Reject Tax on Ultra-Rich and Relief for Doomed Hospitals Just to Fuck with Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME)
Collins overnight tried to mitigate the bill’s insane tax giveaway to the rich, and its piledriver impact on both rural hospitals and even some hospitals where people live. Her party, obviously, laughed in her face, kicked sand on her blanket, and heartily rejected her amendment. It’s almost as if they can sense that she’ll vote for whatever the final bill is regardless of whether it cuts spending for maintaining the graves of her parents and raises their top marginal tax rates in Hell.
Specifically, Collins’s failed amendment would have provided for a $50 billion hospital-relief fund, a drop in the operating-room blood bucket compared to the hundreds of billions Trump’s bill will cost America’s hospitals, many of which will close if this bill’s cuts are actually implemented. (Obviously, government money for hospitals is a great investment, because creating hordes of untreated sick people is very bad for The Economy™ and threatens to spawn movie franchises such as 28 Days Later.)
Her adorable amendment also would have (re)created a new old tax bracket. If Republicans hadn’t killed it, the amendment would have put a new tax rate of 39.6% on every dollar earned obtained over $25 million for individuals and $50 million for married couples.
That tax rate — that rejected tax rate — is less than half of what those millionaires and their billionaire friends would have paid back in the era Republicans supposedly wanna return to, the 1950s, when America built things1 and Americans could afford things2 like college and retirement and a morning coffee.
I can’t say whether Democrats should/n’t have voted for this thing. But only three did: Sens. Jon Ossoff (D-GA), Mark Warner (D-VA), and Raphael Warnock (D-GA). The other Democrats voted against it, possibly knowing it would fail, which it did, 78-22.
Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) called Collins’s bill a “Band-Aid on an amputation” and suggested that a better alternative would be not self-amputating: “It would be much more logical to simply not cut $1 trillion from Medicaid in the first place.”
The Miraculous Ascension of the Wind and Solar Tax
One of the (many) stumbling blocks for Republicans trying to pass their bullshit billionaire bill act is the fact that it raises taxes on an up-and-less-coming industry essential to keeping U.S. energy costs down less up, but also for competing with Chinese dominance: Wind and solar.
And yet, the Republican bill act contains an excise tax, a tax targeted at a specific industry or company, in this case, the hundreds of companies that are launching wind and solar businesses around the country. That’s right, Trump is trying to tax out of existence the industry that promises to power America by running on infinite, free fuel sources. So that we can burn more coal and gas instead.
And which senator did his bidding by implanting his gross seed in this bill act’s womb? Newsfucker, no one knows. It’s an immaculate deception, that took even Senate leaders by alleged surprise.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) chairs the Budfuckinget Committee and told NBC, "I don't know where it came from." Well, wasn’t it your job to watch it?
Sen. Lisa Murkowski (R-AK) recalled witnessing the Mystery of the Parting of the Red Ink: “[W]e looked at it like, where did this come from?"
The False Prophet Musk — a disgraced evangelist for clean energy — prophesied America’s doom if the excise tax isn’t excised, and got pretty exercised about it: “Utterly insane and destructive," Musk said. “[It] will leave America extremely vulnerable in the future.” And who’s fault would that be, guy who’s so stupid he says he got Trump elected?
NBC, God bless their journalisming hearts, asked GOP committee chairs one after another, like total dicks: Are you the excise tax’s mother?
But no comment from Finance Chair Mike Crapo (R-ID), Energy and Natural Resources Chair Mike Lee (R-UT), or Environment and Public Works Chair Shelley Moore Capito (R-WV). It must have been an angel!
Even the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, the fallen angel that rules in Hell as a front group for America’s wealthiest assholes, preached fire and brimstone and sulfur and asbestos against the tax: "Electricity demand is set to see enormous growth & this tax will increase prices," said one of the Chamber’s executive vice lesser demons while slurping on the soul of a baby killed by Trump’s foreign-aid cuts. "It should be removed."
Murkowski-palooza
Murkowski is squeezing every last drop of Alaskan gold that she can out of this bill that will still fuck her state over more than it’s already fucked by already being fucking Alaska. This is all until Murkowski inevitably caves, of course.
The Senate parliamentarian said okay to a new provision to buy her vote by letting Alaskans buy food with food stamps, thanks to a food-stamp carve-out shaped suspiciously like Alaska. But the GOP’s Alaska Medicaid bribe was a non-starter: The parliamentarian knocked out federal paymentoffs for Alaska and a handful of other states.
Other Horrors from the Chamber of Horrors
Your thing-searching TFN hasn’t found a writeup of this thing yet, but the American Prospect’s David Dayen, chief executive guru of this kind of thing, posted overnight the Joint Committee on Taxation’s number-crunching of how the bill act’s numbers will crunch the poorest Americans:
While Column B may draw your aghast attention with its tax hikes on households making less than $30,000 annually, please note that crushing these people is being done in order to raise a grand total of $3.1 billion in Column A, roughly the budget for filling the Mar-a-Lago vending machines.
And keep in mind, those tax hikes on the poor will come on top of Trump’s tariff taxes disproportionately empooring the poor and also on top of the bill’s other provisions costing the poor money by cutting their food stamps and Medicaid and Obamacare medical coverage. The Republican Party, in other words, is fulfilling decades of yearning for a government that does nothing for the poorest of us and simultaneously puts the dick in Dickensian.
Finally, the Comic Relief
Off-stage, for now, Musk tried to play along last night. (NB: He is bad at things.)
Musk posted that “If this insane spending bill passes, the America Party will be formed the next day.” He did not explain why it won’t be called AmericaX or Xmerica, but did say that, “Our country needs an alternative to the Democrat-Republican uniparty so that the people actually have a VOICE.”
Some fun facts about Musk and the America Party. The world’s richest man has a long history of promising things that don’t happen ever or when he promises they’ll happen.
So, if the America Party is anything like past Musk rollouts, it’ll have standard seat warmers, hover mode, optional teleportation, it’ll read your mind, and it’ll hold its party caucuses in Uranus. After it finally launches at a lavish beach-side party in Atlanta hosted by Musk’s 438 known grandchildren.
Musk promised he’ll counteract Trump’s threats against holdout Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY). With money!
And Musk said virtually every congressional Republican “will lose their primary next year if it is the last thing I do on this Earth.” Both of which sound okay to me.
TRIVIA Musk’s new party aside, there actually is a party already working(ish) to defeat the bill and protect clean-energy subsidies. Musk appears to be suffering from partisan dysphoria, having transitioned from being a Democrat in 2022, and may simply not want to deadname himself now that he self-identifies as Republican.
What Can You Do?
The phone number for Congress is answered directly by Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) or Senate Majority Leader Thune, or if you get Collins she’ll put you on hold for a while and then pretend she’s not certain whether she’ll forward your call or “accidentally” hang up on you. It is:
(202) 224-3121
Remember to be polite, but firm. And tell ‘em TFN sent ya.
This Week’s Congressional Bible Lesson Just Happens To Be About Entitlement(s)
At 8 o’clock this morning, at least some senators presumably took a break from not-yet passing the One Big Beautiful Bill Act to ponder the lessons of a shorter piece of work, also filled with primeval horrors: The Bible.
As I revealed last night — thanks to you! — the subject of this week’s Capitol Ministries Bible study is entitlements, specifically, what The Bible says about government helping the poor. Ralph Drollinger is the preacher, and he leads a Senate Bible study every Tuesday morning, a White House Bible study for cabinet secretaries tomorrow, and the House gets its weekly lesson — with free hot breakfast! — on Thursday.
Drollinger released this week’s study guide — “God’s Design for a Societal Safety Net” — on Friday and sent it out to his students on Sunday, just as they’re all closing in on a final vote on more than a trillion dollars in cuts to government food relief and medical aid.
Drollinger’s lesson to his (mostly) Republican students is: God doesn’t want government handing out entitlements. That’s the job of individuals, families, and the church. Voting for entitlements is corrupt, Drollinger argues in this week’s study guide for U.S. officials:
“Corrupt is the policymaker who twists God’s design and uses entitlement promises as a way to gain votes, appealing to the base instincts of the constituents of his district, state, or nation.”
We don’t know who’s participating this week, but we do know some of the people involved. Its sponsors include Speaker Mike Johnson (R-LA) and Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth and others.
Dozens of Republicans sponsor it, too, but the only known Democrat to participate is Rep. Marie Gluesenkamp Perez (D-WA). As I revealed last week, Drollinger used a two-week Bible lesson after Israel attacked Iran to tell politicians that God demands supporting Israel.
Drollinger’s lessons, as I subsequently reported over the weekend — because the newsfucking never stops! — included saying that the Jews killed Jesus. Which is both the Trope Zero of antisemitism but also, if true, means Drollinger owes Jews his job and soul.
Two Quickies
The U.S. dollar hasn’t started any year off as badly as it has this year since before Pres. Jimmy Carter, under whom history and conventional wisdom teach us all things were terrible. It was 1973, and Pres. Richard Nixon was leading America into a glorious future of honor and integrity, the last time the dollar kicked off a year stumbling this badly. Compared to other currencies, the dollar has weakened by more than 10% this year, the most since Nixon stopped tying the dollar’s value to gold. See the chart below and its red line of suck among recent decades? That’d be Pres. Donald Trump:
Indiana’s remaining public colleges and universities are ending 19% of their degree programs, according to the state’s Commission for Higher Education, which is lowering higher education. Gov. Mike Braun (R-IN) said the cuts are designed to make college nothing more than a fancy job-training program, minus the mind-expansion and intellectual growth, only Braun used different words than that because he went to college. The cut degrees include African American and African Diaspora Studies, Art History, Comparative Literature, Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, French, Gender Studies, and Spanish. (h/t)
TCB
ME BEING NON-RECLUSIVE! Didja miss me on The Nicole Sandler Show yesterday? Well, I missed you! But you can check it out free right here.
ORIGINAL REPORTING Thanks to your support, over just the past week, I’ve been able to reveal over on my original-reporting Substack that right-wing preacher Ralph Drollinger instructed America’s leading Republicans that:
The corporate media are obviously ignoring this reporting so they can focus on writing up what powerful people want us to know. But you can check out (and share!) all of my original reporting that your original supporting is making possible, on my other Substack here.
Do I have more coming? Newsfucker, I do. I’ll aggregate them here, but if you want them in full, you can sign up for and support my Jonathan Larsen Substack for original reporting right here.
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Go get ‘em, kids! Remember, they’re very bad at doing things…
TFN creator and writer Jonathan Larsen co-created Up w/ Chris Hayes and wrote for Countdown with Keith Olbermann at MSNBC, helped launch CNN’s Anderson Cooper 360° and Air America Radio, and has also worked at The Daily Show with Jon Stewart and The Young Turks.
For white people, anyway.
For white people, anyway.
As a Comp. Lit. degree holder who went on to have a very successful career in information technology, I think the elimination of humanities programs is about as stupid as it gets. Sure, knowing how to code is helpful for everyone. As is a basic understanding of all STEM subjects. But an awareness of how the world actually works is just as important. And you’re not going to get any of that nuance in an engineering program.
oh snap he hit ‘em with the spock gif!
what does it say about me that that made my day? 🙌