Many harmful parts of the cruel budget bill are purposely obfuscated

The cruel GOP budget bill has been front-loaded with a ton of goodies for taxpayers, including a “MAGA account” for newborns, a $4,000 “senior bonus,” a new deduction to essentially refund taxes on overtime pay, and a moratorium on taxes on tips. But most of those provisions are written to expire in 2028, just as Trump’s term is ending. Meanwhile, the painful bits intended to pay for all that new spending were slated to be strung out much further down the line — funnily enough, right around the time the new benefits are due to end. For example, the bill wouldn’t shift the costs of SNAP benefits to the states until fiscal year 2028. The Medicaid work requirements that Republicans are counting on to save $300 billion — at the cost of millions losing their insurance — aren’t due to begin until 2029. And as The New York Times noted, the net effect would still see the wealthiest Americans benefit the most while the poor would struggle further. The dishonesty of claiming to cut spending while raising the deficit, only to punt the actual cuts to much further down the line, was too much for Chip Roy and other conservatives to bear. His protest likely succeeded in at least bumping up the Medicaid work requirements at least to start much sooner. That alone would throw a wrench into Trump’s scheme to bribe voters now and flee before the pain of what he’s done really hits them. There are no heroes in this story, but I’d prefer Roy’s honest cruelty to the con job that Trump would much rather pull to keep Congress in Republican hands.