Your Tie-Breaking Vote Cut $1T+ in Safety Nets. Don't Call It a "Little Thing."

On October 1, you told Fox News: "This is not the time to sort of gripe about all the little things," adding, "we need to get more done, which is why you need to give us two more years to get great results for the American people." Let's take you at your word that more needs to get done. The question is what counts as "little"—because priorities are revealed by the choices an administration actually makes. On July 1, 2025, you cast the deciding 51st vote in the Senate to pass Public Law 119-21. Nonpartisan CBO projections show it adds $3.4 trillion to federal deficits while delivering $4.5 trillion in net tax cuts. The tax cuts primarily benefit the rich, not everyday Americans. To help offset those cuts, the law slashes over a trillion dollars from critical lifelines: $915 billion from Medicaid and $187 billion from SNAP. According to CBO distributional models, households in the lowest-income tenth lose 3.1% of their resources, while the top tenth gains 2.7%. Direct consumer costs followed swiftly: - Surging Healthcare Costs: Following the expiration of enhanced Affordable Care Act subsidies, premiums doubled or tripled for millions of families. On September 22, your administration removed 760,000 enrollees over unverified fraud claims—touted as a $2.2 billion savings, but executed by stripping coverage from working families without due process. - Energy & Conflict Expenses: Alongside the tragic loss of 22 U.S. service members, military expenditures have surpassed $47 billion. Domestically, regular gasoline has hit $4.27 a gallon and diesel sits at $6.35. Moody’s Analytics estimates the wider conflict has cost the typical American household nearly $2,000 across fuel, inflation, and elevated interest rates—wiping out half of average household wage gains this year. - Executive Tariff Burdens: Even after court challenges restricted emergency trade powers, revised executive tariffs impose an estimated $400 annual penalty on the average household, according to the Tax Foundation. That leaves the public with two inescapable conclusions regarding your remarks: - Option 1: You are so disconnected from working Americans that you genuinely view thousands in energy costs, lost healthcare, and consumer tariffs as "little things" voters shouldn't gripe about. - Option 2: You know full well that the structural agenda your administration championed harms everyday households—you just don't care. Asking voters for two more years under those terms asks them to vote against their own survival. Which is it, Mr. Vice President: are these daily costs "little things," or are they your deliberate priorities? We deserve an answer.