Don't blame me
Many Republicans don't want to be associated with the calamitous bill they're supporting
Associated Press photo
Normally, if you’re proud of something, you put your name on it. It could be first-grade artwork that ends up on a refrigerator, or autographed sports memorabilia, or simply your lunch container in the office refrigerator.
Heck, something doesn’t even have to be of high quality for our president to customize it with his toxic logo: bankrupt casinos, high-rise buildings, a sham university, bitcoin, bibles and now fragrances.
That’s why it’s telling that so many people responsible for helping usher the shamefully titled “One Big Beautiful Bill” toward its seemingly inevitable passage want to disassociate themselves from it.
On Tuesday, after casting what was ultimately the deciding vote for Senate passage of the monstrosity, Alaska’s Lisa Murkowski told reporters: “We do not have a perfect bill by any stretch of the imagination. My hope is that House is going to look at this and recognize that we’re not there yet.”
In a separate interview, Murkowski rhetorically asked and answered: “Do I like this bill? No.”
It’s easy to see why only the richest and most sadistic people like it: a reported $1 trillion in cuts to vital Medicaid services, deep reductions in SNAP (food stamps) funding, an estimated 17 million Americans losing health care and a $4 trillion increase in the national debt. All to finance tax cuts for the wealthiest class and a huge increase in funding for ICE, whose job it is to deport immigrants, legal or otherwise.
Clearly, when polar opposites like Elon Musk and Bernie Sanders agree that something is bad, it must be.
Then why did Murkowski vote for the bill when she could have effectively killed it? According to reports, she was swayed by promises to reduce the sting of cuts in Alaska, where half of children reportedly rely on Medicaid in some form.
Murkowski’s disingenuous vote came a week after Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene admitted that she wouldn’t have signed on to the bill had she known it included a ban on states regulating artificial intelligence. (The Senate-approved version eliminated that provision.)
Now, I know that we all check the box on online terms of agreement without reading through all the fine print. But when you’re a member of Congress, it’s kind of incumbent upon you to know what laws you’re inflicting on your constituents. (That’s why they all have staff members, to do the dirty work of reading through bills.)
We’ve seen how much pressure the White House puts on Republicans to toe the party line. Murkowski — who helped the late John McCain torpedo an attempt to short-circuit the Affordable Care Act in 2017 — herself alluded to threats of retaliation in April, telling a summit of nonprofit and tribal leaders, “We are all afraid.”
Still, if you’re proud of a piece of legislation, you don’t try to ram it through by conducting votes in the wee hours of the morning, when only insomniacs are watching, and without holding debates. You don’t misrepresent the details on partisan news networks without proof.
(Similarly, you don’t win a Nobel Peace Prize by bombing another country.)
Republicans don’t need a single Democratic vote in either the House or Senate to pass this abomination, and they haven’t gotten one. The problem is, their draconian cuts will predominantly hurt the same red-state voters who elected Donald Trump (and themselves), many of whom have been largely unaware of the consequences.
At least a few of these elected officials seem to understand that their names will be forever attached to this bill. And they could face retribution in the 2026 midterm elections (assuming they are held) after these cuts cost their voters money, food, health care and possibly their lives.
That’s why the bill hasn’t simply sailed through on party lines. A modest tip of the cap to Republican Senators Thom Tillis, Rand Paul and the pearl-clutching Susan Collins for daring to oppose the abomination. Tillis already has made himself a lame duck, and Paul and Collins just invited MAGA primary challenges for their next election cycles.
Of course, there are some Republicans who don’t even pretend to espouse sympathy for the less fortunate. But most politicians (especially those on the right) like to tout their faith to seek support from voters.
I’m not a church-goer, but I have read the Bible a few times. And a couple of verses from the Gospel of Matthew stand out to me.
Chapter 25, verse 40: “And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ ”
And chapter 5, verses 15-16: “Neither do people light a lamp and put it under a bowl. Instead they put it on its stand, and it gives light to everyone in the house. In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven.”
Republicans seem to be spending a lot of time in the dark these days, trying to cover up deeds that aren’t so good. Makes you wonder if some of them are ashamed of what they’re doing.