Write Your Senator
The U.S. Senate is debating Trump’s massive spending bill—a bill that will cut spending on programs that affect all Americans, not just the “poor” or “disadvantaged,” while at the same time give massive tax cuts for billionaires.
More than 275,000 U.S. federal civil service layoffs have been announced by the Trump administration, including over 80,000 jobs at the Department of Veterans Affairs. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg. The Trump administration plans to cut up to 1.2 million federal workers.
Agencies already targeted by the Trump administration for massive cuts and layoffs include: the Social Security Administration, the Environmental Protection Agency, the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, the Federal Aviation Administration, the Department of Education, the National Institutes of Health and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Department of Housing and Urban Development, the National Park Service and the U.S. Forest Service, the Department of Labor, the National Nuclear Security Administration and the National Weather Service.
Our senators need to know what we think about these cuts.
Let’s all pull together personal letters written by those who’ve directly been affected by the lay-offs, spending cuts and chaos coming out of Washington. Senators will then have powerful, moving material to read during their own (unlimited) time to speak. Giving a face to those affected helps to humanize the damage being done, and may help others to see themselves in the attacks on us all and our democracy.
Ask anyone you know who has been affected by Trump’s policies to write a letter or email, short or long, to both of their senators ASAP.
Robert B. Covi
Bogart
Big Bill Benefits Billionaires
Bottom line, the “Big, Beautiful Bill” before the Senate cuts taxes for high earners and reduces benefits for the poor. The bill passed by the House would raise after-tax incomes for the highest-
earning 10% of American households, which includes Rep. Mike Collins, on average by 2.3% a year over the next decade, while lowering incomes for the poorest by 3.9%, impacting many in our county. The aforementioned are new estimates by the Congressional Budget Office.
No tax on tips and no tax on overtime will help lower-income households, but are scheduled to expire in a few years, while benefits for high earners will be made permanent.
Tax cut packages have seldom left the poor significantly worse off. And bills that cut the safety net usually haven’t included benefits for the rich.
One tax provision, an expansion of the tax deduction for certain types of business income, is estimated to cost about as much as the bill’s major reductions in Medicaid spending would save. This provision mostly benefits the rich, which is why Republicans like Collins included it.
Republican politicians say they are for the “little guy,” but their actions like the “Big, Beautiful Bill” show that their heart is with the billionaires like most of them. To distract the “little guy,” these politicians make up stories about massive waste, fraud and undeserving recipients of Medicaid.
Randy Norris
Statham
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