Andy Barr willfully ignores the reality of the “Big Beautiful Bill” Act

By Brent Irvin, guest columnist 

Versailles

 

Last week Congressman Andy Barr defended President Trump’s increasingly unpopular budget reconciliation omnibus bill, the so-called “Big Beautiful Bill Act,” in such fawning terms it could have been confused for the North Korean News agency praising “The Dear Leader.” A new Fox News poll shows only 38 percent of registered voters like the Republicans’ bill, while 59 percent oppose it, a difference of 21 points. The poll reveals 55 percent of registered voters are worried about the economy, 84 percent are worried about inflation and 57 percent think tariffs hurt the economy. About half of all voters believe the bill would be detrimental to their families, and just a quarter thought it would deliver any benefit. 

Americans have good reason to be concerned. Last year, the U.S. spent $1.8 trillion more than it took in, contributing to a national debt that we have been building on and off since the country’s founding, now totaling nearly $36 trillion. While Congressman Barr claims the bill will cut this deficit by $1.6 trillion by magic via trickle-down economics, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office projects the bill will add about $2.4 trillion to the national debt. Economists across the political spectrum warn the bill gives generous tax breaks to the wealthy while hurting working people. Six Nobel Prize economists say millions of Americans will lose safety net protections like Medicaid and Supplemental Nutrition Aid Program (SNAP) benefits. And Moody’s became the latest agency to downgrade America’s credit rating because of the mounting debt – a remarkable event, meaning the need for the United States to borrow just got more expensive. 

Digging into the data, an average Kentucky family earning less than $50,000 annually would receive about $300 in tax cuts while an average filer earning $1 million or more will receive a massive $90,000 per year tax break, but with anticipated tariff-induced inflation the average Kentuckian will not come out ahead.  

Contrary to what Barr wrote, cuts to Medicaid and SNAP benefits will hit Kentucky especially hard. Kentucky’s Department of Medicaid Services reports the federal government currently funds three-fourths of Kentucky’s Medicaid budget. Medicaid covers 33 percent of Kentucky citizens. In 11 counties, 50 percent of our fellow Kentuckians are covered by Medicaid. Up to 346,000 Kentuckians could lose coverage. The total impact of the bill is a loss of $3.8 billion to Kentucky’s economy. Thirty-five Kentucky rural hospitals could close if the bill is enacted. An estimated 600,000 food-insecure kids and seniors will lose SNAP benefits.  

While Barr defends these cuts, by pretending these cuts “strengthen Medicaid” by kicking off undocumented immigrants and defunding sex-change operations, Barr surely knows undocumented immigrants are ineligible for Medicaid, except to reimburse hospitals for emergency services that would otherwise be passed on as hospitals transfer the cost to other payers. This is a tiny fraction of the Medicaid budget.  

The budget bill not only starves popular government programs like the National Park Service and the National Weather Service of funding; the Senate reconciliation bill goes further and permits the federal government to sell over 250 million acres of mine and your public lands. National monument lands may also be at risk from this proposal. In a Department of Justice opinion released last week, the Trump administration dubiously claimed the unprecedented legal authority to revoke national monument protections. If they were to attempt to follow through on this, another 13.5 million acres of our most cherished public lands could be threatened with sell-off.  

Your favorite hiking trails, campsites and places to fish or hunt could be auctioned to the highest bidder.  

In short, Congressman Barr apparently believes billionaires like Elon Musk deserve millions in tax breaks at the expense of our most vulnerable Kentucky citizens, our beloved national public parks and lands, and popular public programming like KET’s Kentucky Life and education programming for our public schools, which teachers have relied on for decades. It is a small wonder that as more Americans learn more about the terrible GOP budget bill, they oppose its radical and destructive agenda. Kentucky Democrats and independents know better than to believe Congressman Barr’s misleading propaganda.