Among the members of the Senate Republican conference facing reelection next fall, Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) is considered the most vulnerable — and on Tuesday and Wednesday he has reportedly been warning Republican leadership about the stakes should the party’s obfuscation crusade on cuts to health care fall short: voters of all political stripes are not going to be happy with them.
It’s an issue party leadership has avoided engaging with publicly for months, as House Republicans crafted a piece of legislation that will, in fact, dramatically slash Medicaid — cuts they insisted they were not making, hidden under the guise of “common sense” “reforms.” As TPM has reported, the changes House Republicans — and, now, Senate Republicans — are proposing to the social safety net program will result in millions losing their health care coverage.
The spin, however, has been unrelenting.
“We are not cutting Medicaid,” House Speaker Mike Johnson said during a leadership press conference on Tuesday. “The president has said that and I have said that. We’ve all said that. We’re strengthening the program.” In private, Johnson has warned that Senate Republicans’ push to enact deeper cuts to Medicaid in their version of the legislation could cost the party its slim majority in the House.
Tillis forced his colleagues in the Senate to face that reality directly on Tuesday, according to reporting in The Hill. Tillis reportedly showed his colleagues a chart during a private meeting that outlined how much Senate Republicans’ provider tax plan will cost states, such as his.
“This will be devastating to my state,” he reportedly told Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD).
More details on the confrontation, during which Tillis said the quiet part — that these cuts could cost Republicans in the midterms — out loud, per The Hill:
Tillis’s chart, which he also showed to colleagues, showed that North Carolina would lose $38.9 billion in federal funding and that more than 600,000 North Carolinians would be at risk for losing Medicaid
“Tillis said this is going to be like ObamaCare. He said just like ObamaCare led to huge losses for Democrats in 2010 and 2012, he said this could be the same thing for us because hundreds of thousands of people in his state, millions around the nation are going to be kicked off of Medicaid — working people, who are Trump voters,” the source told The Hill.
Tillis warned “it could cost us majorities in both houses” of Congress, the source added.
On Wednesday, he continued making that point. Here’s Politico, citing a person familiar with the conversation.
“He said just now in this meeting, … ‘If you proceed on this provider tax like you’re going to do right now, you won’t have a member from North Carolina sitting at this table after next year,’” the person added. (Though North Carolina has two Republican senators, Tillis appeared to be referring to his own endangered re-election bid.)
Trump Admin Escalates War On Impoundment Control Act
The Washington Post has a new piece of reporting out today looking at the ways in which the Trump administration is planning to continue its quest to not spend funds that Congress mandated it spend. The Government Accountability Office, a legislative branch watchdog agency, has already determined that at least two of the sweeping funding freezes enacted by the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) are illegal. It is expected to make several more such rulings throughout the summer.
The Post reviewed internal communications and also spoke to two dozen current and former employees at agencies across the federal government to conclude the Trump administration is plotting an escalation of its effort to test the limits of the Impoundment Control Act, which prevents the executive branch from unilaterally canceling funds that Congress has authorized. Per the Post:
Deadlines in the coming weeks will clarify how much the administration wants to test the law, enacted in 1974 after President Richard M. Nixon’s Watergate scandal. White House officials are planning to “defer” roughly 200 separate accounts across the federal government, according to two people familiar with the matter, who like many others interviewed for this story spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution. These delays, which would affect billions of dollars at a wide range of U.S. agencies, probably would be illegal if they prevent the funds from being spent before this fiscal year ends on Sept. 30, the people said.
Rep. McIver Pleads Not Guilty To Alina Habba’s Charges
A Democratic representative from New Jersey who was charged after a clash outside of a ICE detention facility earlier this year — while seemingly attempting to prevent the Democratic mayor of Newark, Ras Baraka, from being arrested — has pleaded not guilty to charges alleging she assaulted and interfered with ICE agents’ operations.
Rep. LaMonica McIver (D-NJ) was charged by attorneys in the U.S. Attorney’s Office for New Jersey, which is headed by Alina Habba, Trump’s former personal lawyer whom he appointed as the acting U.S. attorney in March — just one of many toadies Trump has placed in similar positions to help carrying out his retribution campaign.
In May, McIver was among a group — also including Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ) and Robert Menendez Jr. (D-NJ) — that visited Delaney Hall, a detention facility that ICE has been using to hold migrants, as part of an oversight visit. It was one of the first times Democratic elected officials clashed with federal agents in recent months in protest of Trump’s mass deportation agenda. Baraka, the mayor of Newark, was invited by the lawmakers to join the visit, but federal agents tried to block him from leaving and later arrested him — which Habba announced on Twitter — though after video footage of the incident was released Habba dropped those charges. When dismissing the charges against Baraka, a federal judge also admonished Habba and the DOJ as a whole for using their positions “to advance political agendas.”
Throughout the last two months, McIver has maintained she did nothing wrong and even rejected a plea deal. Hanna Rumsey, her spokesperson, released the following statement after the congresswoman pleaded not guilty. Per ABC News:
“Rep. McIver has confidently entered her official plea: not guilty,” said Hanna Rumsey, a spokesperson for McIver. “She is crystal clear that she will not back down as leaders across this country are targeted for speaking up.
“These charges have always been about politics and Rep. McIver will not be deterred from doing the work the people of New Jersey elected her to do,” Rumsey added. “The Congresswoman will not fold.”
In Case You Missed It
Catch up on the latest Senate Republican squabbling over how to pass the reconciliation package in the upper chamber here: Backlash Over ‘Big Beautiful’ Bill Continues In Congress
Polling Shows Americans Are Souring on Trump’s Big Initiatives
Trump Lackey Emil Bove Up For Senate Grilling As Trump Tries To Make Him A Judge
Yesterday’s Most Read Story
3 Years After The Supreme Court Restricted Abortion Access, Contraception Is Also At Risk
What We Are Reading
Democratic Leaders Tried to Crush Zohran Mamdani. They Should Have Been Taking Notes.
Pentagon launches probe into Iran strike intel leak
NATO’s Rutte compares Trump to a ‘daddy’ after president’s profane comments
Source link