1 — That's a doozy of a number:
The Congressional Budget Office (CBO) score came out this morning. President Trump's "one big, beautiful bill" would add $2.4 trillion the national deficit over the next decade, according to the nonpartisan bill scorer's estimate.
How it landed on that number: Extending Trump's 2017 tax cuts and other measures would add more than $3.6 trillion to the deficit. To offset those costs, cuts to Medicaid and the food assistance program would reduce spending by roughly $1.2 trillion.
Plus: The CBO estimates that roughly 10.9 million people would lose health insurance under the House Republican bill.
There's a bit of good news for the Trump team, though: The CBO also found Trump's tariffs would reduce deficits by $2.5 trillion — a point that is sure to aid the administration's efforts to convince lawmakers to back Trump's overall agenda. (Read more here)
💡 Why this matters: Senate Republicans are already concerned about two implications of passing this bill into law: Adding to the deficit and Medicaid cuts. The giant price tag in this CBO report, plus the health insurance loss estimate, underscore and magnify their concerns.
2 — Republicans are having second thoughts:
House Republicans pushed President Trump's wide-ranging legislative agenda through the House right before the Memorial Day recess, passing the megabill with just one vote to spare.
But now, as the dust settles and it moves to the Senate, some House Republicans are admitting they didn't read the whole bill. They have realized there were provisions tucked into the bill that they hadn't noticed — and are regretting their "yes" votes. Specifically:
➤ Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) didn't realize the bill will block states from regulating artificial intelligence for 10 years. "Full transparency, I did not know about this section," she posted on X.
➤ Mike Flood (R-Neb.) has admitted he didn't know the bill would strip judges' power to hold people in contempt. Keep in mind, this could protect Trump and his administration from any legal consequences for violating court orders.
💡 Why this matters: This will likely anger constituents. Their elected leaders are voting for bills without reading them in their entirety. However, this is how Congress works these days. Lawmakers have such a hard time passing bills, so they often cram unrelated priorities into one big megabill. The text is more than 1,000 pages, and lawmakers are under enormous pressure from leadership and the president to stay in line and vote "yes." However, there are big ramifications for both provisions.
Read The New York Times's explainer on the two hidden provisions.
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