As you’ve probably heard by now, the “big, beautiful” bill currently making its way through Congress is wildly unpopular. It’s unpopular among voters. It’s unpopular among Democrats. It’s unpopular among GOP lawmakers who said yes to passing it. It’s so unpopular that the richest man in the world—who spent more than $250 million to elect the guy who’s pushing to get the bill passed—has threatened to start a new political party if the bill becomes law. On a scale of 1 to 10, one being a bipartisan bill everyone loves and 10 being a bill people are charitably describing as a flaming pile they wouldn’t send their worst enemy, it’s a 975.
While reasons for hating the legislation vary, two of the very big ones are that it is projected to (1) add trillions to the national debt and (2) make such deep cuts to Medicaid that, when combined with other changes being made to the Affordable Care Act, an estimated 17 million people are expected to lose their health insurance, a move that would affect everyone from newborn babies to nursing home residents. Meanwhile, the biggest winners of the bill are the rich, while Immigration and Customs Enforcement will receive more than $100 billion through 2029. And according to JD Vance, that’s worth it.
While seemingly understanding that he couldn’t come out and be all “Do it for the 1 percent!” the vice president took to social media earlier this week to claim that exploding the deficit and slashing Medicaid is worth it to increase ICE’s budget. That’s not, like, an exaggeration of what he said, that was literally his argument. “The thing that will bankrupt this country more than any other policy is flooding the country with illegal immigration and then giving those migrants generous benefits,” Vance wrote. “The OBBB fixes this problem. And therefore it must pass. Everything else—the CBO score, the proper baseline, the minutiae of the Medicaid policy—is immaterial compared to the ICE money and immigration enforcement provisions.” Yes, that’s right: According to the vice president, stripping 17 million people of health insurance is but a small detail. Did he consult Joni “We all are gonna die” Ernst before posting his thoughts? Feels like he might have, but, then again, maybe he came up with these gems on his own.
Incidentally, the VP—who cast the tie-breaking vote to send the Senate version of the bill to the House—did not care to mention that undocumented immigrants are not eligible for most federally funded health care benefits, and only some with legal status may qualify, often paying a premium.
Democrats have unsurprisingly latched onto Vance’s comments re: the spending bill. Representative Ro Khanna asked, “What happened to you @JDVance—author of Hillbilly Elegy—now shrugging off Medicaid cuts that will close rural hospitals and kick millions off healthcare as ‘minutiae?’” Texas congressman Greg Casar put a slightly finer point on things. “JD Vance talks about turning the GOP into a party for working people. But he’s the biggest billionaire bootlicker of them all,” Casar wrote. “When it mattered, he was the deciding vote to slash Medicaid to bits to pay for billionaire tax breaks. We’re never going to let him forget it.”