One Big, Bad, Butt-Ugly Budget Bill

The President, who always seems to have his big mouth open, has told Congress that when it comes to the budget, he wants to see “one clean, big, beautiful budget bill.” By clean, he means he doesn’t want it to include anything that the Democrats in Congress might like. The chances of the President getting what he wants are slim to none; however, after the Senate held a late-night vote-a-rama before finally passing a budget plan just after 2:30 EDT this morning.

This gets a little crazy, so try to bear with me here. Democrats in the Senate took the approach they did because, even though they lost the vast majority of votes on budget amendments, they forced Republicans to go on the record as supporting the President’s agenda. The plan is that when the President’s agenda goes to shit, as it’s currently doing, Dems will be able to pin the blame on Republicans who voted for this nonsense.

Two GOP members of the Senate did join Democrats in opposing the plan. The resolution passed by a vote of 51-48. Sens. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) and Susan Collins (R-Me.) voted against it. Both had their own reasons which have nothing to do with switching parties. Rand has opposed most budgets throughout his tenure in the Senate.

“Our amendments will give Republicans the chance to join us in hitting the kill switch on [Felonious Punk’s tariffs, on DOGE, on the attacks against Social Security and Medicare and Medicaid,” Senator Chuck Schumer of New York, the minority leader, said on Friday night before voting started. “Republicans could snuff it out instantly tonight if they wanted. Will Republicans join us tonight and stand up to [Felonious Punk] before he craters the economy?”

The sad fact of the matter is that the economy has already been cratered thanks to the President’s tariffs. The only question remaining now is just how deep the hole is going to go. With large portions of Wall Street firmly in a Bear market, it may only be a matter of time before we’re in a full-on recession or worse.

The vote-a-rama included some interesting options. On a 53-to-46 party-line vote, the Senate rejected a proposal offered by Senator Mark Warner (D) Virginia, to prohibit the use of “any commercial messaging application” to transmit information revealing the timing, sequencing, or weapons to be used in impending military operations. Yes, this is a direct reference to Signalgate. The fact that it failed shows the GOP’s reluctance to hold the administration responsible even when they’re doing the most incredibly stupid things.

Three Republicans — Ms. Collins, Ms. Murkowski, and Senator Dan Sullivan of Alaska — voted with Democrats to reverse Musk-imposed cuts to the Social Security Administration. The vote still failed, 49 to 50. So, when people you know can’t get the help they need, remember who to blame for the fiasco. There was also a vote to avoid the Medicare cuts that the bill will likely require. Ms. Collins and Ms. Murkowski, along with Senator Josh Hawley, Republican of Missouri, broke with their party to support a bipartisan amendment from Mr. Hawley and Senator Ron Wyden, Democrat of Oregon, to eliminate the Medicaid cuts envisioned in the plan. 

Hold on, though, because after that vote, the Senate actually approved an amendment, 51-48, vowing to protect Medicare and Medicaid. How they’re going to pull that off without making some drastic changes to the bill remains unknown. As it was passed, cuts to both programs are inevitable if this bill becomes law.

As it stands now, the budget resolution passed by the Senate would increase the federal government’s debt ceiling to $5 trillion. Yes, that means your great-grandchildren will still be paying for this nonsense. It only gets worse, not better.

As messy as last night’s session was, it’s about to get worse now as the Senate and the House try to find the common ground between the two versions of the bill. The Senate version requires $4 billion in cuts. The House version only asks for $1.5 trillion. They’re also likely to get stuck trying to figure out how to pay for everything that DOGE has already done. The loss in services is a potential budget killer and there doesn’t seem to be anyone on the Republican side of the building that wants to deal with that.

Ultimately, the vote comes down to who insists on supporting the President’s agenda and who might be willing to trim some of the excess in order to save Social Security and Medicare. No one wants to cut the defense budget, either.

We can’t have it both ways. If Congress wants to spend for everything it claims is important, the debt ceiling has to increase and our economy becomes more fragile than it has been since Benjamin Franklin first went to the French asking for a loan to help fight the British. If the budget takes the cuts necessary to reduce the debt, a lot of people are going to be hurt in real ways.

This is going to get nasty before it’s over.