'The Big Ugly Bill'

In the parlance of the oligarchy, it’s “the Big Beautiful Bill” but not in the real world where Rep. Tim Kennedy (D-Buffalo) resides.

The Congressman, who also represents Niagara Falls, calls it “the Big Ugly Bill.”

At least that’s what his Chief of Staff Adam Fogel told a gathering of about 50 people drawn together by the Niagara Community Information Group Monday at the Niagara Falls Underground Railroad Heritage Museum.

“The Big Ugly Bill represents the largest redistribution of wealth in American history,” Fogel said.

He spent the next 90 minutes regaling the audience with the world according to Representative Kennedy.

Ugly facts like under the bill, the bottom 10% of voters will see their income decrease by 3.7% while the top 10% will see an increase of 2.7%. That makes a huge change in income inequality.

There are a few policies in the bill that aren’t all bad, at least on the surface. For example, no taxes on tips or overtime. Of course, those changes are temporary and also not based in reality because cash tips are (nod nod, wink wink) historically under or unreported. Either way, those changes expire after 3 years. The items in the bill that benefit the billionaires, like corporate tax cuts, are permanent.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office calls the deficit spending “unsustainable” and estimates it will add $3 trillion to the national debt over a decade.

“To do deficit spending for the richest people in the country is morally bankrupt,” Fogel said.

Other things are buried within the bill. For example, while there aren’t specific Medicare spending cuts “sequestration” a legal mechanism that mandates cost control, will continue to cut the program over the next decade. Ditto the situation with Medicaid.

Medicaid is being cut not by changing income qualification but by increasing work requirements and tying benefits to an untenable bureaucracy.

Consider for a moment the largest employer of Medicaid recipients in the United States is Walmart. 95% of Medicaid recipients work full time.

Meanwhile, the elimination of tax credits for those who buy insurance through the Affordable Care Act will have a massive economic impact on millions of self-employed people and small business owners.

Democrats like Kennedy want universal health care as well as more aid for hospitals. Republicans have offered no solution to the insurance crisis and, to their credit, added $50 billion in funding for rural hospitals.

That sounds great but Fogel said it is really putting a bandaid on a massive wound.

Another element of the Big Awful Bill is a move to make car loan interest tax deductible. It’s a great thing for everybody but 1) Those who pay cash for a vehicle or 2) Those who use public transportation.

Then there is the matter of eliminating the tax on estates valued at less than $30 million. Again, it allows generational wealth to pass. It also screws nonprofits by eliminating the tax deduction for donations from an estate to charity. The sword has two edges like the politician talking out of both sides of his mouth.

Fogel also reviewed the changes to school loan programs, leaving it up to the Department of Education to determine what is a “professional” degree.

SNAP cuts add up to $200 billion. Even before that hits, Feedmore of Western New York estimates $3 to $5 million has already been cut.

The whole thing, Folger said, is a “Reverse Robinhood” – take from those with the least and give to those with the most.

The silver lining that comes from this nightmare gets delivered in the mid-term elections when Democrats take the majority in the House and Senate and eventually win back the White House.

If you think back to dark days in American history, McKinley needed to get shot before we could get Teddy Roosevelt. We had to suffer through Coolidge and Hoover before we could get to Franklin Roosevelt.