I don't think Thomas Massie understands government. I think he's a grandstander. Frankly, he'll probably vote. We don't even talk to him much. I think he should be voted out of office, and I just don't think he understands government. If you ask him a couple of questions, he never gives you an answer. He just says I'm a no. He thinks he's going to get publicity. [00:00:18] And you have that there. You have President Donald Trump once again attacking libertarian Congressman Thomas Massie, who is not in favor of Trump's agenda, particularly the big beautiful reconciliation bill [00:00:34] that includes massive tax cuts in addition to hundreds of billions of dollars in additional spending for the border. Now, Thomas Massie is one of those rare lawmakers who granted, I don't agree with him on a whole host of issues, but he's principled. [00:00:53] He says that he's worried about the deficit, and rather than just pretending like he's worried about the deficit now, he puts his money where his mouth is and he's willing to take the attacks by all the people who want him to vote yes by voting no. [00:01:08] And he's public about it. He's honest about it. And you know what? Even if I don't agree with his politics, I commend him for being a principled politician. And because he's a principled politician. All these attacks by Donald Trump don't work. Trump has tried to primary him. Doesn't work. [00:01:25] It just doesn't work. Because guess what? Thomas Massie has proven that he believes in what he's saying, and he actually cares more about his constituents as opposed to, you know, carrying out policies that might be great for political donors [00:01:41] or for the whole of the Republican Party. He actually cares about the deficit. Now, putting Thomas Massie aside, let's talk a little bit about where the current negotiations are as it pertains to the House budget bill. Right. So this is the bill that includes the tax cuts and funding for the border. [00:02:00] So there are divides among the Republican caucus over the deficit and also health care spending. So the deficit hawks and this is where, of course, I disagree with Thomas Massie considerably. He wants to see deeper cuts in programs like the Medicaid program. [00:02:16] Okay. The far right members of the House Freedom Caucus want deeper cuts on social programs. Now, those cuts are highly unpopular. Cuts to Medicaid deeply unpopular. Trump knows that. [00:02:31] So he has allegedly told Republicans don't f around with Medicaid. So look, Trump, I don't think Trump actually cares about Medicaid. Trump cares about political popularity, and he doesn't want Republican voters [00:02:48] in red states who might be on Medicaid to turn against him because his big, beautiful bill cut funding for state Medicaid programs. So there's the fiscal hawks. And then, of course, there are the moderate Democrats and the moderate Democrats. A don't want any Medicaid cut because of how unpopular it is. [00:03:06] But they're also worried about the salt cap. What's the salt cap? Oh, living in California have a lot of experience with this. So there are state and local taxes. Prior to Trump's 2017 tax bill, you could deduct an unlimited amount [00:03:24] of state and local taxes that you've paid in your federal taxes. So, it it has now that Donald Trump's 2017 tax bill caps the amount that you can deduct at $10,000. [00:03:40] A lot of people in blue states, because blue states, of course, are addicted to taxes. They tax the hell out of us, especially the regressive state taxes. Sales taxes, I should say. They can't get enough anyway, since usually it's blue states that have higher state taxes and local taxes. [00:03:58] Those states are the ones that are like really, really hurt by that salt cap. Now, there are Republican lawmakers who have won districts in blue states and they're like, yo, homie, you got to raise that $10,000 cap. [00:04:16] So believe it or not, House speaker Mike Johnson wanted to bring him over and say, look, let's make a deal. If you vote yes on this bill, I will ensure that we will raise that cap from $10,000 to $40,000. [00:04:33] Is he not merciful? Apparently that worked. Apparently, the moderate Republicans in the House are like, all right, sold. We'll do it. But the fiscal hawks ain't buying it. And Trump is getting super salty about this. So Trump has been meeting with the, you know, fiscal conservatives in the House [00:04:52] Freedom Caucus and the Republican Party. Today he did so yesterday as well. He's trying to kind of bully them into supporting his bill. Now, as it stands right now, according to the Congressional Budget Office, the current bill as it is, you know, [00:05:08] sitting at the moment, would increase our national debt to the tune of $2.3 trillion over the next ten years. So as you can tell, you know, the number keeps changing based on how the provisions are amended or changed. [00:05:25] So Trump met with the House Freedom Caucus today to handle the holdouts. He says that failure to approve the bill will be the ultimate betrayal. And the House Rules Committee worked through the night to essentially push the bill past a procedural test that would allow for a final vote on the House floor. [00:05:44] But lawmakers were still debating its provisions this afternoon. They started the session at 1:00 in the morning, and by this afternoon they were still negotiating. So obviously a lot of disagreement within the Republican caucus. House speaker Mike Johnson can only afford to lose two votes. [00:06:00] So there's obviously far more than two votes, that are against, you know, the current bill. So that's why they keep negotiating this. Now, some refused to sign on to the bill despite pressure including, well, House Freedom Caucus Chair Andy Harris, who said the following [00:06:19] in regard to Trump's bullying. There's nothing the president could tell me tomorrow that would change my mind. At this point. I'm a hard no on it. It increases the deficit. We'll see. We'll see, Mr. Harris. Then you have Republicans from the moderate wing who again, do have [00:06:36] issues with some of the proposed cuts to Medicaid, which might be the reason why Trump allegedly said this to Republicans. Don't f around with Medicaid. Okay. So that was reported recently by Politico. And that's also, according to two Republicans granted anonymity to describe [00:06:52] private meetings with the president. He said that he was focused on saving saving Medicaid by eliminating waste, fraud and abuse. Echoing comments he made to reporters outside the meeting. So I worry about that because we've seen the Trump administration [00:07:10] cut important funding to critical programs and argue that they didn't they didn't do anything wrong. They were just cutting out the waste, fraud and abuse. I don't know. I'm worried that there's going to be deeper cuts than we even know about, [00:07:25] and they're just going to reframe it as no, no no no no no, no. This is just a cut on the waste. But if they try to sell that to the American people, I don't think they're going to buy it. If they have family members or if they themselves are noticing that, [00:07:41] you know, their state Medicaid isn't covering, you know, the procedures they might need or certain benefits have been dropped from their Medicaid program, or if they notice that they're not qualifying for it. If there are cuts and people are impacted by it and they're experiencing it, [00:07:57] experiencing it in their lives, doesn't matter how you frame it, they're going to know what the truth is. And look, I think Trump realizes that, which is why so far he's been hands off with Social Security and Medicare. But I think, you know, if anyone is under the impression that Medicaid [00:08:14] is less popular, they'd be mistaken. So we'll see what the Republicans end up doing about this. But just to reiterate, some Republicans who are were against this bill remain undeterred from voting no. Massie said he's unbothered by Trump's bullying and that he's [00:08:32] still a no on the legislation. Massie also said this of Trump. I don't think he wants to talk about cutting spending, Massie said of the president's presentation to the House Republican Conference. He just said, go after waste, fraud and abuse. [00:08:47] It means quit talking about it. Freedom Caucus. Trump probably wouldn't take off one beneficiary who's not an illegal alien or felon. I mean, but why would he why would he want to take Americans? Why would he want to rip medicaid away from Americans who need it? [00:09:04] Like I see, this is where I obviously I disagree with Massie, but he's showing that he's principled because I'm sure he's catching a lot of heat from Trump on this. Nonetheless, he says, I don't think he cares about the work requirements. If he did, they would be real and they would kick in now. [00:09:22] So what he's referring to is the fact that the work requirements for Medicaid would not come into effect even during Trump's term. And so that might be on purpose to ensure that Trump doesn't face the political consequences of cutting Medicaid or the work [00:09:39] requirements associated with Medicaid. And Massey has a problem with that. So again, lots of disagreement, lots of fighting. But this is how it works, guys. This is how politics works. Not everyone agrees on everything, especially within the same party. [00:09:54] So they're hashing it out to come up with the come out with the right conclusion. And it's good that there are moderate Republicans involved. So the House Freedom Caucus and the far right wing of the Republican Party doesn't get to monopolize what this bill ends up being. [00:10:09] So for now, we don't know what the final bill is going to look like. But once we do, of course, we're going to give you guys the details. They're hoping to pass this bill before Memorial Day. We'll see if they manage to do it. But remember, they've got some obstacles in the Senate as well. [00:10:24] Every time you ring the bell below, an angel gets its wings. Totally not true, but it does keep you updated on our live shows.