Trump’s big Bill seeks to undo reforms undertaken by Biden, Obama

Chiseling away at President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act. Rolling back the green energy tax breaks from President Joe Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act.

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At its core, the Republican “big, beautiful Bill” is more than just an extension of tax breaks approved during President Donald Trump’s first term at the White House.

The package is an attempt by Republicans to undo, little by little, the signature domestic achievements of the past two Democratic presidents.

While the aim of the sprawling 1,000-page plus Bill is to preserve an estimated USD 4.5 trillion in tax cuts that would otherwise expire at year’s end if Congress fails to act — and add some new ones, including no taxes on tips — the spending cuts pointed at the Democratic-led programmes are causing the most political turmoil.

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office said this week that 10.9 million fewer people would have health insurance under the GOP Bill, including 1.4 million immigrants in the US without legal status who are in state-funded programmes. At the same time, lawmakers are being hounded by businesses in states across the nation who rely on the green energy tax breaks for their projects.

As the package moves from the House to the Senate, the simmering unrest over curbing the Obama and Biden policies shows just how politically difficult it can be to slash government programmes once they become part of civic life.

Not a single Republican in Congress voted for the Affordable Care Act, known as Obamacare, in 2010, or Biden’s inflation act in 2022. Both were approved using the same budget reconciliation process now being employed by Republicans.

Even still, sizeable coalitions of GOP lawmakers are forming to protect aspects of both of those programmes as they ripple into the lives of millions of Americans.

Hawley, Sen Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and others are wary of changes to Medicaid and other provisions in the Bill that would result in fewer people being able to access health care programmes.

At the same time, crossover groupings of House and Senate Republicans have launched an aggressive campaign to preserve, at least for some time, the green energy tax breaks that business interests in their states are relying on to develop solar, wind and other types of energy production.Murkowski said one area she’s “worried about” is the House Bill’s provision that any project not under construction within 60 days of the bill becoming law may no longer be eligible for those credits.

“These are some of the things we’re working on,” she said.

The concerns are running in sometimes opposite directions and complicating the work of GOP leaders who have almost no votes to spare in the House and Senate as they try to hoist the package over Democratic opposition and onto the president’s desk by the Fourth of July.