Under the cover of early morning, Congress passed Trump’s “Big Awful Cruel” reconciliation bill on a 215-214 mostly party-line vote. This will go down as one of the most inhumane, heartless, and greedy pieces of legislation that any governing body has ever passed. Little Mikey Johnson and his cohorts celebrate while their constituents will go hungry and lose their health insurance. But at least the top 5% of the wealthiest people in this country will get a significant tax cut. That worked out so well for the less fortunate and working folks back in 2017. Not!
I have previously written about how draconian the proposed cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) will be and how the extension of the 2017 Trump income tax cuts further line the pockets of the wealthiest Americans. We will now discuss the GOP lemmings and cowards who ensured the passage of this bill out of the House. And one representative who belongs to both groups.
Trump’s Lemmings in Congress
You’ll recognize this group. There are two distinct variations of lemmings to discuss. There are the members of Congress who think that the president can do no wrong, and they hang on every word he says. They fawn over him, just waiting for a brief moment when he might acknowledge them. Congress is full of these MAGA-bots. Trump supporter Rep. Kat Cammack (R-FL) said this about the bill.
The One Big Beautiful Bill Act keeps House Republicans’ promise to the American people and delivers President Trump’s agenda. We’ve worked for months on this bill, working together to deliver the best package for the American people that puts our nation’s safety, security, and economic prosperity first. We’re delivering on our promises to secure the border, make generational investments in our nation’s defense.
And Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) (Trump’s first nominee to become the United States Ambassador to the United Nations) said: “Today, I was proud to be the deciding vote to pass the One Big Beautiful Bill, a historic victory for New Yorkers and President Trump’s America First agenda. More than 77 million Americans gave House Republicans and President Trump a mandate to cut taxes, secure our borders, restore energy independence, and deliver peace through strength.”
And then there are representatives that bend at the first whisper of a Trumpian threat. You know who you are. When it came time to vote, hardline Reps. Andy Biggs (AZ), Eric Burlison (MO), Clay Higgins (LA), Mike Lawler (NY), Ralph Norman (SC), Scott Perry (PA), and Chip Roy (TX) fell on their swords and succumbed to the threats made by Mr. Trump. These members of Congress threw away their ideology and beliefs to avoid the wrath of the president.
Now, the Cowards of Congress
Now we come to our members of Congress who did not stick to their principles, nor did they acquiesce to the concerns of the White House. Maryland Rep. Andy Harris voted present, and New York Rep. Andrew Garbarino and Arizona Rep. David Schweikert were absent from the vote. Garbarino’s excuse for not voting for the bill was particularly rich. He claims he fell asleep in the back of the chamber and missed the vote. Right, Andrew!
And Johnson said that Schweikert arrived just a second too late to vote. What will these kooky Congressmen think of next? Only Ohio Rep. Warren Davidson and Kentucky Rep. Thomas Massie stuck to their conservative guns and voted no, along with all of the Democrats in the chamber. Their votes were based on their belief that the proposed Medicaid cuts were not hefty enough. Ugh!
Speaker Johnson and What’s Next
Lastly, there’s our Speaker of the House, Little Mikey Johnson. He’s both a lemming and a coward. Little Mikey gets a lot of credit for keeping his fellow Republican Congressmen and women in line and massaging these complicated bills through the legislative process while working with only a small majority in his caucus.
In reality, it’s not as complicated as it looks. If his caucus is getting rowdy and not behaving, he simply brings Mr. Trump in to threaten and terrorize these lowly representatives until they fall into line. So Little Mikey gets a little credit for ushering the bills through and gets to keep his job. However, maybe more pathetic is that he is a coward who has abdicated his responsibilities as one of the pillars of the balance of power.
The legislative, executive, and judicial branches of the federal government are supposed to keep each other in check and guard against any excesses or illegal behavior from the other two branches. Tragically, there is only one branch now in Washington, D.C., and that is the Trump branch. Let’s hope that when this “Big Awful Cruel Bill” comes before the Senate, they remember their constitutional responsibilities. The fate of millions of Americans hangs in the balance.
