Johnson's "Big Beautiful Bill" Robin Hood in Reverse

This week the United States Senate takes up Speaker of the House Mike Johnson’s “big beautiful bill.” The bill passed the house by a single vote after a lot of threats to members of Congress who had reservations about the bill.

The 1000 page bill essentially implements the remaining parts of the wildly unpopular Heritage Foundations Project 2025. Project 2025 is designed to take everything possible from working class Americans and give it to billionaires. 

While the bill extends and expands the 2017 Trump tax cuts for the wealthy, it does so by cutting vital services to the most vulnerable members of society. The 2017 Tax Cut resulted in the largest single increase in the federal deficit in our history. It is important to remember, that a federal budget is comprised of two parts, expenses AND income. When income is cut, then the deficit grows. It is like your home budget, if you take a cut in your income, then your expenses must go down or you go in the hole.

So how is Mike Johnson planning on paying for these massive tax cuts to the most vulnerable of our society. First, he is attacking Medicaid. Medicaid is a joint federal and state program that provides healthcare to low-income families and individuals. These are usually individuals who work for companies that refuse to offer health care for their employees. It could be said that Medicaid is the federal government subsiding deadbeat companies that refuse to provide basic benefits to their employees. Johnson’s “big beautiful bill” would throw ten million individuals off Medicaid, leaving families with no health care coverage. The Center for American Progress estimates cuts to Medicaid could result in over 32,000 deaths a year due to lack of health care.

Louisiana’s 4th Congressional district has 290,000 people on Medicaid. This represents 38% of the total population of the district. Why is that significant? Mike Johnson represents the 4th District of Louisiana. On Face The Nation on May 25, 2025, Johnson told the host Margaret Brennan that “only illegal immigrants would be thrown off Medicaid. Brennan then pointed out to Johnson it was not possible for illegal immigrants to be on Medicaid because they don’t have Social Security numbers. Johnson said nothing in return because he knew he was lying. His “big beautiful bill” cuts $800,000,000,000 from Medicaid. It is also important to remember that Medicaid covers some cost for Medicare patients. If a person on Medicare goes in a skilled nursing facility (nursing home) they only cover the first 100 days. After that Medicaid takes over if the person meetings the eligibility requirements. So cuts to Medicaid would affect seniors.

SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program) (food stamp) benefits individuals living below the poverty line. A lot of the same people who depend on Medicaid also require SNAP benefits to meet their basic needs. Once again, many of these people work for companies that don’t pay a living wage. Johnson’s “Big Beautiful Bill” cuts $300,000,000,000 from SNAP. Ty Jones Cox, vice president for food assistance policy at the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities says this is largest cut to SNAP in it’s history. Receiving SNAP benefits automatically enrolls students in free lunch programs. The report cuts would thrown 420,000 school age children off free lunch programs. Essentially, cutting off food at home and food at school for at risk students.

The 1000 pages contains all kinds of attacks on the working class and the working poor. Cuts to green energy programs will result in higher energy bills. The bill also grants President Trump the right to ignore the courts, essentially establishing him as a king rather than a president.

The “big beautiful bill” is filled with tax cuts and opportunities that favor the wealthiest of our society. The Congressional Budget Office estimates that 60% of the benefits of this bill go to those in the top 20% of the tax bracket. A full third of the benefits go to those making $460,000 a year or more. So essentially Speaker Johnson is taking from the poor and giving to the wealthy. The bill increases the national debt by five trillion dollars. Add that to the five trillion from Trump’s first term and the national debt will have increased by ten trillion dollars. This will result in higher cost for US Bonds and higher interest rates for everyone.

Lastly, the tariffs that have been placed on imported goods is resulting in skyrocketing prices for consumers. Volvo just announced layoffs of 3000 people because of tariffs. Inflation is soaring, the economy is slowing, benefits for those hit the hardest are being slashed so those at the top can have more. We often forget the difference in millions and billions. For comparison, one million seconds is 11.5 days. One billion seconds is 31.7 years. A trillion seconds is 31,700 years. People who are THAT rich are the ones benefitting.

To put all this in perspective, imagine a man living in a mansion. He gets up, eats is breakfast that has been prepared for him then gets in his limo. Drives to a school and sends his driver in to take all the food for the student’s lunch. Then drives to a clinic where families are waiting to see a doctor. He sends his driver in to take all the medicine, bandages and equipment and adds that to the limo. He drives to the nursing home and takes all the food and demands the deeds to the people’s homes. He then goes to the grocery store and stops families on the way to their car and take the groceries they have and out them in the limo. Next stop is homes of workers where he increases their energy bills so the money goes in his pocket. On his way back home he passes a store where the few can afford to buy anything are paying more because of tariffs that are going right into his bank account. As ridiculous as this sounds- THIS is exactly what Johnson’s “Big Beautiful Bill” does. He hides behind the Bible as he doesn’t everything the Bible warns against.

It is imperative that we all call our Senators and demand they vote NO on this bill. Call (202) 224-3121 and ask for your senator’s office. Senate Republicans are expressing their concern over the cuts and the increases to the deficits. We cant’ allow Johnson and Trump to threaten this bill through. There were lots of Republicans in the House that were against this bill that were pressured into voting. We need to let our elected representatives know we are against robbing the poor to pay the rich. Johnson’s “Big Beautiful Bill” is a nightmare we can’t allow to be unleashed on the most vulnerable of our society.