00:00Hi everybody. I'm Brittany Lewis, a breaking news reporter here at Forbes. Joining me now
00:07is Republican strategist and executive director of Principles First, Brittany Martinez. Brittany,
00:12thank you so much for joining me. Thank you for having me back. The House passed President
00:17Trump's big, beautiful bill in a narrow vote after a marathon overnight debate. And if you
00:23and I were talking this time yesterday, the chances of this happening, not only just a vote,
00:27but it actually passing through the House before that self-imposed Memorial Day deadline,
00:32it wasn't looking too good. So what do you think, what do you make of the bill passing through the
00:37House? Well, a few things immediately come to mind. So the first is that we do have
00:42a Republican White House, House and Senate. So that means regardless, this bill was going to pass in
00:47some iteration. So yes, I'm not surprised that it did pass ultimately, but I will also point out,
00:53and I think this is really important for viewers to think about is that it took, it was a months
00:59long slog for Republicans to get to this point. A lot of late nights into early mornings, including
01:04today when it was voted on at seven in the morning in the dead of the night is when, you know, the
01:09Congress is sort of voting and talking about and trying to move this legislation forward. I don't
01:13think that's a great luck for Congress, for Republicans, but also like, please remember that
01:20as soon as Trump won last year, what was the big talking point? He has a mandate. Clearly to me,
01:27this isn't a mandate. It's a tough and close Congress. It was a 12, 215 to 214. And it's a
01:34slim majority in the Senate too. And that's going to be a battle as well. So I think that they have
01:38to be humble about it, the Trump administration and realizing you need to work with their colleagues
01:42across the aisle as best they can to move this legislation forward.
01:45And I want to talk about where some of those divisions really were. Some Republicans,
01:51more moderate Republicans from blue states like New York wanted an increase in that saw cap.
01:56Other hardline GOP members wanted more steeper cuts. They also wanted to not see so much being
02:03added onto the deficit. There were also concerns about Medicaid cuts. I mean, this was a really
02:08remarkable turnaround for Speaker Johnson. How was he able to wrangle in these almost like cats
02:15and get everything, something for everyone?
02:19I think John Boehner famously said that being Speaker of the House was like herding cats. So yes,
02:24I think that's the perfect analogy to what we're seeing here with Congress and House Republicans
02:27in this specific situation. But yes, he did a good job. He was able to pull it off. I think a lot of
02:34people often underestimate Johnson and he's proven time and time again to be able to deliver
02:39the agenda that he wants on behalf of House Republicans and Trump. And so, you know, good for
02:45him on doing that. I think ultimately we'll see what the Senate does with this bill. I'm sure that they
02:49will have their own thoughts and then it will come back to the House and they will have to resolve
02:52those differences. But this is absolutely a win for him, even though it is a tight margin.
02:56And it's a compromise. I mean, no one gets everything that they want, especially in the
03:02Republican Party. I mean, no Democrat voted for this, but it's an over 1000 page bill. So there's
03:07something for everybody to run back to their district and say, hey, this is what I got for
03:11you. Promises made promises, kept that type of Republican rhetoric there. But let's talk about
03:17some of the things that this does. The bill expands and extends 2017 tax cuts, eliminates taxes on tips
03:24and overtime. It gives more border security funding. It's overall touted as President Trump's
03:29agenda. As a Republican, what do you like from this? Well, I think there's things like the child
03:36tax credit. I think that's important. You know, there's also now a new fund for children that were
03:40born from the end of last year. I think it's through 2029. And so I think that's going to help
03:45families, especially young families, sort of get a head start for their children. But some of the
03:50issues, and I know this wasn't your question, but I think some of the issues that we're going to
03:53maybe see Democrats run on, especially during midterms, is that Medicaid step that you're
03:57talking about. And, you know, early indications, and we'll see what actually happens, but said that
04:02this could potentially cut Medicaid for 7 trillion, excuse me, 7 million Americans. And Trump has said
04:08he didn't want to make cuts to Medicaid besides waste, fraud and abuse. He said three words. Those
04:13were the three words. And I think that we're going to have to see what that ultimately looks like,
04:17because Medicaid and Medicare have often been a rallying cry for the left. And I think this is
04:23probably going to be one of those things that helps them no longer be Democrats in disarray and
04:27get it together a little bit, at least enough to say to the American people, you know what,
04:31this is what it's done. And this is how it's going to hurt you. I do want to talk about the
04:36politics of this bill, because as you said, the CBO estimated it would cut Medicaid spending
04:40by close to $700 billion. It could also lead to as many as 7.6 million Americans uninsured over the
04:47next decade. You also noted that this was debated in the dead of night. So I'm curious about the optics
04:52there. And reportedly, estimates are suggesting this will make the poorest poorer and the richest
04:58richer in this country. And with those billions in snap cuts and cuts to Medicaid, estimates show
05:03that the lowest earning households will reportedly see a decrease in resources, while the highest
05:08income households will see more resources. So what do you make of the optics of this bill overall? I
05:14mean, did Republicans just hand Democrats ads for the midterms? We'll see what comes out of this bill.
05:20But I do think that Democrats obviously have an opportunity to spin this here. And especially
05:25and I think we've talked about this, Brittany, you know, it's when did Republicans become
05:28the party to spend all this money? I think we're kind of blowing money like Democrats are supposed
05:32to be the party of fiscal responsibility. And this is estimated to essentially cost the government
05:37$4 trillion over the next decade. That's a lot of money when we're already $36 trillion in debt.
05:44And a lot of that came from the COVID times. And so concerns with that as well, in case there's any
05:49sort of national emergency, which knock on wood, hopefully we never see anything like the likes of
05:54COVID again. But we need to be smart about the way that we are spending our money. And when we're
05:59going to potentially be going trillions of dollars in debt because of this bill, that's why you have
06:03some of those fiscal hawks in the Freedom Caucus who are concerned about it. And I think that if
06:07there's pushback from the Senate, the holdouts have made it clear like Chip Roy that this could
06:13potentially be problematic for him. He's not just going to rubber stamp it, I believe is what the
06:17terminology he used. And Republicans have long been really just rallying against adding to the
06:24national debt. And this adds, as you said, trillions to it. I mean, can Republicans say,
06:28let's say this passes as is obviously, I mean, undoubtedly it won't because it's going to the Senate now.
06:33But even if it adds trillions of dollars to the debt, can Republicans longer say,
06:38hey, we don't want to add to the deficit because this bill that they are backing does?
06:45I think so. I think that would probably be the way to go about it. It's the one big,
06:49beautiful bill, as it's literally called, which I think is hilarious. It's not just a fun phrase
06:55anymore. It's not the actual name of the bill. You can look it up at congress.com. And yeah,
07:00I think it is one big bill. I think that there's a way for them to say, listen, this is where we're
07:05putting a lot of our eggs in this basket. This is where a lot of the spending and the deficit is
07:10going to go towards. And we're going to be more conservative when it comes to finances moving
07:15forward. But I would say this is probably an early indication of maybe where Congress will be going
07:21under the Trump administration. And something that's been said about him is that he's a conservative
07:26populist. So meaning that he is very pro sort of the social programs that put money in Americans
07:32pocket. However, the problem with that is that it adds to the deficit and could have potentially
07:37some long term effects when it comes to those sorts of things. And President Trump met with
07:42members of the House GOP earlier this week. And he that was described as a pep talk. He went in there.
07:50He did call Thomas Massey a grandstander over not supporting the bill. He also said that he should be
07:55voted out. Thomas Massey seemingly unmoved by this because he did not vote for the bill in in the vote
08:01this morning. I mean, what are what are your thoughts on that sort of strong arming?
08:06I think that and Brittany, correct me if I'm wrong, you know, I'd say this more as a rhetorical question
08:11is, is this standard practice for sitting presidents of the United States to say to members of Congress who
08:18are sitting members of Congress like do this or we're going to get folks to primary you? That seems a
08:23little bit not passing the smell test to me. I think that's a little strange, don't you?
08:29Well, I've in all of my years of covering politics, I've never seen a president say that,
08:34hey, you don't agree with me. You're out of here. You should be voted out. You're a grandstander.
08:38When Thomas Massey said he was, you know, I mean, it's not like Thomas Massey has flip flopped on
08:42these positions. These are long held positions. But Speaker Johnson, he was celebrating this.
08:48He called this a historic vote. He was really touting this legislation. But he said he knows
08:52that this isn't the end of the road here. This still needs to go to the Senate. And now it's in
08:56the Senate's hands. And what do you make of that? I mean, what changes do you think are going to
09:01happen? How tough of a road do you think this is? I've been reading reports and, you know, I have
09:07friends in the Senate just kind of following the way that they interact with the Trump administration
09:12so far this year is I think that they have quite an uphill battle ahead of them. I don't know. I
09:19think it'll ultimately pass again. It's a Republican Congress fully and White House. So we'll get some
09:24iteration of this bill. But I do think that some of those Republican senators who have had some
09:29issues with the Trump administration are going to push back on certain things. I think we probably
09:34won't see any Democrats voting for it. Or if we do, it'll be like one or two. But the thing we have
09:40to think about is that the majority in the Senate for Republicans is bigger than the majority in the
09:44Senate for the House. And they already had a hard enough time. So I can see that also happening
09:48when it comes to the Senate this time around. What do you think are some of those biggest
09:53concerns here? Do you think it's the cuts to SNAP, the cuts to Medicaid, adding trillions to the debt?
09:59I mean, where do you think the toughest conversations are going to be in the Senate debate?
10:04I think it's a combination of all those things. I definitely think that it's adding the trillions
10:10of dollars. I've seen some senators come out and say that they have problems with that.
10:14When it comes to SNAP, I think that's probably going to be an issue as well. And, you know, again,
10:18Republicans are in the majority. But I've already seen Chuck Schumer call out SALT and issues with
10:24that and said, New York Republicans should be ashamed. And, you know, Mike Lawler very quickly
10:29pounced on that and said, you didn't add one dollar towards SNAP, excuse me, towards SALT when you
10:36had everything. And we've been able to quadruple it for the American people. And so I think that
10:41that will probably be the narrative that Democrats push. And I think that Republicans will probably
10:46be the most concerned about some of the fiscal things in this bill.
10:49And that was an interesting argument that Chuck Schumer brought against Mike Lawler because Mike
10:54Lawler seemingly held the line in because they were not trying to give an inch on the SALT demands.
11:01He said, we're not quitting. And he got that $40,000 cap. He got it raised four times. And I
11:06want to talk about Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer because he voted for the Republicans' stopgap
11:11spending bill in March. This ultimately, as we remember, averted a government shutdown.
11:15But it left many House Democrats feeling this deep sense of betrayal because this was an 11th hour vote
11:21by Schumer. Do you think that there's going to be any Democratic support in the Senate for this?
11:27Do you think Schumer's going to support it? I mean, what do you think that looks like?
11:32I think I can see a world where there is some Democrat support, potentially maybe in a red state,
11:38a purple state, those who have an upcoming election in 2026 and need to be careful,
11:44especially in a state where Trump won, but maybe they're a Democrat, right? I think those are the
11:50folks that we should be paying attention to who could potentially vote for this bill. But regardless,
11:54I don't really see it being a grand bipartisan effort. I think it'll be one or two senators.
12:01And President Trump, he obviously celebrated this House when they got it before Memorial Day. That
12:06was their self-imposed deadline. President Trump calls this arguably the most significant piece of
12:11legislation that will ever be signed. What do you make of that characterization? Do you think,
12:17how much of an impact do you think that this legislation is going to have?
12:20I think it will have a big impact, especially on his legacy. When we were talking about the
12:27funds that are being given to newborn children, they had called it the MAGA fund and it was an
12:33acronym. And then they decided later on in the 11th hour to call it the Trump thing. I think that is
12:39really narcissistic, but also coming from a PR perspective, he wants people to remember after
12:45he's long gone from being president of the United States, that this is the Trump money. And so when
12:51you look at those sorts of things, I think they've been very intentional about the way that they're
12:55going about it. Now, will this be great or will this be bad? I think time will tell. But when they've
13:01been able to extend the tax cuts from 2017, which Republicans have pretty much said that are a good
13:08thing over all of these years, and it was important to continue. I think that that's going to be part of
13:14his legacy is the Trump tax cuts that they that's what they've called them.
13:19Well, I know as this bill makes its way through the Senate, as there are debates on Medicaid,
13:24adding to the debt and everything in between, I hope you come back on and join me and break it down.
13:30Brittany Martinez, I always appreciate our conversations. Thanks for joining me.
13:34Thanks for having me.
13:44Thanks for having me.
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