Wednesday, April 09, 2025

Easy Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas with Yogurt in the Kitchen

Carolyn found a recipe at US Dairy for Cheesy Chicken Enchiladas with Yogurt:


Ingredients:

2 tablespoons all purpose flour

1/2 tablespoon butter

2 cups chicken broth

1 (3-ounce) package cream cheese

3 cups boneless chicken breast, chopped and cooked

3/4 teaspoon cumin, divided

2 garlic cloves

2 green chile, 4.5 oz. cans, chopped

1 jalapeño pepper, seeded and diced

1 1/4 cups mexican blend cheese, shredded

1 white onion, diced

1 teaspoon salt, divided

8 soft tortillas, 6-inch

1 teaspoon canola oil

1/4 cup low-fat plain yogurt

Directions:


    Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. 

    Heat oil in large skillet over medium heat. Add half of the diced onion, jalapeño and garlic, cooking until soft, 2-3 minutes. Lower heat and stir in cream cheese and half of the chicken. Stir continuously until cream cheese is soft. Mix in ½ teaspoon salt, ¼ teaspoon cumin and remaining chicken. Remove from heat and stir in ¼ cup of cheese. 

    Melt butter in a medium pot over medium heat. Add the other half of the diced onion and cook until softened and translucent, 2-3 minutes. Add flour. Cook stirring constantly for 1 minute. Slowly whisk in chicken broth. Cook until sauce is thickened, 4-5 minutes. Stir in ½ teaspoon cumin, ½ teaspoon salt and green chiles. Remove from heat and stir in yogurt.  

    Coat bottom of a 12x8-inch baking dish with a layer of the green chili sauce. Spoon about ¼ cup of the chicken mixture into each tortilla; roll up and place seam side down in baking dish. Continue filling the remaining tortillas. Top with remaining enchilada sauce and cheese. 

    Cover baking dish with aluminum foil and bake at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for 15 minutes. Remove aluminum foil and cook for 5 more minutes uncovered. Turn broiler on high and bake for 2-3 until top is brown and bubbly. 


News?  Jerry White (WSWS) reports:


A 62-year-old skilled tradesman at the Stellantis engine plant in Dundee, Michigan was killed early Monday morning when he was crushed by a mechanical arm that pinned him against a conveyor on the assembly line. According to his co-workers, the victim of the tragic incident was Ronnie Adams, a Detroit resident.

A statement from the Monroe County Sheriff’s office said deputies arrived at the plant around 1:25 a.m. and found the man “was seriously injured by a machine while working on the assembly line.” Adams was taken to the St. Joseph Mercy Hospital in Ann Arbor and was later pronounced dead.

“Our family is deeply saddened to announce the unexpected passing of my husband Ronald E. Adams Sr. [Ronnie Adams],” Shamenia Stewart-Adams posted. “Please keep us lifted in your prayers as we prepare for the days ahead of us. We will release more details when they become available.”

Adams was a highly skilled worker who was previously an aircraft mechanic at Delta Airlines and its predecessor, Northwest Airlines, according to his Facebook page. 

Adams was apparently part of a small crew of skilled trades and other workers retooling the factory and preparing to restart production later this year, according to United Auto Workers officials, who provided no further information about the deadly incident. 

The Dundee Engine Complex is currently undergoing a $150 million retooling to produce new engines and battery trays for gas-powered, battery powered electric and hybrid Jeep and Dodge brand vehicles. 

Stellantis, whose stock value has plunged by two-thirds over the last year, is already facing production cutbacks in the US due to a shortage of engines from its Saltillo, Mexico plant, which will only worsen as the full force of Trump’s tariffs hit. It is not clear whether the company was cutting corners to finish the Dundee retooling and move up the launch of the already delayed new 1.6-liter, I-4 turbocharged engines for Dodge and Jeep vehicles.  

“When you rush a retool, someone is going to get hurt,” one of hundreds of production workers laid off for retooling told the World Socialist Web Site. “When I was there, we valued safety and repairmen had to lock out the machines before doing maintenance on them. This is very sad. I want to know what happened.” 

In March 2023, he said, some 400 of the 700 workers at the plant were laid off. “Some were lucky, but some of us have been out of work for more than two years. Some of us got shipped to other plants where we learned quickly that we didn’t have enough seniority to keep working. I’m living off SUB pay, some unemployment benefits, and lots of dead-end jobs.”

Referring to Trump’s tariffs, he said, “We are all worried. All this talk about ‘American made’ makes the auto industry in the US look like a dying industry. I worried that after 15 years, I could be out of a job.”

United Auto Workers Local 723 Vice President Chris Sharpe told the Detroit News that local and international UAW officials were at the plant Monday morning looking into the fatal accident. In a perfunctory statement, union officials said, “The UAW is extremely saddened by the loss of a fellow member of our union family at Dundee Engine last night. An investigation into this incident is now underway. We will share more once we understand what happened, but for now, we ask everyone to keep our member’s family in their hearts and prayers.”

Workers can place no confidence in any investigation by the UAW bureaucracy. Instead, they should organize a rank-and-file committee, made up of the most trusted and militant workers, to investigate every aspect of this tragedy, expose the truth, ban forced overtime and oversee safety conditions. 



This is  C.I.'s "The Snapshot" for Tuesday:


Tuesday, April 8, 2025.  Chump wants to use the troops as a prop to prop his fading popularity, he's gunning to kill Social Security, while business giants stay silent a small business owner in Florida is fighting back and taking him to court, and much more.







President Donald Trump's approval rating has turned negative in a new poll conducted by his campaign pollster Tony Fabrizio for The Wall Street Journal.

Just 46 percent of people approval of Trump's overall job performance, while 51 percent disapprove, according to the poll, which Fabrizio conducted with Democratic pollster John Anzalone.

Presidential approval ratings provide insights into how the public believes the president is performing.

A shift in Trump's numbers could influence support from Republican lawmakers, affect his ability to push through his agenda and shape the political landscape, heading into the midterm election cycle.


Cry baby Chump thinks he knows how to solve his dissolving popularity -- stage a parade!!!!  David Badash explains:


President Donald Trump is trying to get the military parade his “generals” blocked him from having during his first term, reportedly planning to spend millions of taxpayer money to honor himself on his 79th birthday in June.

In 2018, “Trump angrily and reluctantly canceled his plans after military leaders said it would cost $92 million and after District officials complained that heavy military equipment—tanks and planes included—would tear up the roadways and cost $21 million just for parade public safety,” Washington City Paper reports. “Now, second-term Trump apparently won’t be denied.”
Citing a D.C. source, the paper reports that “Trump has commandeered Saturday, June 14—the 250th anniversary of the U.S. Army and, as it happens, Trump’s 79th birthday—for his military parade. It would stretch almost four miles from the Pentagon in Arlington to the White House, according to the source, who stressed that local officials are just learning of it.”


The erectile dysfunctional illiterate just refused to be present at Dover on Friday when the bodies of  Americans Pfc Dante D. Taitano, Staff Sgt Edvin F. Franco, Staff Sgt Jose Duenez Jr., and Staff Sgt Troy S. Knutson-Collins returned to the US.  But he thinks he can use the military as a prop?  He's disgusting.  Vile and disgusting.  And that's before we address the fact that he's firing people and cancelling programs but wants to waste nearly a billion dollars on a parade for his birthday.


Chump, I know you live on top of an economic house of cards.  But what do you think the stupid people who still believe in you are going to think when they find out that -- as with E Jean Carroll's law suit -- you don't have the money to pay your own bills?   As William S. Becker (THE HILL) points out, "Much of what we know about President Trump’s leadership is revealed by his personal behavior. For example, during his first month in office, while Elon Musk conducted mass firings and canceled government services to cut spending, Trump spent nearly $10.7 million of taxpayer money to play golf at his properties." 


Speaking of the Orange Obese Feces' desire to waste the US tax payers' money, Andrew Perez (ROLLING STONE) reports:

It's very important to the Trump administration that the government spend huge taxpayer dollars on ads that repeatedly thank Donald Trump while warning immigrants to leave or stay out of America. 

There was such "an unusual and compelling urgency" for this propaganda campaign that it could not be subject to competitive bidding rules, Trump officials say. Records show they also exempted the ads from review by Elon Musk's so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). 
Trump's Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has budgeted up to $200 million for these ads so far. Speaking at a Conservative Political Action Conference dinner in February, Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem said the ad campaign was Trump's idea, and that he specifically asked her to thank him in the ads, which she does. "I want you to thank me. I want you to thank me for closing the border," she says Trump told her. 

As the Associated Press has reported, the Trump administration quietly bypassed a competitive bidding process as it selected contractors for the lucrative ad campaign, because the president declared a national emergency at the southern border upon taking office. 

"To aid in responding to this emergency, DHS requires an immediate domestic and international campaign to direct illegal aliens within the U.S. and its territories to leave immediately, and to discourage illegal immigration into the country," Trump officials wrote. They claimed that "any delay" in starting the ad campaign "will allow illegal border crossings to continue to rise."


Some presidents want to help the American people, Chump just wants to help himself to all the tax dollars he can while pretending to be fiscally conservative.  It's why the Senate is having to fight right now to protect Social Security.  From Senator Elizabeth Warren's office:

During Senate Vote-a-rama, Democrats fight back against cuts to Social Security services, benefits; privatization; DOGE data access

Senate Democrats launched Social Security War Room earlier this week

Washington, D.C. – In the midst of the Trump administration’s efforts to gut Social Security, Senate Democrats have proposed numerous amendments to protect Americans’ Social Security during tonight’s consideration of the Republican budget resolution in the Senate. The amendments mark the latest push from Senate Democrats’ Social Security War Room, a coordinated effort to fight back against Trump, Musk, and DOGE’s attacks on Social Security.

Senate Democrats proposed new amendments to:

  • Protect against disruptions to and reductions in Americans’ Social Security benefits.
  • Prohibit cuts to Social Security Administration services, including preventing field office closures and preserving phone service.
  • Reduce wait times for Americans trying to access Social Security Administration services.
  • Protect Americans’ private data at the Social Security Administration from Elon Musk’s DOGE.
  • Reverse DOGE’s existing cuts to the Social Security Administration.
  • Prevent the privatization of Social Security.
  • Prohibit cuts to Social Security benefits. 
  • Sustain and expand Social Security benefits.

Specific amendments include:

  • An amendment filed by U.S. Senators Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Chris Coons (D-De.), John Hickenlooper (D-Co.), and Raphael Warnock (D-Ga.) to sustain and expand Social Security.
  • An amendment filed by U.S. Senator Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) to prevent the privatization of Social Security.
  • An amendment filed by U.S. Senators Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) and Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) to protect against reductions in Social Security Administration customer service.

President Trump, Elon Musk, and DOGE have gutted the Social Security Administration in recent weeks, creating chaos and threatening Americans’ benefits. Last month, the Social Security Administration announced plans to cut about 7,000 employees, or about 12% of its workforce. 78% of these employees were working in field offices, directly serving Social Security recipients. SSA is reportedly planning to enact even deeper cuts to the agency’s workforce, crippling Americans’ ability to access their benefits.

DOGE has also tried to significantly limit Americans’ access to services by shutting down regional offices and requiring new and existing beneficiaries to go in-person or online for a variety of services, including applying for benefits and changing direct deposit and other banking information—posing a challenge to many seniors who rely on benefits.

Senate Democrats’ Social Security War Room is a coordinated effort to fight back against the Trump administration’s attack on Americans’ Social Security. The War Room coordinates messaging across the Senate Democratic Caucus and external stakeholders; encourages grassroots engagement by providing opportunities for Americans to share what Social Security means to them; and educates Senate staff, the American public, and stakeholders about Republicans’ agenda and their continued cuts to Americans’ Social Security services and benefits.

###




US House Rep Eric Swalwell has told a billionaire supporter of Chump, "If you enabled him in becoming president may I suggest you shut the [expletive] up?"  I would agree but there's a bit more we need to note on that.

It's got nothing to do with Eric -- I agree with him.

It does have everything to do with the way DSA tricked and used students.  Some of you are young and that's your excuse.  Some of you are older and are just lying whores and you have no excuse.  You damn well knew, at your age, that the US was not going to get behind Gaza.  You knew but you lied like the closet case Socialists you are.  You lied to the kids and you put Chump back into the White House.  And you egged the kids on -- Nina Turner, you're such a clever whore -- with the lie that we just had to get louder and things would change tomorrow.

No.

Kids, you were played. 

The push for the rights of Gaza at the end of 2023 and through the spring of college 2024 was like nothing this nation had ever seen.  If your elders has been honest brokers, they would have explained that to you and some of you wouldn't have made fools of yourself by voting for Jill Stein, or Chump or not voting.  They wanted to 'flex' their muscle, your whorish elders, and all they did was blow the growing support for Gaza.  And now, as Gaza residents are attacked by both Hamas and the Israeli government, you might notice that the whores are silent. 

They could have been honest with you.  Another reason they weren't?  Jealousy.  Part of what took place was luck, yes.  We were finally at a place where we could honestly discuss it -- or a lot of us were.  But even so, you -- high schoolers and college students -- moved the needle more than anyone ever did in this country before your generation.  So be proud of that, be proud of what you accomplished in that regard.

But beware liars, tricksters and whores.  In the end, a lot of you bought into that.

What does that have to do with Eric?

Phillip Kolb (2 PARAGRAPHS) reports on Bill Ackman -- that's the billionaire Eric is calling out.  Bill's trying to defend Donald Chump and to minimize Chump's actions with regards to destroying the economy. 

Bill got in bed with Chump because of Gaza.  He was a lifelong Democrat and a lifelong Democratic donor.  And he jumped ship over Gaza.  He was not the only one.  The Democratic base was never unified behind Gaza.  But the Phylly Bennis and the Normy Solomons and the garish and whorish Rashida Tlaib and Jill Stein and so many others didn't want to explain that to you.

They wanted to defeat the Democratic Party -- they just knew that would give them an upper hand in the next election* -- and they lied to you and they tricked you.

The Party and its leadership moved closer to Gaza than it has ever been before.  And if people had been honest, you would have known that.  Instead, you were tricked into believing that there was no motion towards Gaza.  Bill Akman left the Democratic Party over Gaza.  

Ask those of us in the US who protested apartheid in South Africa and we'll tell you what your whorish advisors didn't:  Equality is a long road and a long struggle.  You were on the right road and you got distracted by trash that wanted to put a convicted felon back into the White House so that the Democratic Party would fear them.*   *Reality, that has never happened and it won't in 2028.  As the laughable James Zogby how popular he is within the Democratic Party today and he'll tell you not at all.  Instead, he's Kay (Diane Keaton) in THE GODFATHER and doors have closed in his face.

A number of e-mails coming in saying that Hands Off! is a DSA project.  No.  They are one part of it, but there are many other components.  You saw them leafleting last Saturday?  I hope you saw the litter that resulted.  In Oakland, for instance, no one left with a DSA pamphlet.  Some did throw them away in designated trash bins.  But many of them just dropped the nonsense on the ground.  

They're desperate for donations but even more so for new members.  So some of you encountered the free offer to join DSA and you rejected it.

That's what generally happens.

DSA is a joke and will remain a joke.  They were working to oust Chuck Schumer and Hakeem Jeffries a month ago.

Didn't happen.  

Beyond whining and fighting with one another, they have no real power.  They do have a media closet cases who spin for them and lie for them.  

[Deleted before posting about the celebrity who works overtime to destroy the Dems via third parties and other things who had pornographic photos of their own children that the drug store developing them should have called the police about.  Instead, because they are something of a name, they got a call and went to pick up photos but were just handed the film and advised not to bring those type of photos in again or they'd have to report it to the police.]


The Democratic Party is larger than the DSA.  We have over 70 million Democrats in the US.  DSA is lucky to have 80,000 and we will not let these Socialists hide in closets again.  

DSAers have gotten away with so much in the past.  You work for SLATE and they need an article on the DSA so you write it.  But you don't reveal to the reader or your editor that you're DSA.  If you had revealed that, SLATE wouldn't have let you write the article, would they?  You're Circle Jerk rests on quick sand, never forget that.


DSA shares a lot with Chump.  The Politics of Destruction is all both know.  And idiot do a lot of harm.  Edith Olmsted (THE NEW REPUBLIC) notes:


President Donald Trump said that he hopes to erase the U.S. trade deficit with other countries—but anyone who understands economics knows that wouldn’t be a good thing. 

“I spoke to a lot of leaders—European, Asian—from all over the world. They are dying to make a deal, but I said, ‘We’re not gonna have deficits with your country,’” Trump told reporters on board Air Force One Sunday. “We’re not gonna do that, because to me a deficit is a loss. We’re gonna have surpluses or at worst we’re gonna be breaking even.”


The economy is falling apart before our eyes.  And as Stephanie Ruhle noted in the video at the top of the snapshot, business leaders who would normally be very vocal are instead rolling over.  On her show last night, MSNBC's THE 11TH HOUR WITH STEPHANIE RUHLE (which MSNBC has yet to post). she had on one real leader being destroyed by the tariffs who was taking the matter to court. 


COURTHOUSE NEWS SERVICE notes, "A small business in Florida has sued the Trump administration, accusing the president of violating the Constitution by imposing tariffs on all imports from China. The company says Trump improperly bypassed Congress using a statute that "does not even mention tariffs, nor does it say anything else suggesting it authorizes presidents to tax American citizens."  Issie Lapowsky (FAST COMPANY) reports:

Business owners around the world are still reeling from the sky-high, globe-spanning tariffs President Donald Trump has announced since taking office. Last week, Emily Ley became the first to take her concerns to court.

In a lawsuit filed in a federal court in Florida last Thursday, lawyers representing Ley, a small business owner in Pensacola, argued that Trump’s tariffs on China are “unlawful,” “unconstitutional,” and risk having devastating consequences on businesses like Simplified, the 10-employee stationery company Ley founded in 2008. The suit, which is the first known case to challenge Trump’s tariffs, has, almost overnight, turned Ley into the very public face of a high stakes legal battle that could have sweeping consequences for the global economy. 

“My company is like my fourth child,” Ley tells Fast Company. “I’m going to go down swinging if this is the end of it.”

It was never Ley’s intention to file a suit. A few weeks ago, as Trump’s tariffs on China, Mexico, and Canada went into effect, and the White House warned of more to come, Ley simply wanted to give people a better understanding of the tangible impact that rising tariffs would have on a small business like hers, which sells, among other things, day planners that are made in China. “I was seeing so much misinformation and misunderstanding about who pays the tariffs, and what they’re for,” Ley says. “I just felt like I needed to share a small business perspective that came from a real person, a real human.”


 

“These unlawfully implemented tariffs cause harm to American businesses, American jobs, and American consumers, and will be the end of many American dreams,” Ley said in a post on social media the day after Trump announced a series of steep tariffs on nations around the word that sent global stock markets plunging.

The suit specifically targets Trump’s 20 percent tariff on goods from China he imposed early last month. Ley’s Florida-based small business purchases products from China to sell, including planners.

The lawsuit is challenging Trump’s use of the International Emergency Economic Powers Act of 1977 (IEEPA), which requires extensive investigations before sanctions can be imposed. Trump has used opioid trafficking from China as a reason for the “emergency” tariffs against the country.

Ley told Stephanie that it was unnerving bringing the lawsuit but that she has to save her employees jobs and her business.  She's not hiding behind a Tweet of praise.  She's standing up.  It's appalling that more are not doing the same.

How bad does it have to get for business leaders to find their voices?   Harry Enten and Matt Egan (CNN) note, "The S&P 500 had lost 15% of its value since Inauguration Day as of Sunday night. And that doesn’t even count the massive losses set for Monday’s opening bell."  And the political storm clouds begin to drift over the White House.  Amethyst Martinez (THE DAILY BEAST) reports:




Republicans are starting to back away from the president after major fallout from his new tariffs.

MAGA favorite Ted Cruz over the weekend spoke out about the devastating effects of Donald Trump’s disruptive economic policies, predicting a “bloodbath” in next year’s midterms if the current market collapse worsens.

“If he leaves them in place and we just have constant tariffs, that is a massive tax increase on the American people,” Cruz dished on his podcast, Verdict. “I worry there are voices within the administration that want to see these tariffs continue forever and ever and ever.”

Chump has no idea what he's doing.  He never has.  As Rachel Maddow detailed last week on MSNBC, Chump's financial guru is a liar that Don Junior found by chance on AMAZON -- six minutes and thirty-four seconds into the video below.





A fraud.  That's who's leading Chump.




Donald Trump made clear on Monday that he is not pulling the reins on his potentially recession-inducing tariff plans - or giving up control of implementing them. As markets went on a roller coaster, the president threatened to veto proposed bipartisan legislation that would seek to limit his tariff authority. 
In a Monday statement, the White House wrote that if Congress passed a bill submitted by Sens. Maria Cantwell (D-Wash.) and Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa) - which now has support from at least six other Republican senators - Trump "would veto the bill." 

"The Trump Administration is enacting policies to put America First on trade by opening new market access for U.S. farmers, raising wages for American workers, pursuing reciprocal trade, and reshoring the manufacturing essential to our national security. Tariffs are a critical component of that policy and this legislation runs contrary to those aims," the White House wrote. "If passed, this bill would dangerously hamper the President's authority and duty to determine our foreign policy and protect our national security." 

The legislation, titled the "Trade Review Act of 2025," would require the president to notify Congress within 48 hours of implementing a tariff, while offering an explanation justifying the necessity of the tariff and an economic impact analysis. Congress would be required to approve the tariff within a 60-day period in order to make it permanent, and could repeal it with a resolution of disapproval. 


Tom Boggioni (RAW STORY) reports on what US House Rep Nicole Malliotakis -- a Republican -- said on CNN's STATE OF THE UNION: 


Offered a chance to respond, Rep. Scholten, who had been smiling and shaking her head, tuned to her colleague and explained, "A jobs report that that came out before the market started crashing and Americans lost $4 trillion in savings."

"You can't ignore, you know, you're talking about giving subsidies to farmers because you know how bad this is going to be," she continued. "You know America is losing under Trump. The American people are losing under Trump."

You can watch below or at the link.


Again, is the mutiny beginning?  Are Republicans in office finally starting to see the troublesome signs that others have noticed for weeks and weeks and weeks? 

Meanwhile, the only thing plunging faster than Chump's approval rating and the US economy would be Aline Musk's TESLA stocks.  Lauren Lewis (THE DAILY BEAST) explains:


Tesla’s stock has plummeted to a new low only three weeks after Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick advised Americans to buy it because “it’ll never be this cheap again.”

Elon Musk’s company’s shares dropped 10 per cent in early trading on Monday, leveling out at $214.80 down from $235.86 when Lutnick made his remarks.

Lutnick, speaking in an interview with Fox News on March 19, called Tesla’s CEO, Elon Musk, “probably the best person to bet on I’ve ever met.”

“I think if you want to learn something on this show tonight, it’s buy Tesla,” Lutnick told host Jesse Watters, urging viewers to put their money in the company of a Trump administration employee.

“It’s unbelievable that this guy’s stock is this cheap.”

The car manufacturer has seen its shares plummet over 40 percent since the beginning of the year in reaction to Musk’s role in the Trump administration and concerns that Tesla is losing ground to competitors in the electric vehicle market.


He has destroyed Tesla.  People aren't buying them and those that have them are getting rid of them.  


This is no hocus-pocus: Bette Midler is the latest celebrity to sell her Tesla.

The veteran star of stage and screen has become the latest public figure to offload her Tesla over CEO Elon Musk's politics and support for President Donald Trump's administration.

"What a joyful day! I sold my (gulp) Tesla! No longer do I have to drive a symbol of racism, greed and ignorance! Life is suddenly so much better!!" Midler wrote in a recent Instagram post.



Alien is said to have last a fortune and the tariffs aren't helping.  He and the administration are now sniping at one another in public.  



Let's wind down with this from Senator Patty Murray's office:


Washington, D.C. – Today, U.S. Senator Patty Murray (D-WA), Vice Chair of the Senate Appropriations Committee and a senior member and former chair of the Senate Budget Committee, issued the following statement regarding the ongoing debate and consideration of Senate Republicans’ modified budget resolution.

“I take my votes on the Senate floor very seriously. While, tonight, I needed to be with my husband while he receives care at the hospital—I am in close touch with my colleagues and I am ready to return to the floor at a moment’s notice if any vote should hinge on my attendance. I strongly oppose Republicans’ pro-billionaire, anti-middle-class budget blueprint, and I will continue to fight this legislation every step of the way as Republicans draft a final bill for consideration.

“Let me be clear about the path Republicans have chosen to go down: they are going to light more than $5 trillion on fire—not to protect Social Security or make child care more affordable, but to shower billionaires with tax cuts they don’t need, pushing our country into an unprecedented level of debt. And in a move that shows they truly must think the American people aren’t watching, Republicans are trying to use magic math to pretend trillions of dollars in tax cuts for billionaires cost nothing. Budgets aren’t magic—they’re math, and even my former preschool students would know the difference between zero and a trillion.

“No billionaire left behind—that is the Republican agenda. The message Republicans are sending folks back home is that there is always more money for billionaires, but it’s tough times for everyone else—which means kicking kids off Medicaid and choking off cancer research.

“No one is asking Congress to pass a bill that slashes Medicaid and closes hospitals just so Elon Musk can line his pockets with a big tax break; instead, we should be working together to reverse Trump’s tariff taxes on everyday goods.

“Make no mistake, as Trump runs our economy into the ground, Republicans are handing money to billionaires hand over fist, while raising prices—raising taxes—on virtually every working American. Republicans are cheering Trump as he drives America towards a painful recession—but Democrats are fighting back to stop them. At every turn, I will keep fighting to protect Medicaid, Social Security, and the programs that help families and keep us all safe. I will keep fighting to bring economic sanity back to this country and make government work better for working people—and I will continue to strongly oppose Republicans’ pro-billionaire, pro-recession agenda.”

The budget blueprint Senate Republicans unveiled this week sets Republicans up to dole out more than $5.3 trillion in new tax cuts that will disproportionately benefit billionaires, the ultra-rich, and largest corporations. But to help allow themselves to make the tax cuts permanent without making even more devastating cuts to, for example, Americans’ health care under the Senate’s strict budget reconciliation rules, Republicans want to use a gimmick known as “current policy baseline” to pretend that extending $3.8 trillion in tax cuts won’t cost the country a cent—and to try to make them permanent in clear violation of the longstanding Byrd rule that enforces reconciliation in the Senate. The budget resolution also sets Republicans up to make massive cuts to Medicaid, nutrition assistance, and other critical domestic programs.

Today, budget experts from across the political spectrum wrote in part, “Using fabricated scorekeeping renders much of the Congressional Budget Act pointless and acts to evade responsibility for the resulting bottom line numbers. Congress cannot budget responsibly if it refuses to ever consider what policies actually cost. There is no point of budget enforcement if Congress gets to pick the score it wants.”

The nonpartisan Committee for a Responsible Federal Budget issued a new report today that made plain Republicans’ budget resolution would enable unprecedented deficit increases. It would:

  • Equal more than all spending programs except for the Social Security retirement program, Medicare, Medicaid, and defense.
  • Add as much to deficits as the American Rescue Plan, Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, CARES Act, and bipartisan infrastructure law combined, including more than three times as much as the American Rescue Plan and over 14 times as much as the bipartisan infrastructure law.
  • Cost as much or more than a large social welfare program, specifically five times as much as all Affordable Care Act health insurance subsidies, 4.5 times as much as Medicare Part D, three times as much as the Social Security Disability Insurance program, and more than three-quarters of all federal Medicaid spending.

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The following sites updated:






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