Michael Linden

Great chatting! I hope the number one takeaway is this: this bullshit bill is not yet law, and public pressure in the next 24 hours could kill or at least delay it. If you’ve never called your rep before, make a plan to call tomorrow - especially if you have a GOP rep!

I feel lucky that tonight I was able to connect Jennifer and others to
a platform and I host 2 tele town halls for thousands of people.

If you’re angry and scared, you’re not alone. Thank you to everyone speaking out about this evil budget bill. Talk to friends and family, be loud. It matters.

Yes, calling your Members of Congress still matters.

Tell your GOP representative to vote NO on Trump’s Tax Scam: indivisible.org/resource/cal...

Or send an email if you can’t get anyone on the phone: act.indivisible.org/sign/no-cutt...

The GOP Tax Scam — And How We Fight Back The American people want Washington to lower costs, not give handouts to the wealthy at their expense.

NEW OP-ED: Republicans are trying to pass their tax bill in the Senate this week — but it’s not too late to stop it.

Read more from our Director @michaelslinden.bsky.social on the GOP’s Billionaire Tax Scam for @meidastouch.com:

Our Director @michaelslinden.bsky.social‬ testified before Congress about why this GOP tax bill is uniquely bad:

“No major piece of legislation in at least 40 years—and probably longer than that—has simultaneously made the poor poorer while making the rich richer.”

How does the GOP tax & budget bill impact you?

Our Director ‪@michaelslinden.bsky.social‬ has everything you need to know — using 100% nonpartisan sources.

The looming problem for this deficit hawk debate also involves the parliamentarian. The current CBO estimate, just updated on Thursday, says that the bill adds $3 trillion in debt when you include interest costs. But under the “current policy baseline” magic math favored by Senate Republicans, which wipes away the $3.7 trillion cost of extending the 2017 tax cuts, the bill actually saves money. However, this is contingent on the parliamentarian’s approval as well. Democrats are going to challenge the current policy baseline magic math, and though some Republicans want the parliamentarian to be ignored, Thune—for now—has said he wouldn’t do that. If their “current policy baseline” goes away, Republicans will no longer have that fig leaf to say that the bill saves money, and would have a weaker argument to counter the deficit hawks. Suddenly, trillions would have to be found, either by scaling back the tax cuts or adding more spending trims, to reach something closer to deficit neutrality. That’s probably why some Republicans are poking around Medicare, a Trump red line, for cuts. The recipe is for more fights, and more red lines. Again, the expectation is still that something gets done. But stay tuned.

The bill is the GOP’s top priority, and its goals to cut taxes and kick the poor are broadly shared by Republicans. But the scramble to both scale back House cuts *and* add more Senate cuts seems like a heavy lift.
prospect.org/politics/202...

*chefs kiss* beautiful display of man who can't be bothered to look into who he's talking to but really wants the world to know he's an asshole

Today's edition of CAP's InProgress newsletter has me talking a little about the Republican budget reconciliation bill, which you can read below.

If you have questions about budget reconciliation in general or the bill itself, I’ll do my best to answer here.
my1.americanprogress.org/personalizat...

Republicans in Congress are trying to ram their Billionaire Tax Scam through the House potentially as soon as TONIGHT.

This is not a drill.

The bill would strip Medicaid from millions, raise health costs for millions more, cut food assistance, all while handing out new tax breaks for the rich.

Let's talk about what's going on in DC. Republicans have been trying to put together a reconciliation bill, and then hold a full House vote on it. Part of the bill got held up in committee on Friday because some Republicans were mad it didn't cut enough services, so they shut it down for a minute
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Ways and Means Bill Would Cut Earned Income Tax Credit by Increasing Bureaucratic Burdens for Families This post explains how the bill would impose onerous burdens on taxpayers claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit (EITC) for tens of millions of eligible children and, in doing so, discourage many of th...

Ways & Means bill "would impose onerous burdens on taxpayers claiming the Earned Income Tax Credit for tens of millions of eligible children and, in doing so, discourage many of them from claiming credits for which they are eligible." New @taxlawcenter.org:

taxlawcenter.org/blog/ways-an...

New @centeronbudget.bsky.social analysis of the draft GOP tax plan released yesterday:

Unsurprisingly, it provides enormous tax cuts for the wealthy—including an average annual $65k cut for the top 1%—while doing little for low- and moderate-income families in 2027 (and even less by 2029).

Cutting Medicaid and SNAP to fund massive tax breaks for the wealthy is reckless and morally indefensible.

@michaelslinden.bsky.social testifying before Congress today:

It will never stop being remarkable to me that Congressional Republicans see these trends and think to themselves, "Well, we've got to push forward with a colossally unpopular package of Medicaid cuts and tax breaks for the rich. That'll surely turn this around."

RECESS ROUNDUP: As Local Members Of Congress Hide, Other Reps Engage Their Orphaned Constituents This week we’ve seen no shortage of constituents at community town halls — but in many areas the local MoC is MIA.This Substack is reader-supported.

This week we’ve seen no shortage of constituents at community town halls — but in many areas the local Member of Congress is MIA.

With so much at stake, the people are showing up — and they’re noticing who isn’t. Take a look at yesterday’s highlights from FSA and its state partners:

This will be a disaster.

Our director @michaelslinden.bsky.social is right: Republicans in Congress “know what happens they try to take people’s health care away... they know what happens when they raise prices for everybody in America.”

It’s not too late for them to take a different path.

Social Security website keeps crashing, as DOGE demands cuts to IT staff The worsening problems come as Elon Musk’s DOGE team pushes for more cuts at the agency, including in the department that oversees the website.

When your parents or friends or even you have trouble getting what you earned from Social Security, remember that this was the work of President Trump, Elon Musk, and a big ugly chainsaw that this Congress, led by Republicans, has empowered.

www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

Look at the size of today's #HandsOff! protest in Topeka, Kansas 👀

Turns out people don't like billionaires stealing their government

This this this this this this this this this this this!!!!!

Hey, that’s my whole bit 👋
These are dark times for Tax Positivity, but I believe from this wreckage we will have a chance to build an economy where we can pay our taxes with pride knowing we’re contributing to the common good

WATCH: As Senate Republicans prepare to vote on their billionaire-first agenda, Families Over Billionaires director Michael Linden talked to Nicolle Wallace about the consequences for everyday Americans.

#TaxTheRich

WATCH: As Senate Republicans prepare to vote on their billionaire-first agenda, our director @michaelslinden.bsky.social talked to MSNBC's @nicollewallace.bsky.social about the consequences for everyday Americans.

Sorry Sen Hawley but you’ve been lied to. There’s no way to cut $880B from Medicaid without massive benefit cuts for millions of low-income Americans.

Republicans Are Selling Out Working Families — But We Can Stop Them Their Billionaire Tax Scam will kick millions off their health insurance and raise costs for working families – all to give tax breaks to the ultra-wealthy.

“Republicans in Congress are betraying everyday Americans to give trillions in tax handouts to billionaires and corporations.”

Our director @michaelslinden.bsky.social on the GOP’s Billionaire Tax Scam for @meidastouch.com:

Bidenomics Was Wildly Successful The president’s domestic record wasn’t just extraordinary. It might put Democrats back in power in four years.

We are not in a recession yet, but I want to just be very clear if and when one starts: Trump was handed a very strong economy and he alone fucked it up newrepublic.com/article/1892...

So the basic proposal, if I’m following correctly, is to wrench the whole American consumer economy back to Gilded Age protectionism by means of Executive fiat, right now, tonight, while Congress tries to relieve the tax burden on some rich people but everyone else goes on paying income taxes too.

Republicans have signaled their intent to break all budget rules in the Senate by inventing their own cost estimates on the spot.

This would be many steps towards nuking the filibuster - and you may as well repeal the entire Congressional Budget Act at that point.

Thread explaining it would work