https://heathercoxrichardson.substack.com/p/july-1-2025
"Just after noon today, the Senate passed its version of the budget
reconciliation bill. All Democrats and Independents voted no. Three
Republicans—Susan Collins of Maine, Rand Paul of Kentucky, and Thom Tillis of
North Carolina—joined the Democrats in voting no. That left the bill at 50–50.
Vice President J.D. Vance cast the deciding vote, pushing the measure through
the Senate and sending it back to the House to vote on the changes made by the
Senate.
From the reporters’ gallery above the floor,
CNN’s Sarah Ferris heard
Senator Angus King (I-ME) yell to his Republican colleagues: “Shame on you
guys. That was the most disgusting vote I’ve ever seen in my life.”
The measure cuts taxes for the wealthy and corporations and offsets those cuts
in part by slashing Medicaid and food security programs for low-income
Americans.
But there is at least one aspect of American life on which the bill is
lavishing money. While the measure slashes public welfare programs, it pours
$170.7 billion into immigration enforcement. The American Immigration Council
broke out the numbers today: The Senate bill provides $51.6 billion to build a
wall on the border, more than three times what Trump spent on the wall in his
first term. It provides $45 billion for detention facilities for Immigration
and Customs Enforcement, an increase of 265% in ICE’s annual detention budget.
It provides $29.9 billion for ICE enforcement, a threefold increase in ICE’s
annual budget.
When Trump talks about undocumented migrants as being dangerous criminals, he
appears to have bought into the fantasy that the U.S. is a hellscape. In fact,
about 8% of arrested migrants have been convicted of violent crimes. The
administration defines anyone who breaks immigration law—which is a
misdemeanor, not a felony—as a criminal. One of the reasons for the push to get
the bill passed before July 4 is that the Department of Homeland Security has
blown through its budget and needs the bill’s additional funding to operate.
While the Senate considered the budget reconciliation bill today, President
Donald J. Trump visited the new detention facility in the Florida Everglades
designed to hold 5,000 undocumented immigrants. The facility will cost $450
million a year, which will be reimbursed by the Federal Emergency Management
Agency (FEMA). The Florida attorney general who came up with the plan gave it
the name “Alligator Alcatraz,” a cutesy name for tents filled with cages for
undocumented immigrants.
Standing in front of the cages with Florida governor Ron DeSantis and Homeland
Security Secretary Kristi Noem laughing, Trump told reporters: “Biden wanted me
in here… It didn’t work out that way, but he wanted me in here, that son of a
bitch.”
This is nonsense, but it reveals Trump’s conviction that he is always a victim,
his determination to destroy the rule of law that threatened to hold him
accountable for his actions, and his own drive to imprison and destroy his
political opponents."
Cheers,
*** Xanni ***
--
mailto:xanni@xanadu.net Andrew Pam
http://xanadu.com.au/ Chief Scientist, Xanadu
https://glasswings.com.au/ Partner, Glass Wings
https://sericyb.com.au/ Manager, Serious Cybernetics
