LEGISLATIVE CALLS TO ACTION -- June 6, 2025

HR1 The Big Beautiful Bill

From The Guardian and additional cited sources:

House Republicans just voted for a tax bill that does real harm to working Americans—slashing Medicaid, food assistance, and threatening Medicare to pay for massive tax breaks for billionaires. It’s a cruel, upside-down set of priorities that puts the ultra-wealthy first and working families last.   

But this fight isn’t over yet. The Senate is up next and we have a plan to block this bill. Click here to join Indivisible’s Wednesday and Thursday phone banks-Every Wednesday and Thursday in June, join Indivisible for a phonebank where we’ll be calling voters and connecting them directly to their Senator. Together, we’ll urge Republicans to oppose the Trump Tax Scam—a reckless GOP tax plan that prioritizes billionaires like Elon Musk while selling out working families.

The bill is both a policy disaster and a moral monstrosity. It adds trillions to the deficit, defunds Planned Parenthood, guts Medicaid, slashes food stamps, raises costs on millions of families, and gives the richest Americans a massive tax cut. ((Message Box)

Gather your friends or members of your organization to make two phone calls.

One to Senator Todd Young, and one to Senator Jim Banks, in regards to the US budget. Unlike Congresspeople, who represent different districts in the state, our US Senators represent the entire state and every single Hoosier. Phone calls are most effective, especially when done en masse. You can reference the information above when you call.

Here’s a sample script:

“Hello, this message is for Sen. {name]. I’m a constituent living at [address]. You can reach me at [phone number]. I’m urging the Senator to oppose the House-passed budget, which threatens healthcare for {number] Hoosiers in my area, as well as SNAP eligibility for [number]. We won’t make America great by taking away affordable food and healthcare from vulnerable Hoosiers. Thank you for your consideration.”

Here are the basics of the bill:

Transformed social safety net programs

Republicans are slashing two major federal safety net programs: Medicaid, and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).  Both are in for funding cuts, as well as new work requirements. The Urban Institute thinktank believes, based on an analysis of a similar policy, these could remove as many as 5.2 million people from Medicaid, while the left-leaning Center on Budget and Policy Priorities forecasts about a quarter of Snap recipients could leave the program, or nearly 11 million people. Another analysis by Bobby Kogan, the Senior Director of Federal Budget Policy for the Center for American Progress: The Republican plan would cut more than $700 billion from health coverage and kick more than 8 million people off their insurance. Around $600 billion of that comes from Medicaid. This would be the largest Medicaid cuts ever, by many hundreds of billions of dollars.

More benefits for the rich than the poor

Wealthier taxpayers appear set to receive more benefits from this bill than poorer ones. Taxpayers with the highest incomes will see their household resources increase by 4% in 2027 and 2% in 2033, largely due to the extended tax cuts, the Center for Budget Office estimated earlier this week. The poorest taxpayers would see their resources drop by 4% in 2033, largely due to the downsized benefit programs, according to the office.

According to a new analysis by the Tax Policy Center, more than 80% of households would see a tax cut in 2026 under the major budget reconciliation bill currently being reviewed by the House. However, the benefits would be heavily skewed toward higher-income earners. The top 20% of households would receive 60% of the total tax cuts, and over one-third of the tax savings would go to those earning $460,000 or more.

Extends tax cuts enacted during Trump’s first term

The bill would increase the standard deduction by $1,000 for individuals, $1,500 for heads of households and $2,000 for married couples, albeit only through 2028.

An array of new tax write-offs – but only while Trump is president

The bill creates many new tax exemptions, several of which stem from promises Trump made while campaigning last year. Taxpayers will be able to write off income from tips and overtime, and interest made on loans for cars assembled in the United States. People aged 65 and over are eligible for an additional deduction of $4,000, provided their adjusted gross income does not exceed $75,000 for single filers or $150,000 for married couples. But all of these incentives expire at the end of 2028, right before Trump’s term as president ends.

An expanded Salt deduction

The bill increases the SALT (State and Local tax Deductions) limit, raising the deduction to $40,000 per year.

Money for mass deportations and a border wall

ICE will receive $45 billion for detention facilities, $14 billion for deportation operations and billions of dollars more to hire an additional 10,000 new agents by 2029. More than $50 billion is allocated for the construction of new border fortifications. Immigrants hoping to claim asylum or otherwise seek relief through immigration courts will face a host of new fees that advocates say may keep them out of the country altogether.

A much higher budget deficit

All these tax breaks and other spending come with a major cost. Congress’s non-partisan fiscal scorekeeper, the Congressional Budget Office (CBO), estimates the bill’s tax policies alone will add nearly $3.8 trillion to the federal deficit.

Earlier this month, the US treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, predicted the government would hit the limit by August, at which point it could default on its debt and spark a financial crisis.

A potentially potent restriction on federal courts

The bill includes a provision that prohibits federal courts from enforcing contempt citations related to temporary restraining orders or preliminary injunctions. Erwin Chemerinsky, the dean of the University of California, states that many lawsuits against Trump’s policies – would become unenforceable. Prohibits any funds from being used to carry out court orders holding executive branch officials in contempt. This is designed to enable Trump and his officials to continue defying court orders. It is almost certainly unconstitutional.

The end of Biden’s green energy incentives

Credits for cleaner cars will end this year and incentives for wind and solar energy will only be available for projects that begin construction 60 days after the bill’s enactment and enter service by 2028. Clean energy manufacturing tax credits will be axed by 2031, while Americans seeking to upgrade their homes to cleaner or more energy efficient appliances will get no further subsidy after the end of this year.

Hoosiers will pay a terrible price if this budget passes as written: in total, 232,000 Hoosiers will lose their health insurance. 151,000 Hoosiers will lose food stamps. 24,958 clean energy jobs will be eliminated. (MadVoters)

Contact Information

Senator Jim Banks

202-224-4814

Senator Todd Young

(202) 224-5623

If you don’t know your Congressperson’s phone use Find Your Representatives.