Did the ‘Big Beautiful Bill’ kill compromise in Washington?
KCRW's Left, Right & Center
KCRW
4.2 • 4.8K Ratings
🗓️ 4 July 2025
⏱️ 51 minutes
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Summary
Congress signed into law the “Big Beautiful Bill” this week. The bill survived slim margins to passage through the Republican-led Senate and House. GOP Senator Thom Tillis of North Carolina was one of its strongest holdouts, citing the nearly $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts outlined by the bill. His opposition created a war of words with President Trump and led Tillis to announce he would not seek re-election. Senator Tillis cited the lack of compromise and bipartisanship in Washington under the president. But is compromise truly a thing of the past? Or is it as essential to this political moment as ever?
Parental opt-outs for school curriculum have usually been reserved for lessons on sexual education. That changed with a ruling from the Supreme Court at the end of its recent term. In a 6-3 decision, the court decided that parents in Maryland had the right to opt their children out of lessons featuring characters that go against the parents’ religious beliefs. The case revolved around a school district’s decision to incorporate storybooks with LGBTQ characters. Should parents have a bigger role in what their kids learn at school?
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The world is on the bring. Wars, contentious elections, disinformation, spreading a warp speed, |
| 0:06.5 | and Donald Trump at the center of all of it. But what does it mean for the rest of us? |
| 0:10.4 | Every week on POTS of the World, Tommy Vitor and I cut through the noise to explain how global power is shifting. |
| 0:15.1 | No jargon, no homework, just clear honest conversations about what's happening and why it matters. |
| 0:20.1 | From breaking news to long-simmering international conflicts, we dissect it all with critical |
| 0:24.2 | analysis and some jokes that will surely embarrass our children one day. |
| 0:27.9 | Tune in to POTSate the World every Wednesday, wherever you get your podcast or catch it on |
| 0:31.6 | YouTube. |
| 0:34.1 | Welcome to left, right and center, everyone. |
| 0:35.9 | I am David Green. |
| 0:36.9 | So the one big, beautiful bill act has been approved in Congress. As it made its way towards passage, one voice that really stood out to me was North Carolina Republican Senator Tom Tillis. He suggested that President Trump's beautiful domestic policy bill is not so beautiful. |
| 0:55.0 | So what do I tell 663,000 people in two years or three years when President Trump breaks this promise by pushing them off of Medicaid because the funding's not there anymore? |
| 1:08.2 | So this domestic policy bill, it is a massive piece of legislation. |
| 1:12.1 | It extends tax cuts from President Trump's first term. It boosts spending for defense, |
| 1:18.2 | also immigration enforcement, but it also cuts back on social safety net programs. |
| 1:22.7 | Estimates suggest that millions of people could lose their Medicaid coverage. Now, when Senator Tillis said he |
| 1:29.8 | opposed this bill, President Trump went into full bully mode. He made clear that he would try |
| 1:35.0 | and take Tillis down in 2026 by supporting a primary opponent. Tillis responded by saying, |
| 1:41.5 | well, okay, I'm not going to run again. And these are the words from |
| 1:44.7 | Tillis that really hit me, quote, it's become increasingly evident that leaders who are willing to |
| 1:51.7 | embrace bipartisanship, compromise, and demonstrate independent thinking are becoming an endangered |
| 1:57.8 | species. You know, I think it's easy to see our country and Washington today |
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