How Trump’s Massive, Wide Ranging Budget Bill Could Affect You

KQED's Forum

KQED

Politics, News, News Commentary

4.6 • 656 Ratings

🗓️ 2 June 2025

⏱️ 56 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

President Trump’s budget bill rolls back clean energy initiatives, reduces Medicaid benefits, alters student loan rules, and extends tax cuts to the wealthiest, among other initiatives. It passed in the House by a bare margin, but Republican senator Ron Johnson has called the bill “divorced from reality,” indicating that it may face headwinds in the Senate. We talk with reporters about what’s in the 1000-plus page bill and its political implications. Guests: Russell Berman, staff writer, The Atlantic Claudia Grisales, congressional correspondent, NPR Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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0:49.7	From KQED in San Francisco, I'm Alexis Madrigal.
0:54.5	President Trump's budget bill is working its way through the Republican-controlled Congress,
1:00.7	having already passed the House. It would roll back clean energy initiatives, restrict Medicaid benefits, and extend tax cuts to the wealthiest Americans. It would also add massively to the
1:07.2	national debt, cut taxes on tips, reduce food assistance, increase defense spending,
1:13.0	and tinker with a wide variety of other rules. We're going to break it down with two reporters
1:17.8	right after this news. Welcome to Forum. I'm Alexis Madrigal. They say that a budget is a document about priorities. Following the money reveals the actual focus of an organization.
1:48.0	So what then are the priorities of the Trump administration?
1:51.0	First and foremost, there are tax cuts, most of which will go to the wealthiest Americans,
1:56.0	but spending on ICE and the Border Patrol will also go up, spending on defense. Likewise, there aren't really tons of cuts as were promised by the Doge faction in the government,
2:07.6	which is one reason that the bill will expand the national debt massively,
	...

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