'If You Can Keep It': The Math Behind The 'Big, Beautiful' Spending Bill
1A
NPR
4.4 • 4.3K Ratings
🗓️ 5 May 2025
⏱️ 35 minutes
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Summary
House Speaker Mike Johnson says that goal is $1.5 trillion.
One big sticking point on where to make cuts is Medicaid. Johnson has repeatedly claimed that Congress will not make cuts to Medicaid for anyone who is "duly owed." There are some representatives, however, with concerns.
The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office recently did the math. That $1.5 trillion goal isn't possible without cuts to Medicaid or Medicare (another program the administration vowed not to touch).
We discuss what Congress may keep in its budget if they want to also pass this mega-bill to cut taxes.
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Transcript
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| 1:14.2 | NPR shows freely available to everyone. We are proud to do this work for you and with you. President Trump wants Congress to put together what he calls a big, beautiful bill. |
| 1:37.0 | And the main goal of that bill, extending Republican tax cuts from 2017 during Trump's first term. |
| 1:43.1 | But tax cuts means less money coming in for the federal |
| 1:46.1 | government. Republicans, including House Speaker Mike Johnson, also say the country should spend less |
| 1:51.7 | on domestic programs to the tune of $1.5 trillion in cuts. But there's already disagreement over |
| 1:57.5 | where they can make those cuts, including one big sticking point, Medicaid. |
| 2:01.4 | Johnson and the president have said repeatedly that Republicans won't cut Medicaid for, quote, |
| 2:07.4 | those who need it. But the nonpartisan congressional budget office did the math. The CBO found |
| 2:13.1 | that what budget experts all over America already know. |
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