Well, howdy there, Internet people? It's Bell again.

So today, we're going to talk about the GOP realizing the math doesn't math,

and how they plan on tricking their base with some financial sleight of hand,

so their base isn't upset by them adding trillions to the national debt.

Okay, so before we get to the

financial and definition wizardry, let's go over the state of play. Congress is back from

their recess, and Republicans are now focusing on trying to use the budget reconciliation

process to pass Trump's agenda. If you remember, the original plan was to get it done

by their Easter break. So they have to move quickly. But as Senator Tom Tillis said, quote,

how can we be moving quickly when some of those foundational questions haven't been settled. Some is doing a lot of

heavy lifting in that quote. The reality is that pretty much every thorny issue in the whole

package remains undecided. And by undecided, I really mean different factions of Republicans

have decided on doing it differently in contradictory

ways. Even the timeline is openly debated. While the House wants it done by Easter, Senate

Finance Chair Crapo said, quote, I'd like to have done it yesterday, but really, I just don't find it helpful to set timelines.

In the Senate, the biggest issue is that it seems like they're better at math. They don't

actually believe their Republican colleagues in the House can come up with the $2 trillion

in cuts over 10 years. The Senate wants to see a bill. The House wants

the Senate to give them a fiscal outline before they even draft a bill. These are relatively

minor issues compared to things like actually voting to cut Medicaid or figure out how to pay

for Trump's tax cuts. And that's where the trick comes in.

The one big beautiful bill reconciliation package starts off $4.6 trillion in the whole because of

...