This is John Batchel, a conversation with colleague Veronique Diorgio de

Merceda Center about the big beautiful bill.

What's positive about it and why it's so difficult for Congress to cut spending?

Here, Veronique describes the facts on the ground.

Spending is the problem.

Not tax cuts, not special interest, spending.

Well, special interests are always the problem.

However, Veronique describes it.

It's tough being a member of Congress.

More of this tonight.

Because that's where the incentives are.

The incentives are that basically legislators are constantly

faced with special interests telling them, I want this, I want that. Oh, don't cut this. It's super

important for me. Never mind that this is not good for the country as a whole or that this program

doesn't do what it's supposed to do or that this tax break doesn't do what it's supposed to do, or that this tax break doesn't

do what it's supposed to do. And it's never, it's much, much, much harder to cut spending.

It's much harder to reform the drivers of our debt, which is Social Security and Medicare,

and Medicaid, to some extent. That's another good things that they did. They did put in place some reform for Medicaid.

I mean, they don't begin to claw back the expansion in Medicaid put in place during the Biden years.

But they're doing some work on this.

And so it's just the incentives in government are to, you know, give a lot of spending to special interest and to cut taxes on everybody.

And they don't like, legislators don't like to do hard things.

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