Tennessee WordSmith: A Liberal Dose, Feb. 21, 2025 "Medicaid May Be on the Chopping Block"

A Liberal Dose

Troy D. Smith

“Medicaid May Be on the Chopping Block”

The Republican-controlled House of Representatives recently unveiled their draft for a budget (which was supposed to have been done in October but has kept getting pushed back due to politics). This proposed budget calls for 4.5 TRILLION dollars in tax cuts (which would almost all be for the top 1%), and 2 trillion dollars in budget cuts to help make up for all that lost tax revenue. Among other things that could be on the chopping block according to this draft are possibly massive cuts to Medicaid (which covers over 70 million Americans, maybe including you or your parents) and up to 20% cut from SNAP benefits (which feed poor kids. Maybe YOUR kids, or your grandkids). If you recall, I feared this was coming since right after the election; whenever the GOP is in control of both houses and the Oval Office, they always want to subsidize more tax cuts for the super-rich by cutting what they refer to as “entitlements” but what many people -not just the poor, but working and middle class -refer to as “how I (or my aged parents) eat and get healthcare.” And before people start saying “Fake news! Trump wouldn’t do that!” he TRIED to do it last time, and it didn’t pass Congress. THIS Congress gives him whatever he wants. On a closer level, Republicans in our state General Assembly (and governor’s mansion) showed just who they wanted to help in that school voucher scam, which most Tennesseans (including rural county education boards) opposed because it would really only be helping people with money, not working class or rural people.

Then we have Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, who has been put in charge (along with his twenty-something-year-old tech bros) of “eliminating waste.” They’ve been cutting stuff left and right -but most of it is not waste, much of it will be felt by you and people like you. But not the fat cats and robber barons, you can bet good money on that. Judges have issued injunctions preventing much of it from actually happening… but if and when it does, you will lose a whole lot of government services that you rely on. Again, all to pay for massive tax cuts for the people at the top. Counting on that tax refund arriving on time? Not if most of the IRS workers are fired. But robber barons who cheated on their (already criminally low) taxes? THEY’LL make out fine. Meanwhile, Trump’s tariff wars have already disrupted the stock market, and we’ll all soon be feeling it in our wallets as prices keep going up and up. Remember how he said he was going to decrease heating bills and the price of eggs “on Day One”? And yet Waffle House is now charging a surcharge on eggs, they’re so expensive. I think we should all call this “the Trump surcharge.” What DID he do on Day One? A bunch of Project 2025 stuff that most of the people who elected him weren’t voting for, and weren’t expecting, because he said it was a hoax and they believed him. Turns out the denials were the hoax.

Know what would be a good way to get rid of waste? Send some of these folks home next election, and put in people who are not owned by the big shots. They said they were going to “clean up the swamp”… but haven’t you noticed that you’re still sinking in the muck? I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: they’re robbing us all blind, and they think we’re too dumb -or too worked up over the social issues they throw around to distract us -to notice. Well, I’ve noticed. Haven’t you? If you haven’t, mark my word, you will soon.

But they can’t keep robbing us blind if our eyes are open. So open them wide -watch what happens these next few months, and see if I’m not right. In the meantime, call John Rose, Marsha Blackburn, and Bill Hagerty and encourage them to grow a spine and look out for your interests instead of a bunch of billionaires. But considering that before their political careers they were all millionaires, I wouldn’t hold my breath.

Maybe it’s time to send some real people to Washington for a change.

--Troy D. Smith, a White County native, is a novelist and a history professor at Tennessee Tech and serves on the executive committee of the Tennessee Democratic Party. His words do not necessarily represent TTU.

Buy the book A Liberal Dose: Communiques from the Holler by Troy D. Smith HERE