COMMUNITY United States Politics Thread: Trump's Second Term

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[Elzo69Renaissance]

 

[Elzo69Renaissance]

 

[Elzo69Renaissance]

 

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[Infamous114]

I hate this lady

 

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[RandomOne]

Extend the 2017 Trump tax cuts
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Trump’s 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act cut taxes for individuals of nearly all income levels, concentrating most of the benefits among the wealthiest earners and corporations. The business tax cuts are permanent, but the individual portions expire at the end of the year. So if Congress doesn’t act, tax rates will go up on most households. The Republican bill would permanently extend the lower rates for individuals.

Increase the standard deduction
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The Tax Cuts and Jobs Act doubled the standard deduction, which is the baseline amount of income filers can collect tax-free. This legislation would preserve that policy and add to it, increasing the deduction by up to $2,000 for married couples filing jointly and $1,000 for single filers, to $32,000 for couples and $16,000 for individuals.

Cuts to Medicaid
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To meet budget goals, Republicans are making deep cuts and instituting eligibility restrictions on Medicaid, the federal health insurance program for low-income individuals and people with disabilities.
The Senate implements work requirements and new cost-sharing structures and puts strict limits on Medicaid provider taxes, duties that states charge medical providers as a roundabout way of collecting more federal Medicaid dollars. Some in the GOP wish to use that policy to force states to jettison immigrants from benefits rolls.

Rural hospital bailout fund
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To soften the blow of the provider tax limitations, the Senate created a $25 billion fund to stabilize rural hospitals and health clinics. The fund would begin in 2028 when the new provider tax policies begin, and sunset in 2032.

A little SALT
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The bill quadruples the cap on the state and local tax deduction, or SALT, which lets filers write off the amount they paid in local taxes from their federal tax bill. But that increase would only last a little while. After five years, the SALT cap would snap back down to $10,000.

Making states pay for SNAP
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The legislation would cap future expansion of SNAP, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program formerly known as food stamps. It would also pass on more of the cost for administering the program to state governments, potentially forcing local officials to decide whether to cut benefits or dig into their state and municipal budgets. States with higher rates of improper payments would be required to shoulder up to 15 percent of benefits costs.
Today, states and the federal government split the costs of running SNAP’s operations evenly. Beginning in 2027, the federal government would only cover a quarter of the cost.

These are in the bill

 

[RandomOne]

Increase the child tax credit — for some
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The child tax credit is a tax break for filers with children. The Republican measure would increase the credit to $2,200 per child, from $2,000, then would link it to inflation. But not every family can qualify: The legislation limits eligibility to parents or guardians with Social Security numbers, essentially requiring claimants to be citizens or immigrants who have obtained valid Social Security numbers. That would mostly exclude noncitizen parents from claiming the credit on behalf of a child who is a citizen.

A border wall, other barriers and immigration restrictions
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The Senate version designates nearly $170 billion for the Trump administration’s border and immigration crackdown, according to the Congressional Budget Office. More than $46 billion would go toward the wall along the U.S.-Mexico border and other fortifications, including at maritime crossings. More than $70 billion would go to building and maintaining detention centers to house and transport families of deportees.

New taxes on colleges and universities
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The legislation aggressively taxes income generated by the endowments of colleges and universities. Current law imposes a 1.4 percent tax on those institutions.
This bill creates a new system that would set varying tax rates depending on the size of the endowment per enrolled student:
Endowment size per student
Tax rate
More than $500,000, but less than $750,000
1.4 percent
More than $750,000, but less than $2 million
4 percent
$2 million or more
8 percent

Savings accounts for newborns
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The proposal would give newborn babies a $1,000 savings account that the legislation calls a “Trump account.” (A previous version dubbed them “money account for growth and advancement,” or a MAGA account.)
Parents or beneficiaries could contribute $5,000 each year to that account until the beneficiary is 31 years old. The idea mirrors a pitch from Democratic Sen. Cory Booker (New Jersey) for “baby bonds.”

No tax on tips
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Trump campaigned heavily on ending taxes on tips, and now that policy is in the bill. The legislation would allow a tax deduction for the total amount of tipped income received.
It contains some guardrails to prevent “highly compensated employees” from claiming their earnings as tips and specifically identifies food service, hair care, nail care, aesthetics, and body and spa treatments as professions eligible to receive the deduction.

 

[RandomOne]

No tax on overtime
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Another of Trump’s campaign promises, this provision would exempt overtime wages from taxes through a new deduction. The legislation wouldn’t allow deduction of overtime wages from tips or for “highly compensated employees,” and requires filers to use a Social Security number when claiming the deduction, deeming most undocumented immigrants ineligible.

No tax on car loan interest
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The bill would allow purchasers of American-made cars to deduct up to $10,000 in car loan interest payments for four years — an idea Trump talked about on the campaign trail and then returned to as his tariffs began to bite the auto industry. For tax filers earning more than $100,000 (or $200,000 for married couples filing jointly), the loan interest deduction would phase out by $200 for every $1,000 of additional income.

A bonus deduction for seniors
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Trump promised last year to end taxes on Social Security benefits. The bill doesn’t include that provision, but it would add an extra $6,000 to the standard deduction for people over 65 years old. The policy would taper off as a recipient’s income increased.

Billions for defense, including Trump’s ‘Golden Dome’
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There is roughly $158 billion in the bill for the Defense Department, spread over several priorities: $25 billion for the munition and defense supply chain, $329 billion for shipbuilding, and $34 billion for missile defense and space capabilities — that’s partially for Trump’s “Golden Dome” continental missile defense system.

Sell federal land
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The bill would require the Bureau of Land Management to sell between a quarter and half a percent of the agency’s land holdings to build new housing. It specifically exempts national parks, national monuments, national recreation areas, wilderness areas, other wildlands and contracted grazing areas.

Repeal Biden student loan forgiveness
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The legislation would save $320 billion over 10 years by repealing the Biden administration’s student loan forgiveness program and making other changes to loan repayments.

 

[Lab Baby]

This is kind of ass shitty take and the exact attitude that makes fascism thrive. You mean to tell me you see absolutely nothing wrong with how this government is operating right now simply because your life is good?

...

and that has nothing to do with who's in office

The states, Congress, and any independently acting entity in government and society can tell the president to eat a dick. Whoever chooses to listen to him has to live with the fact that they're pussy and have to hold Trump's pocket to survive in life.

I remember a time where we all collectively agreed that the government wasn't shit, and we moved accordingly. Our social progression leaned on community and knowledge of self, not party affiliation

You said that like I'm blind to everything that's going on. I been seeing what's going on since Reagan's mishandling of AIDS and the crack/heroin epidemic destroyed my family. I survived that, and been building my life on my own ever since. Why does my gratitude have to equal apathy and inaction? I been saying this for the longest but you might have missed it in the walls of text I been posting on here... I been fighting the system since before I came out the womb. I'm still fighting thru leading by example and the little bit of community work I do.

Ya'll act like we was living in paradise before Trump came along. Yes, my life is good... but millions of Palestinians can't say the same. And who's responsible for that? Not Trump's goofy ass. Ask them if they care about a regime when they gotta wake up to gunsmoke everyday. Losing federal funding for HBCUs ain't got shit on getting shot by an army of soldiers on your way to getting food and medical aid for your family. We don't gotta fight like they have to. We got our own fight, and groveling to a political party on the opposite side of an equally corrupt administration isn't gonna help us win.

What happened to revolution? Why do we act like victims every time some old white man pushes a pen in DC? Our generation is not supposed to be this soft. We can't wait 2/4 years to make change, we gotta make it on our own. We got resources, community and infrastructure that we take for granted because we're looking for the government to help us. You want education, libraries are still open. You need food, food banks and churches are working around the clock without govt aid. You need to arm yourself for the worst, I might know a guy. Fuck these niggas.

 

[RandomOne]

Tax credits for home schooling or private school
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The bill includes up to $4 billion per year in tax credits that benefit people who donate to organizations that help families pay for private-school tuition or home schooling. It would create a 100 percent tax credit for donations to scholarship-granting organizations, with taxpayers fully reimbursed for their donations when they file their taxes.

Rescind money to fight climate change
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The proposal would gut elements of Biden’s signature 2022 climate law, the Inflation Reduction Act. It would eliminate a federal tax credit of up to $7,500 that consumers can receive for buying an electric vehicle. Republicans would also quickly phase out incentives for the production of clean energy, such as wind and solar power.

New oil, gas and coal production
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The Natural Resources Committee would require the federal government to immediately begin selling leases for oil and gas drilling in the Gulf of Mexico and in protected Alaskan wildlands. It would also force the Interior Department to approve more coal production and reduce regulations to make it cheaper to extract.

Auction the spectrum
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The electromagnetic spectrum is necessary for everything from wireless technologies to military communications and radars. The legislation would renew the Federal Communications Commission’s authority to auction off bands of spectrum that the Commerce, Science and Transportation says could raise $85 billion over 10 years.

Cut protections for federal workers
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The legislation would require an audit of dependents of federal employees on government health insurance plans. Earlier editions of the measure would have forced new federal employees to choose between accepting an at-will classification that would make it easier to be fired or putting more of their salary toward retirement, and recalculated worker retirement benefits. Those provisions were removed.

Raise the debt ceiling
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The debt ceiling sets the amount of money the federal government can borrow to pay for expenses already incurred. The government technically eclipsed the limit at the end of 2024, but the Treasury Department is taking “extraordinary measures” to put off the need to take on more debt. But those measures will expire sometime in August. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent on Friday refused to answer questions on an exact date, a break from previous administrations. The Senate bill would raise the debt limit by $5 trillion.

 

[Elzo69Renaissance]

 

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[TheNightKing]

Just bought a new truck that would qualify for the interest deduction, but I’ll probably be phased out for income, smh.

The increased standard deduction and child tax credit will be a big benefit.

Student loan shit going to hurt, smh.

I think it will be a net positive for me, but it’s going to hurt a lot of other people who need the help a lot more.