One Big Beautiful Lie: The Brutal Truth Behind Trump’s Budget

Episode Highlights:

1.     Trump’s War on Climate Data Puts Lives at Risk

The NOAA's vital billion-dollar disaster database is being dismantled by the Trump administration, crippling our ability to prepare for deadly storms — especially harming low-income communities.

2.     Planned Parenthood Under Siege

The House’s passage of H.R.1 includes devastating defunding of Planned Parenthood, threatening to shut down nearly 200 health centers and strip over a million Americans of essential reproductive and preventive care.

3.     Healthcare on the Chopping Block

H.R.1 slashes nearly $1 trillion from Medicaid and ACA subsidies — endangering coverage for 14 million people, including children, veterans, seniors, and the disabled.

4.     Food Insecurity Hits a Historic Low

The bill includes the largest proposed cut to food assistance in U.S. history, slashing SNAP by over 25%, placing 11 million people — 4 million of them children — at risk of going hungry.

5.     Tax Breaks for the Ultra-Rich, Debt for Everyone Else

Trump’s budget extends massive tax cuts to the top 0.1%, adds $3.8 trillion to the deficit, and raises the debt ceiling — all while cutting public services Americans depend on.

6.     Science Silenced, Public Health Threatened

Trump and Kennedy’s contempt for science leads to cuts in vaccine research, including critical studies on bird flu and COVID variants — threatening national and global health.

7.     Cracks in the GOP Show This Bill Can Be Stopped

Republican senators like Murkowski, Collins, and Hawley oppose key provisions of H.R.1 — offering an opportunity for public pressure to block or reshape the bill in the Senate.

8.     A Better Path Exists — But Requires Moral Courage

Paul Krugman lays out four clear alternatives to this cruel budget: ending Trump’s 2017 tax cuts, cracking down on fraud, and holding the wealthy accountable. The solutions exist — but only if we demand them.

Support the show on Patreon - https://patreon.com/drjackalyn 

Podcast 135 References:

• “Losing NOAA’s Natural Disaster Data Will Make Storms More Devastating for the Poor,” Time, Jeremy Ney, on May 21, 2025, 6:00 AM CT.

https://time.com/7287017/noaa-data-storm-poor-communities-essay/

• The Washington Post, “Staff cuts forced this forecast office to shut overnight. Then, a tornado Hit, 5-17-25,3:35 pm EDT by Scott Dance.

https://kdsherpa.substack.com/p/staff-cuts-forced-this-forecast-office

• Congresswoman Lizzie Fletcher, representing Texas’ Seventh Congressional District newsletter [e-mail], Friday, May 23, 2025, 11:14 PM called the “Washington Week Wrap Up.” (I have given you her email address so you can sign up for her email. She is a lawyer and our representative and provides factual data.)
• One Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R.1). Newsletter of Planned Parenthood Federation of America [e-mail], Wednesday, May 28, 2025, 4:50 PM (They make it care the reasons that H.R. 1 is detrimental and withdrawal of funds for Planned Parenthoods in this bill. See email to get on their email list.)
• The Washington Post, Theodoric Meyer, “7 ways Republicans are split over Trump’s ‘Big bill,’” May 27, 2025, 5:00 AM EDT.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2025/05/27/senate-reconciliation-big-bill/

• Paul Krugman, the NY Times available on Substack, Friday, May 23, 2025, 5:31 AM, “What a Decent Budget Would Look Like. Imaging a Congress that was neither cruel nor irresponsible.”