Trump administration insiders are worried that Republicans are in a no-win situation when it comes to the Big Beautiful Bill.
A major donor of President Donald Trump and his crypto czar think Congress is flubbing the president’s promised tax and budget overhaul and warn the final version will likely hurt the middle class.
The House stayed overnight on Capitol Hill this week to pass the lower chamber’s version of the One Big Beautiful Bill Act (OBBBA). The late-night mark-ups over the last few weeks led to some viral moments where multiple members were shown sleeping through sessions.
The four panel members of the conservative economic, tech and politics All-In Podcast tore into the bill, claiming that the negotiated version leaves much to be desired.
‘Traditional Republicans and traditional Democrats [are] circling the wagon and putting on a platter a set of things that I think will be hurtful to average Americans,’ Trump donor and Canadian-American venture capitalist Chamath Palihapitiya said in a Saturday episode of their podcast.
He excoriated the BBB by claiming: ‘You’re going to see energy prices spike, you’re gutting the number of electrons that will be available for things like AI. You’re going to increase Medicare prices. And the math is wrong.’
‘This thing is an albatross,’ Palihapitiya insisted. ‘And I think, unfortunately for President Trump’s agenda and for a MAGA movement, this is the worst of all conditions. The financial markets will punish us.’
Trump’s Chair of the President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology David Sacks in the podcast gave more leeway to the bill.
The Artificial Intelligence (AI) and crypto currency czar still slammed the House for not getting in the final version a provision that codified the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) cuts into law.
Republicans have only a three-vote majority in the House, meaning they have very little wiggle room when it comes to getting controversial pieces of Trump’s agenda shoved through the lower chamber.
Sacks said of the bill: ‘Do I wish it cut spending more? Yes.’
‘I mean, do I wish that it made all the DOGE cuts permanent through recision? Yeah, absolutely,’ he continued. ‘I think it’s outrageous that there were enough House Republicans who didn’t want to back up DOGE that it wasn’t enacted.’
The House passed in a 215-214 vote is a major milestone for the White House and Republicans in Congress who have spent the entirety of the new administration crafting the measure’s specifics.
House Speaker Mike Johnson defended the bill on Sunday.
He called on Senate Republicans to fall in line and said passing the bill in the upper chamber is a ‘critically important thing to do.’
‘It does not mean that we’re going to spend more money,’ he insisted on Fox News Sunday. ‘We’re extending the debt ceiling to show to creditors, the bond markets, the stock market, that the Congress is serious about this.’
‘President Trump is dialed in 100 percent. He is a visionary leader. He does not want to spend more money. And he has the same concern about the national debt that Rand Paul and I do.’
But several Republicans in the Senate say they are not happy with the bill as it stands.
Sen. Rand Paul (R-Ky.) has been a vocal critic of the bill and said on Fox News Sunday the cuts are ‘wimpy and anemic.’
‘But I still would support the bill even with wimpy and anemic cuts if they weren’t going to explode the debt,’ he added.
Previously Paul said he was a ‘no’ on the House bill unless it removes the $4 trillion debt limit hike.