I was flattened to learn yesterday that only eight percent, 8%, of Americans understand that the BBB, Big ‘Beautiful’ Bill, includes massive cuts to Medicaid! Hello? Where have you been, you 92%? The bill passed the Senate this morning with a tie breaker from JD Vance who said, “…the minutiae of the Medicaid policy — is immaterial compared to the ICE money and immigration enforcement provisions.” The bill is back in the House of Representatives for voting as soon as tomorrow, because not-my-president wants it on his desk by July 4.

The Senate’s version eliminated a few egregious provisions like the massive public lands selloff, but added things that would cut even more from Medicaid for a total loss to this societal safety network of around a trillion dollars, causing around 12-17 million people to lose their health insurance over time, and three million more would lose SNAP benefits, so if you’re on food stamps you’re gonna get hungry. Many children and seniors will suffer food insecurity and other horrors. It’s a complicated network of interdependence, but these cuts will result in less available and more costly healthcare for everyone, no matter where you get your health insurance.

The bill is tricky. It provides a few minor immediate and short term tax benefits for regular people, but many more diverse, substantial, and permanent tax cuts to billionaires and corporations. Take a moment to reflect on the differences here: minor and short-term for us, versus SUBSTANTIAL and PERMANENT for the super rich. The combination of cutting many programs that regular Americans rely on for all kinds of things from medical care to wildfire protection to clean energy incentives and protections (and too many more to list here), funneling our tax dollars to the wealthiest few in the nation, and tripling the ICE budget, would increase the national deficit to more than 3 trillion dollars. I’m using the most basic language I can, stripping the complexity down to bare bones, to try to help you see that this bill WILL MAKE YOU SUFFER, no matter who you are, no matter what you’ve been deluded into believing will make your life better. I am silently shrieking inside my head to 92% of Americans and 51% of congress, “What is wrong with you people?!”

Locally here in Delta County where I live, “about 1 in 4 people—that’s 24.1% of our neighbors—use Medicaid, known here as Health First Colorado. Even more striking, half the kids in Delta County schools rely on Medicaid or CHIP. Medicaid pays for much more than doctor visits. It helps cover hearing and vision screenings at school, mental health support, speech therapy, dental care, and more. If the funding is cut, those services could vanish—and families will be left to pay out-of- pocket. Medicaid also supports home and community-based services to help elders stay in their home—all at risk if this bill passes. Finally, and possibly the WORST outcome: A national study also found that Delta County Memorial Hospital is one of six rural hospitals in Colorado that could close if this bill passes. That’s our hospital. Our ER. Our local jobs. The ripple effect on our local businesses. This bill doesn’t work for Delta County. We can still stop it. Call Rep. Jeff Hurd at (202) 225‑4676. Tell him: Vote NO on the Big, Beautiful Bill.” [Thanks Janine, for letting me use these excerpts from your LTE, I couldn’t have said it better.]

The trickiest part is that this will mostly happen over time. The first benefit cuts are scheduled to take place shortly after the 2026 midterm elections. So you’ll see less tax on tips and a few other things right away, but you won’t lose SNAP and Medicaid benefits until you’ve already voted again for the sociopaths who stripped them away. And some of the biggest losses for regular Americans contained in the BBB won’t go into effect until after the 2028 presidential election. That’s right. You will vote yet again for the cadre of creeps who are gutting every federal provision that most Americans rely on for a decent quality of life, before you see that quality of life plummet. Don’t take my word for it. Read the bill yourself, or read the handful of media sources who are actually reading the bill. Listen to some of the keenest analysts break it down for you. That’s not me. I’m just the air raid siren telling you to pay attention right now. And then do something about it: call your congressperson TODAY to demand accountability and truth, and demand that they vote NO.

The healthcare ramifications are really the tip of the cascading iceberg. It is definitely one BIG bill, but there’s nothing beautiful about it unless you’re filthy rich or not even a human being but a big business. And the Big Bill isn’t the only White House decree that is going to make life a lot less comfortable for your kids and grandkids. It’s overwhelming, really. Birthright citizenship can now be stripped away for murky reasons. The LGBTQ youth option on the national suicide prevention hotline has been defunded. The fossil fuel industry wins all around at the expense of clean energy, intensifying the climate crisis. The list goes on. The bill is absolutely appalling and will insidiously, slowly, eat away at all that makes our country truly great. Which, I’m sorry, is not old white straight men.

The separation of powers that we learned was fundamental to the structure of our democracy has crumbled. There is just under half a Congress fighting to preserve our citizenship rights, our civil rights, our rights to OUR taxes paying for our basic needs. The other half of the Legislative branch, and the top tier of the Judicial branch have ceded all power to the Executive branch which is run by one miserable old white man and his cult followers. Wake UP, America. You don’t have to be WOKE to pay attention to what’s really happening in the White House. Do not be blinded by the rah-rah bombs bursting ICE fueled distractions. Take back the true meaning of the American flag: one nation indivisible with liberty and justice for all.

I can’t help but wonder if I’ve convinced anyone to learn more about what’s at stake here, and to make their voices heard in the unhallowed halls of congress. I hope so. If even one neighbor calls Jeff Hurd as a result of reading this post and tells him to vote NO on H.R. 1, my hours writing this, my burning rage, will have been worth it. If even a few others in Colorado or any other state are moved to make one phone call, download the 5 Calls app, share this post with a friend, or join the movement to protect our rights, my day will have been made.

Having devoted much time and energy today to this urgent situation, I relax into gratitude. I am grateful for the friends and neighbors who are also working to defeat this Big Bad Bill. I have done all that I can about it today, and there was so much more to this day that was actually beautiful. There was Zoom Cooking with Amy. Papa Blue has been teaching his babies to fly and hunt just beyond the fence, and dipping through the yarden throughout the day. As Amy and I enjoyed our supper, Papa Blue flew in for a sip at the birdbath which sits on the post that Amy mosaic’d many years ago.

And the day started out with a wildfire up on Mendicant Ridge. I had just noticed the smoke and opened the phone to message the Bad Dogs who live below the ridge, and saw a message from them asking if I could see the smoke. This inspired me to create a What’s App group for about eight neighbors: we all have different perspectives, and among us can spot the valley, the mountains to the east, and the mesa to the west. We can each see a piece of the puzzle, and none of us the whole thing. It’s another great example of interdependence. The chat buzzed throughout the day with updates as the Crawford and Hotchkiss volunteer fire departments controlled the blaze in rugged, steep terrain; just the kind of place a fire likes to lose control. Some could see the chopper dipping into the reservoir to haul water, some couldn’t stop watching it, and some felt it shudder through their bedroom. I’m grateful for my neighbors watching out for one another, for the firefighters, for the technology that allows all this interconnectedness. I’m grateful for the Watch Duty app that also relies on volunteers and a network of observers to issue wildfire alerts and updates nationally, since a lot of federal wildfire and weather experts are already or soon will be out of jobs and those warning systems will dry up. Everything is connected. Your wellbeing depends on everyone else’s.