Gutting Medicaid And SNAP Was Fine— But Don't You Dare Tax The Gamblers

The Big Ugly Betrayal: Who Congress Really Works For— Bailout For Casinos

Yesterday, JD Vance was in Ohio trying to sell the Republicans’ Big Ugly Bill. His first stop was at a steel plant in Canton. The bill was so unpopular in Congress that Vance had to break a tie in the Senate to get it to Trump’s desk after Rand Paul, Thom Tillis and Susan Collins voted against it. Had Lisa Murkowski voted “no” as well, it would have died, at least in its current odious, destructive form. Despite Vance’s rah rah approach on the road, Republicans are rushing to correct some of the worst parts of the legislation they voted for just days ago.

Democrats have already started targeting them. Even in some of the relatively “safe” red districts in Texas— albeit ones that could get less safe with the gerrymander— ads have started to run against incumbents who voted for the bill. Look at this one from Unrig the Economy for Monica De La Cruz:

Unrig Our Economy I spending $2 million on ads targeting her, Lance Gooden, Beth Van Duyne and Dan Crenshaw who are all nervous about the less safe nature of the newly drawn districts they’ll be running in. Here’s the ad that just started running against Dan Crenshaw, like the De La Cruz ad, focusing on the impact of his vote on Texans’ healthcare. 

The bill is a sweeping assault on healthcare access, public health infrastructure and reproductive freedom. It slashes funding for Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act, undermining coverage for millions of low-income and working-class Americans. It’s going to also eliminate funding for Planned Parenthood and drastically restrict access to reproductive health services, while imposing cruel restrictions on gender-affirming care. Public health agencies like the CDC and NIH are slated for steep cuts, hampering their ability to respond to disease outbreaks, conduct vital research, and support community health programs. Beyond the immediate harm to patients, the bill is a long-term effort to defund and delegitimize the concept of government-supported healthcare entirely. By gutting these programs, Republicans are not just claiming, falsely, to work towards balancing a budget, they're laying ideological groundwork to further privatize care, shift costs onto individuals and widen the gap between those who can afford comprehensive health services and those who can’t. It’s a massive step backward that threatens public health in service of right-wing culture wars and billionaire tax breaks. But none of that is likely to be fixed by congressional Republicans.

Instead, they have an entirely different priority: taxes on gambling! Yesterday, Laura Weiss reported that once Republicans— or their staffers— started reading the bill they had already voted to pass, they began “quickly souring” on the tax hike on gamblers. “There’s already significant bipartisan momentum to restore the full deduction for gambling losses. Congressional and industry allies are working to build that support so the change can hitch a ride on the next possible legislative vehicle. But the problem for the gaming world is that it’s going to be far harder to roll back the tax hike now that it’s inked in law... The change takes effect in 2026, so people won’t feel it until they file taxes in 2027.”

Casinos and professional gamblers, who are most impacted by the tax hike, are riled up and pushing for reversal right now, according to a gaming industry source. They’re focused on building a bigger base of cosponsors.

The gambling tax hike is an attractive opening for Democrats in places like Las Vegas, especially when the GOP is eager to sell the law’s “no tax on tips” in the city.

Rep. Dina Titus (D-NV) said in an interview that she’s heard more of a response on the tax hike “than any policy I’ve ever talked about” and that it’s the sort of issue Democrats should seize on more often.

“The people that responded— online mostly— these are young white guys. You know, this may be the Democrats’ way to get them back into the party,” Titus, a frontliner, said. “The kinds of issues they care about.”

Last cycle, the gambling industry contributed 47 Republican senators and 44 Senate Democrats, as well as to 357 House Members from both parties. Among current House members who received the biggest contributions from the gambling industry last cycle were Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY), Susie Lee (D-NV), Tom Cole (R-OK), Bruce Westerman (R-AR), Steven Horsford (D-NV), Raul Ruiz (D-CA), Ken Calvert (R-CA), Mark Amodei (R-NV) and Pete Aguilar (D-CA).

We all know that the Republican Party didn’t break a sweat gutting healthcare for working families, slashing public health funding and defunding food stamps. But the minute the gaming industry complained about a new tax provision affecting high-stakes gamblers and casinos? That’s when the alarm bells went off on Capitol Hill. Suddenly, the party that is laughably trying to sell the Big Ugly Bill as a crusade for fiscal responsibility is scrambling to make sure professional gamblers and corporate casinos aren’t too inconvenienced. It tells you everything about who this bill was really written for—  and who congressional Republicans— and more than a few Democrats— actually work for. Not for patients who rely on Medicaid, not for women needing reproductive care, not for kids whose lives depend on the NIH, CDC or SNAP. Their loyalty lies with donors, lobbyists, and the industries that bankroll their campaigns. Republicans are now more concerned about Vegas high-rollers than they are about our insulin or our kid’s cancer treatment. That’s morally repugnant and may turnout to be politically toxic. When it comes to conservative priorities, working families always lose… but the casino always wins.