U.S. Budget - OBBB | Medicare Part D premiums set to rise

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House Panel Approves Spending Bill That Rejects Some Trump Foreign Aid Cuts​

The Republican-led House Appropriations Committee put forth legislation that would slash the foreign aid and State Department budget but salvage some programs that the president wants to defund.

www.nytimes.com

House Panel Approves Spending Bill That Rejects Some Trump Foreign Aid Cuts

The Republican-led House Appropriations Committee put forth legislation that would slash the foreign aid and State Department budget but salvage some programs that the president wants to defund.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com

“… The measure, if enacted, would still slash the foreign aid and the State Department budget compared with the current year, cutting it by 22 percent, to $46.2 billion. But House Republicans moved to salvage key programs that Mr. Trump is seeking to eliminate altogether, such as for peacekeeping activities, supporting democracies abroad and global health initiatives for family planning and reproductive care.

It would also provide more than four times the funding that the president has requested for international broadcasting activities, despite Mr. Trump’s push to shut down the Voice of Americaand other federally funded news organizations that provide independent coverage in countries with limited press freedom.

Yet even as they voted to provide money for programs the president wants to gut, Republicans proposed handing the White House more power to ignore Congress’ spending dictates altogether. They removed standard language from the spending measure that makes it more difficult for the executive branch to cancel spending that Congress has approved. That drew angry protests from Democrats, who accused the G.O.P. of abdicating the power of the purse.…”
 


“… Unlike some other recent changes, these don’t take effect until 2026—so donors who care about maximizing charitable tax breaks have months to prepare. After that, the changes are permanent, at least until Congress alters the law again.

… To encourage giving, the new tax law … allows donors who don’t itemize on Schedule A to take annual deductions of as much as $2,000 for married joint filers and $1,000 for singles. [This is limited to cash gifts only]

… However, two other provisions will impose new limits on itemized charitable deductions. Donors who list donations on Schedule A won’t get their full benefit, because they’ll forgo an amount equal to 0.5% of their adjusted gross income. In addition, top-bracket taxpayers will only get to take itemized deductions at 35%, not 37%, which will affect charitable donations.

… This provision [the 0.5% haircut for Schedule A filers] imposes a threshold on filers’ itemized charitable contributions on Schedule A. For most, it disallows an amount of the donation that’s equal to 0.5% of adjusted gross income.

For example, a couple who itemizes and has $225,000 of AGI couldn’t deduct $1,125 of their charitable donations.

Note that the disallowance is a fixed amount for each year. So if this couple gives $2,000, their deduction will be $875. That means they will have lost more than half of their deduction. But if they give $5,000, their deduction will be $3,875. In that case, they’ll lose just over 20%.…”

🎁 —> https://www.wsj.com/personal-financ...1?st=oCu54r&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink
 
nycfan said:


“… The legislation allows more medications to be exempt from Medicare’s price negotiation program, which was created to lower the government’s drug spending. Now, manufacturers will be able to keep those prices higher.

The change will cut into the government’s savings from the negotiation program by nearly $5 billion over a decade, according to an estimate by the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.

… The new exemptions will apply to the third round, affecting prices starting in 2028. Had the new rules been in place earlier, several drugs that are currently up for price cuts would have been spared, including Imbruvica and Pomalyst, which treat rare forms of cancer.…”
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Does this mean drug prices won’t come down 5000%?
 

Medicare Part D Drug Plan Premiums Set to Rise​

Trump administration aims to soften the blow by negotiating with insurers​

🎁 —> https://www.wsj.com/health/healthca...c?st=VEiG8A&reflink=desktopwebshare_permalink


“… The subsidy program, which sent extra federal funds to the private insurers that offer the drug benefit—known as Part D—had largely shielded seniors from rising monthly bills in 2025.

It pumped an extra $6.2 billion of federal payments into the Part D plans this year, according to a Medicare official. The Trump administration is set to cut spending on that program by about 40% in 2026.

… Medicare officials didn’t release expected average premium costs, but said the subsidies that remain would save Medicare enrollees with drug plans $13.50 a month on average off of the higher rates….”
 

Candidate Trump Promised Oil Executives a Windfall. Now, They’re Getting It.​

New tallies of the administration’s tax breaks and other incentives add up to tens of billions of dollars of benefits to the fossil fuel industry.

www.nytimes.com

Candidate Trump Promised Oil Executives a Windfall. Now, They’re Getting It.

New tallies of the administration’s tax breaks and other incentives add up to tens of billions of dollars of benefits to the fossil fuel industry.
www.nytimes.com www.nytimes.com

“… A sweeping domestic policy bill that Mr. Trump signed into law this month includes about $18 billion in new and expanded tax incentives for the oil and gas industry, according to the Joint Committee on Taxation, which analyzes tax policy for Congress. It also includes billions of dollars in tax breaks that aren’t specific to oil and gas but were top oil industry priorities as the law was being negotiated.

It reduces the amount of money that energy companies must pay the federal government for the oil and gas they extract on public lands and waters, a change valued at about $6 billion, according to one analysis. The bill also delays penalties for oil companies that fail to reduce emissions of methane, a powerful greenhouse gas that leaks from wells, representing about $1.5 billion in benefits for the industry, the Congressional Budget Office found.

…
The benefits for fossil fuels comes as the Trump administration is systematically eliminating federal policies to combat climate change, including this week’s extraordinary move to revoke the Environmental Protection Agency’s scientific justification for regulating greenhouse gases. That move would essentially kill one of the government’s main tools for cutting emissions from power-plant smokestacks, oil and gas wells and automobile tailpipes.

The administration has also been cutting funding for climate research and rolling back programs designed to help millions of Americans prepare for rising sea levels, deadlier heat waves, increasingly intense wildfires and other effects of global warming.…”
 
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