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Sen. Katie Britt must be the target of whoever distributes speaking engagements to the U.S. Senate.
After delivering the State of the Union reply to President Joe Biden on national television a year and a half ago, Britt walked away with a heavy sigh, making her a prime candidate for Saturday Night Live.
And in case anyone had forgotten, Brittre made a comeback to national television this past weekend on a program called State of the Union, where she defended the so-called Big Beautiful Bill to CNN host Jake Tapper.
I get that someone had to go sell that jerk the day before the Senate vote, but couldn’t Britt be the one? Is Britt still unable to say no? Although she titled her autobiography God Calls Us to Do Hard Things, this does not imply that the Almighty is the source of all terrible speaking requests.
Let’s be clear about the purpose of this law. According to the most recent projections, it reduces federal expenditure on programs for the poor, but it nevertheless adds $3.3 trillion to the national debt over the following ten years.
How does that operate? It also lowers taxes for the wealthy while reducing programs for the poor, like as food stamps and Medicaid. Even more. It’s similar to Robinhood, but reversed.
In the meantime, the bill transfers accountability for the safety net programs to Alabama and other states.
Perhaps not Alaska, though.
U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, has been much less excited about the bill and has signaled that she would vote against it, while Britt has been pushing it like she’s trying out for the Crimson Tide cheer squad once more. For Murkowski and her supporters, the repercussions have been anything but harsh. The Senate, on the other hand, attempted to amend the bill to provide Alaska with improved Medicaid coverage and tax credits for whaling.
It turns out that certain Native Americans there still kill whales and get to write off $10,000 annually for stuff like explosive projectiles. I had no idea that whale hunting was still practiced in the twenty-first century. The BBB’s draft on Saturday would have increased that to $50,000 annually.
At least Murkowski looked out for her constituents’ health care, and their ongoing efforts blow up Moby Dick. However, the Senate senator later decided that some of these amendments would thwart lawmakers’ fast-track quest to finish the package by July 4.
Britt appears to support the BBB for free.
The 1,000-page bill is always evolving, but I haven’t yet discovered any comparable advantages for Alabamans—not even the opportunity to kill a bald eagle or anything.
Britt took credit on State of the Union for leading the charge to raise the child tax credit from $2,000 to $2,200 year, which may seem like a lot, but the Senate proposal actually reduced that amount after the House plan raised it to $2,500. However, compared to the House plan, the Senate plan raises the deficit more quickly.
(The senator was discussing other daycare features in the plan, not the $2,200 child tax credit for parents, according to Britt’s office after this story was published.)
You would assume that an elderly relative had fallen victim to an internet marketing scam if they had spent this much money.
Britt made the case on Tapper’s show that states like Alabama would make up for SNAP losses by increasing the program’s efficiency.
According to Britt, we are ensuring that states have a stake in the outcome.
According to her, SNAP mistake rates in certain states exceed 60%. (Intriguingly, some people are truly from Alaska in 2023.) The percentage of improper payments, either above or below what beneficiaries are entitled to, is known as the SNAP mistake rate.
Getting skin in the game will mean getting skinned for some players. Alabama and other states with mistake rates above 6 percent will be required to either pay a share of SNAP payments or discontinue their programs. Alabama’s mistake rate increased to 8.3 percent in the previous year.
Britt, however, is unconcerned.
Are you promising that the people in Alabama who are citizens and who genuinely need and deserve it won’t suffer as a result of the reforms you are voting for on Monday? On Sunday, Tapper questioned Britt.
“Yes,” she said.
Tommy Tuberville, the senior senator from Alabama, has expressed some suspicion about Britt’s advocacy for the bill.
Three weeks ago, Tuberville told Politico that it would worry everyone who would be in state government. We may or may not be able to afford it.
Tuberville has good reason to be concerned because, as the clear favorite to be governor of Alabama, he may have to clean up this Big Beautiful disaster back home. But it hasn’t stopped him from supporting it in order to get over procedural obstacles.
However, he winced.
We are in danger when we must rely on Tuberville for indications of insight.
“All I’m saying is, don’t bankrupt us,” Tuberville added. Don’t ruin us.
Britt, meanwhile, displays no such concerns.
She accepted the position when it came time for someone to appear on television and make the case that a plan that strengthens safety nets for the needy and lowers taxes for the wealthy wouldn’t harm Alabama. Without a shred of hesitation or caution, she went on television to promote the promise of the bill.
She didn’t recoil.
She made no hesitation.
She was so enthusiastic.
Alabama will soon have to deal with that.
It has been updated to make clear which childcare provisions Britt was referring to.
THE TEST WILL CONTAIN THIS.
Speaking of frauds.Following Rep. Ilhan Omar’s criticism of the Trump administration for using the U.S. Armed Forces to police protests in Los Angeles, U.S. Sen. Tommy Tuberville is requesting donations from supporters to purchase a one-way ticket to Somalia for the lawmaker from Minnesota. In reality, the funds will support Tuberville’s bid for governor in 2026.
Calls for Rep. Omar to leave the United States are made by Tuberville fundraisers.
[The Post in Washington]
Wilson, E.O., would be pleased.Kyle Lybarger, a forester from Alabama, has amassed a sizable social media following by discussing plants. Lybarger raises money to safeguard endangered species and obsesses over the state’s biodiversity on Instagram and TikTok.
A Social Media Influencer in Alabama Goes Crazy
[New York Times]
AL.com’s state politics columnist and 2023 Pulitzer Prize winner is Kyle Whitmire.
