John Oliver rips into Trump's Big Beautiful Bill, warning Republicans they will be tied to the results in perpetuity. A major focus of Oliver’s critique was the bill’s expansion of work requirements for benefits—what he argued are essentially “paperwork requirements” that make it harder for eligible people to stay enrolled. Via Late Nighter:
At one point, Oliver singled out a Georgia Medicaid program—Pathways to Coverage—which Republicans are said to have used as a model for the legislation, despite enrollment struggles, heavy bureaucracy, and high administrative costs. Even the program’s own poster patient, he noted, had his coverage revoked twice due to paperwork issues.
He also criticized GOP messaging, including bizarre metaphors from Dr. Oz, who now oversees Medicare and Medicaid. Oz compared Medicaid recipients to strangers living in your basement, which Oliver called “insulting and completely detached from reality.”
Meanwhile, the bill’s much ballyhooed tax cuts, Oliver noted, are heavily tilted toward the wealthiest households, while its budget math relies on slashing benefits for people who are poor, disabled, or caring for family members. “It’s a massive redistribution of wealth upward,” Oliver said, “accompanied by gigantic cuts to critical programs for the most vulnerable.”
As the bill heads to the Senate, Oliver warned viewers not to tune it out. “If it becomes law,” he said, “we’re going to look back on it decades from now the same way we look back at all the destructive sh*t Reagan did. And when that happens, Republicans can’t say they didn’t know what was in it, or what it would do.”
