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Trump To Sign His Mega Bill Into Law At July 4 Ceremony; Trump Supporter: Bill Contains Some "Not So Good Things"; Dems Already Using GOP Comments On The Bill Against Them; GOP Rep. Lawler On His Support For Trump's Mega Bill. Aired 12-12:30p ET

Aired July 04, 2025 - 12:00   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

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DANA BASH, CNN HOST, INSIDE POLITICS: Today on Inside Politics, a star-spangled win. President Trump is getting exactly what he wanted this Independence Day, signing his mega MAGA bill into law at a huge celebration. His tax cuts got extended. He got more money for defense and immigration. But will Republicans pay a political price for Medicaid and SNAP cuts?

Plus, two top politicians, two totally different takes on the president's bill. Republican Congressman Mike Lawler calls it a historic tax relief bill, while Democratic Governor Wes Moore says it's a heartless assault on the American people. I'll speak to both of them this hour.

And it is the 4th of July, and I'll hope that you will join Boris Sanchez and me tonight for coast-to-coast fireworks, incredible music performances, and that includes Grammy nominated singers The War and Treaty, who will be right here in the Inside Politics studio for a special preview.

I'm Dana Bash. Let's go behind the headlines at Inside Politics.

We start today with fireworks of the political kind. After countless all-nighters, travel obstacles, marathon boats, Republicans made President Trump's dream of a July 4 legislative victory a reality. At 5pm today, the president is expected to sign his massive domestic agenda bill into law.

The White House is calling it a quote, big, beautiful signing ceremony. They'll even be a flyover of the B-52 bombers, which dropped bunker busting bombs on Iran's nuclear facilities last month, but the president started his celebrations in Iowa last night.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

DONALD TRUMP, PRESIDENT OF UNITED STATES OF AMERICA: There could be no better birthday present for America than the phenomenal victory we achieved just hours ago when Congress passed the one big, beautiful bill to make America great again. This bill includes the largest tax cut in American history, the largest spending cut in American history, the largest border security investment in American history.

Although, I must tell you, if you saw last month, they had zero people coming through our borders. Very simply, the one big, beautiful bill would deliver the strongest border on earth, the strongest economy on earth, the strongest military on earth, and ensure the United States of America will remain the strongest country anywhere on this beautiful planet of ours.

165 days into the Trump administration, America is on a winning streak, like frankly, nobody has ever seen before in the history of the president.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

BASH: I'm joined by a terrific group of reporters on this Independence Day; Tia Mitchell of the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, CNN's Jeff Zeleny and Laura Barron-Lopez of PBS NewsHour. Happy fourth. Thanks for coming in on a holiday, everybody. And not only that, Jeff Zeleny, you just flew back from Iowa. I should say, are your arms tired? But you know nobody else --

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BASH: How was the rally last night? What were your takeaways?

JEFF ZELENY, CNN CHIEF NATIONAL AFFAIRS CORRESPONDENT: Look, I mean, we say had a victory lap. I mean, that really is what it felt like, really at the end of a pretty extraordinary two weeks for President Trump. I mean, when you think about the bookends from the Iranian nuclear strikes to the Supreme Court decision to this legislative victory for him, there was no doubt.

It was the real, live version of his campaign trail promises being celebrated that he's going to sign into law. However, it also felt at the same time like the very beginning opening of the 2026 midterm election campaign. Shortly before the president's speech, we spent some time with Democrats who were really trying to win two congressional seats in Iowa.

They have dreams of maybe making the Senate race competitive. We will see about that. But it really got the sense of this is what the midterm election race is going to be about, and the race to define this bill is very much underway. The president, obviously, was doing that last night. He went to Iowa.

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Of course, it's long been on the schedule too to kick off the America 250 a project he's deeply involved in to spend the next year celebrating America's turn to 50th birthday. But he basically wrapped them together in making this legislative win very patriotic, but it also comes with many, many downsides as Republican members of Congress will say privately.

TIA MITCHELL, WASHINGTON BUREAU CHIEF, ATLANTA JOURNAL-CONSTITUTION: Yeah. I think it's going to be interesting how not just the members of Congress, but especially those red states start to grapple with the impact of this bill. And you can say yes, they delayed some of the more painful impacts, like the Medicaid cuts, like the state cost sharing for the SNAP program, but states are going to have to start planning and preparing. They're going to have to start talking about it.

A lot of Republican governors have been saying, generally, we support this bill because we support Trump. But what happens when they have to start dealing with the actual impact, the details themselves, because they can't hide from it forever.

LAURA BARRON-LOPEZ, CNN POLITICAL ANALYST & WHITE HOUSE CORRESPONDENT, PBS NEWSHOUR: And some of Republicans own words just a week ago, just days ago, are probably going to be used by Democrats in the lead up to the midterms, because they said over and over again that they would not pay for -- that they would not vote for cuts to Medicaid that exceeded, you know, 500 million, or that exceed -- they put limits on themselves and that they wouldn't even vote for cuts to Medicaid.

And now we're seeing that this bill is going to make, what more than a trillion or so in dollars in cuts to Medicaid. And so, these Republicans are going to have to answer for the lines that they set for themselves. Last go around in 2017 when some of them voted to repeal the Affordable Care Act, they ended up reaping the consequences which some of them lost their midterm elections.

Like David Valadao in the House, who could very well end up facing that again. He's a representative in California. So, I think that a lot of their own statements, and a lot of statements from people like Senator Thom Tillis could very well end up coming back to haunt them in their reelection cycles.

BASH: Jeff, when you were in the crowd at the Trump rally last night. I know you were talking to the people who were there. If they were there, they are Trump supporters, obviously. I want to play for our viewers what Pat Knueven told you at that rally.

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PAT KNUEVEN, TRUMP SUPPORTER: It's got probably some good things, and as I understand, a lot of not so good things. So, I'm pretty mixed, like most people. Well, when they have an opportunity, in my opinion, to pass some legislation that reduces spending, and they pass it up. That really makes you question the bill.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

ZELENY: Look, this is someone who is a tried-and-true Trump supporter. He didn't support him initially in 2016, but ever since then, he has. He likes what his governing philosophy is. He likes what he's done at the border. But literally, the very first thing he said when I asked him an open-ended question. What do you think about the bill? He said, the deficit like this was a missed opportunity, in his view.

Now he's of a certain age. He's a former Reagan Republican conservative. And he just is frustrated with his party that, you know, there was a little bit of talk about spending and debt, but you know, the votes happened anyway. So, we heard that again and again. But of course, it's the voters in the middle about the Medicaid cuts and rural hospitals is something naturally in Iowa that we heard over and over.

And as Tia said, they are delaying some of these. So, it's unclear if this effect will happen to mid-terms, but this is what this race will be fought about. The rural hospitals is a real issue for people of all political parties.

BASH: And Laura, just you were mentioning some of the statements from the members and senators who were opposed to the Medicaid cuts and then voted for it anyway. Here's a story -- a part of a story from our Sarah Ferris and David Wright today. North Carolina Senator Thom Tillis called, cuts to Medicaid inescapable. He didn't vote yes. He voted no. Missouri Senator Josh Hawley called Republicans targeting of Medicaid a mistake.

Now Democrats are turning those precise GOP warnings into the centerpiece of their strategy to seize control of Congress in the midterms next November. It's just as Jeff said, today is the beginning of the midterm cycle.

BARRON-LOPEZ: It really is, because in the past, Democrats feel as though they have had success when it comes to Republicans taking benefits away that Americans have gotten used to, or attempting to take benefits away that Americans have gotten used to, using their attacks on ACA to then try to flip the seats, and you know, the House, the margin is thin.

So, this is something that Democrats really believe is kind of over the plate for them when it comes to their ability to message on it. Now, how successful are they going to be when they are having their own internal battles and don't appear to be rallying behind any central, you know, figure or message is a big question. But this is something that you would think would work well for them heading into 2020.

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BASH: And the word message is really key because it's going to have to be in this -- these elections, a message, not a look at what's happening to these individuals because it won't, as you said, Tia, it won't be implemented yet.

MITCHELL: Right. But I do think one thing that may already have some short-term effect is allowing those ACA benefits to expire. And starting next year, there will be people who could see their health insurance rise. You could start hearing people saying, I can't afford to purchase insurance that I was able to afford before.

And that's as a result of Republicans choosing not to extend some of those ACA provisions in the reconciliation bill. That could be one of the places where Democrats do drill down on and find people who, in the short-term say, I'm already feeling the effects. BASH: Yeah, really good point. Thanks everybody. Don't go anywhere. Coming up. What role did the president play in persuading, at least one key moderate Republican to vote yes on his mega bill? We're going to get the answer, we hope, from Congressman Mike Lawler, who is going to be here after the break.

Plus, I will speak to Maryland Governor Wes Moore about what Democrats call a major setback for millions of Americans who are struggling. Stay with us.

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BASH: Just a few hours, President Trump will sign his agenda, mega bill into law. To make that happen, the president had to convince some Republicans who were on the fence. Republican Congressman Mike Lawler of New York was one of those GOP members, and he is still here now. Thank you so much for being here. So, you were at the White House Wednesday for a last-minute meeting with the President Trump other advisers. What did they say to you to convince you to get to, yes?

REP. MIKE LAWLER (R-NY): I was already a yes, but the conversation was centered around Medicaid. And one of the things that I wanted to focus in on was this rural health fund and how we'll be able to access it to help our hospitals throughout my district and certainly across New York.

New York's hospital system is heavily reliant on Medicaid and Medicare. In my district, I have two safety net hospitals, for instance, where 85 percent of their revenue comes from Medicaid and Medicare. So, understanding how that was going to function.

BASH: What did they tell you that made you feel so good about rural hospitals?

LAWLER: Well, look, it's a $50 billion fund to help support our rural hospital system, as well as safety net hospitals, and so that's something that we're going to be working through. But this is -- this is a challenge, by the way, in New York that has been persistent.

I can tell you, having been in the state legislature, our hospitals are constantly working to get more resources from the state, and the state has significant challenges with how they fund our hospital system. So that's something long-term, we need to evaluate as Republicans and Democrats, how we support our hospital systems across the country.

BASH: So, I don't need to tell you, you are one of only three Republican lawmakers representing districts that Kamala Harris won. Just pretty remarkable that that's the political map right now. One is Don Bacon. He voted yes, but he's retiring.

The other is Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania. He voted no on the bill. And what he said is that the Senate amendments to Medicaid, which is part of the bill that you voted for, and other provisions make it fall short of the standard he holds for his constituents. Do you have a different standard?

LAWLER: No. Look, Brian and I work very closely together, and throughout this process, we fought back against efforts, for instance, to change FMAP to lower the federal share. There were people who wanted to bring it to 45 percent below the 50 percent threshold. We fought back and stopped that. They wanted dish cuts, they wanted per capita caps, block grants. We were able to prevent that.

The changes that the Senate did put in place phase in, starting in 2028 specifically on provider tax and on state directed payments. On the provider tax, New York is at 4.7 percent provider tax. That won't change until 2031. So, New York is going to have five years to really start to get its fiscal House in order.

New York is a state where they spend 83 percent more on Medicaid than the average of the other 49 states. So, New York has to evaluate how it does business. You look at the state directed payments. The Biden administration changed the rules on state directed payments and allowed Medicaid payouts to be higher than Medicare.

Prior to that, that was not the case. It was one to one. So, this is going back to that one-to-one ratio, which the phase out will start in 2028 and it will be a 10 percent phase out until it gets back to the one-to-one ratio across the country.

But at the end of the day, the changes to Medicaid are common sense reforms, eligibility verification, making sure that people who are ineligible do not remain on the system, taking away from the very people who need it.

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Within the IDD community, our seniors, our children, single mothers, secondarily is citizenship verification. Making sure that illegal immigrants are not collecting Medicaid benefits. There's about 1.4 million and New York has spent billions of dollars of taxpayer money to provide Medicaid to illegal immigrants. And finally, work requirements.

Most Americans agree that if you are able-bodied, without dependents, and you are collecting benefits, you should be trying to work. You should be trying to get an education or volunteer, get into the workplace and help yourself as you -- as you advance forward. Most people recognize that that is a common-sense reform. That is the crux of what is in the bill.

BASH: So, you went through a lot of the specifics, which are important. But what people out there want to know, and people in your district want to know is, am I going to lose my Medicaid benefits that I need? You are saying right here, full stop, the answer is, no.

LAWLER: Eligible recipients will not --

BASH: But people are eligible now, the eligibility --

LAWLER: No, they're not. This is -- this is part of the challenge. Eligible recipients will not lose their Medicaid benefits. On the work requirements, which phase in in several years. What we are saying -- what we are saying, we're giving states and individuals time to adjust. But what we are saying is, when it comes to work requirements, if you are able-bodied, this is something Bill Clinton championed in the 90s. Democrats used to support this. Most Americans believe this is a common-sense measure.

BASH: But by saying that if you are conceding that eligibility is going to change?

LAWLER: We are saying to receive Medicaid benefits if you are an able- bodied adult, we're not talking about the traditional Medicaid population. We're talking about expansion. You should try to work 80 hours a month. The bottom line there is, people will have enough time to understand that that is part of the requirement moving forward for those folks.

But New York state, New York state has the most expansive Medicaid program in the country. New York is going to continue to manage the system. No, I'm not concerned about eligible recipients receiving their Medicaid.

BASH: And that could be eligible word is --

LAWLER: Do you think illegal immigrants should continue to get benefits? This is part of the challenge.

BASH: I know. But I just think that people should know that the word eligible is going to mean something different now.

LAWLER: What we are saying is there should be work requirements. That is a change in the system for able-bodied adults. No question. Now, understand, with all of these changes, Medicaid spending is still going up 24 percent over the next decade, 24 percent. So, when Democrats say they're gutting Medicaid, no, we're not.

BASH: Let me just ask you real quick. You did write a -- or you signed on to a letter that was just given -- sent out last week, where you said, protecting Medicaid is essential for the vulnerable constituents we were elected to represent, therefore we cannot support a final bill that threatens access to coverage or jeopardizes the stability of our hospitals and providers. And in that same letter, which I have here, you said that the Senate bill went beyond what you were comfortable, but that didn't change.

LAWLER: And what they were -- well, oh, what they were trying to put in there was changes to FMAP. They wanted -- they wanted to reduce FMAP for the expansion population from 90 percent federal share down to 50. We blocked that. We stopped that from happening. And from my standpoint, FMAP was the most critical thing to prevent from changing, because that would have had a draconian impact on the Medicaid program. What we are saying is that there are common sense reforms to make sure that this program is sustainable for the long-term, for the very people who need and rely on it, especially the IDD community, our seniors, children and single mother.

BASH: You know that you are maybe target number one politically for Democrats. You're going to -- you feel comfortable, you're going to be able to defend this. They're already like Democrats running again.

LAWLER: It is the largest middle class tax cut in American history. I fought for and was able to secure a 4x increase on the ability of property taxpayers and state taxpayers to deduct their state and local taxes. That is a massive tax cut. Thousands of dollars, putting back in the pockets of hard-working New Yorkers. In addition, the enhanced senior tax deduction to offset Social Security taxes, the enhanced Child Tax Credit, the doubling of the standard deduction, no tax on tips, no tax on overtime. These are all big wins.

BASH: Thank you. We're out of time. Are you running for Governor of New York? Yes or no?

LAWLER: As we're out of time, I'll be making a decision in the next few weeks.

BASH: OK. Thank you. Thanks for being here. Appreciate it. Happy 4th.

LAWLER: Happy 4th.

BASH: Coming up. We're going to get the Democrats take. I'm going to speak with Democratic Maryland Governor Wes Moore about the impact of President Trump's massive agenda bill on his state. Don't go anywhere.

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BASH: In 2022, Democrat Wes Moore made history by becoming Maryland's first black governor, and only the third black governor in U.S. history. And in 2024, Maryland handed Vice President Kamala Harris, one of her biggest victories on election night, a nearly 30-point winning margin over President Trump. Now, Governor Moore is putting his message right up against President Trump's.