The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) finds that the Senate Republicans’ budget bill will slash $1 trillion from Medicaid, but according to Kevin Hassett, the White House Director of the National Economic Council, no one’s Medicaid is being taken away.

The CBO projects the current Republican Senate budget bill will cut $930 billion from Medicaid, but an amendment from Florida GOP Senator Rick Scott would make additional cuts of $313 billion, for a total of $1.24 trillion in cuts to Medicaid, according to The Hill.

But according to the White House’s Kevin Hassett, “we’re not taking away anybody’s Medicaid.”

After Fox News host Bill Hemmer told Hassett on Monday that the White House is “getting hammered on these Medicaid cuts,” Hassett, chuckling, said: “The bottom line is that we’re just, we’re not taking away anybody’s Medicaid. We’re definitely not taking away anybody’s Medicare.”

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Hassett insisted that Republicans are merely “going after waste, fraud, and abuse,” and claimed “there’s a heck of a lot of it out there.”

Some experts put the waste, fraud, and abuse numbers—which can include improper payments and errors—at about five percent of Medicaid spending.

Hassett appears to disagree.

“A lot of budget savings have been found by people really in the House, in the Senate—not just conservatives—moderates agree that there’s a lot of money that can be saved. And the bottom line is that we’re, in the end going to balance this budget, and we’ve got to balance this budget by getting rid of waste, fraud, and abuse, and we’re going to do it.”

The Congressional Budget Office, according to KFF, has also estimated that by 2034 there will be an additional 16 million more uninsured people if the bill is signed into law.

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“The scale of the proposed reductions in Medicaid is unprecedented in the history of the program, which has tended to expand coverage over time since its creation in 1965,” The New York Times reports.

Calling the cuts “savings,” the Times reports the bill in part “would establish a new, strict national work requirement for some people on the program, who would need to demonstrate they had worked at least 80 hours the month before they sign up, or qualified for an exemption.”

More cuts to Medicaid in the bill could be coming. The Times also reports that U.S. Senator Ron Johnson (R-WI) on Sunday “told reporters that he would propose an amendment that would cut Medicaid even further.”

Watch the video below or at this link.

Despite bill’s $1T cut Trump official insists “we’re not taking away anybody’s Medicaid.”pic.twitter.com/xuSRDvHCap

— David Badash (@davidbadash) June 30, 2025

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The year was 2001. The President was a Republican. Nearly nine in ten Americans—87%—said they were extremely or very proud to be an American. Democrats, Republicans, and Independents were all within a handful of points of agreement on just how proud they were. When the 9/11 terrorist attacks hit, pride increased and remained or grew even higher over the next few years.

Two decades later, in 2020, the President was once again a Republican. Just a little over six in ten Americans (63%) said they were extremely or very proud to be an American—a new low. Democrats and Republicans were split by 46 points on just how proud they were (88% for Republicans, 42% for Democrats). Independents came in at 64%.

Five years later, in 2025, the President again was a Republican—the same Republican. Now, according to a new Gallup report published Monday, pride in being an American has hit a new record low: just 58% say they are extremely or very proud to be an American.

READ MORE: Democratic Reps Say FEMA Cuts Are Leading to Hurricane Katrina-Level Disaster

Republicans’ pride in being American has now risen to 92%. Democrats’ pride in being American has dropped to a historic low: just 36% say they are extremely or very proud to be an American. For independents, that number, also a historic low, has dropped to 53%.

The Associated Press calls Gallup’s findings “a stark illustration of how many — but not all — Americans have felt less of a sense of pride in their country over the past decade.”

“The split between Democrats and Republicans, at 56 percentage points, is at its widest since 2001. That includes all four years of Republican President Donald Trump’s first term.”

Gallup also finds that “each new generation” is “significantly less likely than the previous one to say they are extremely or very proud to be an American.”

For Gen Z, those born between 1997 and 2012, only a minority—41%— say they are extremely or very proud to be an American, during the years from 2021-2025.

Overall, Gallup reports, these “changes have occurred mostly over the past decade, and have done so amid greater pessimism about the economic prospects for young people, widespread dissatisfaction with the state of the nation, greater ideological divides between the parties, unfavorable images of both parties, and intense partisan rancor during the Trump and Biden administrations.”

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President Donald Trump took umbrage at Ayatollah Ali Khamenei declaring victory in the war with Israel. Trump said he knew where the Ayatollah was hiding and stopped Israel from killing him.

On Thursday, Khamenei posted to X, formerly Twitter, declaring victory over both Israel and the United States in the war that started on June 13, ending with a ceasefire agreement brokered by Trump on June 24. During the war, Israel’s attacks killed at least 610 people, compared to 28 Israelis killed by Iran’s attacks.

With all that commotion and all those claims, the Zionist regime was practically knocked out and crushed under the blows of the Islamic Republic.

— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) June 26, 2025

“With all that commotion and all those claims, the Zionist regime was practically knocked out and crushed under the blows of the Islamic Republic,” Khamenei posted.

READ MORE: Trump Says News Media ‘Caught Cheating Again’ For Questioning Iran Claims

“My congratulations on our dear Iran’s victory over the US regime. The US regime entered the war directly because it felt that if it didn’t, the Zionist regime would be completely destroyed. It entered the war in an effort to save that regime but achieved nothing,” he added in another post.

My congratulations on our dear Iran’s victory over the US regime. The US regime entered the war directly because it felt that if it didn’t, the Zionist regime would be completely destroyed. It entered the war in an effort to save that regime but achieved nothing.

— Khamenei.ir (@khamenei_ir) June 26, 2025

Trump took offense in a Friday Truth Social post at how the Ayatollah framed things .

“Why would the so-called ‘Supreme Leader,’ Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, of the war torn Country of Iran, say so blatantly and foolishly that he won the War with Israel, when he knows his statement is a lie, it is not so. As a man of great faith, he is not supposed to lie. His Country was decimated, his three evil Nuclear Sites were OBLITERATED, and I knew EXACTLY where he was sheltered, and would not let Israel, or the U.S. Armed Forces, by far the Greatest and Most Powerful in the World, terminate his life. I SAVED HIM FROM A VERY UGLY AND IGNOMINIOUS DEATH, and he does not have to say, ‘THANK YOU, PRESIDENT TRUMP!'” Trump wrote.

Trump then said that the Israel strike that happened shortly after the ceasefire was announced would have been “the final knockout” had he not demanded Israel “bring back a very large group of planes.” He also said that until he heard Khamenei’s statement, Trump was considering lifting sanctions on Iran “which would have given a much better chance to Iran at a full, fast, and complete recovery.”

“They have no hope, and it will only get worse! I wish the leadership of Iran would realize that you often get more with HONEY than you do with VINEGAR. PEACE!!!” Trump added.

The brief war started when Israel made a surprise attack on Iran’s nuclear sites including scientists and military figures like the Iran’s chief of staff of the armed forces, Maj. Gen. Mohammad Bagheri; commander-in-chief of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, Gen. Hossein Salami; and the head of the IRGC Air Force, Gen. Amir Ali Hajizadeh.

Israel’s defense minister Israel Katz confirmed that the country had wanted to kill Ayatollah Khamenei as well. Though reporting suggested that the United States had talked Israel out of this, Katz said permission wasn’t needed. Rather, he said, Khamenei survived because there was “no operational opportunity,” according to Al Jazeera.

On June 22, the U.S. attacked three of Iran’s nuclear sites in Natanz, Fordow and Isfahan. There were no casualties. Nor were there any casualties when Iran retaliated with a strike on a U.S. base in Qatar.

Trump made the order to attack Iran without informing Congress beforehand. The U.S. strike was controversial, with Rep. Al Green filing an article of impeachment alleging Trump violated the War Powers Act, but the article was quickly tabled.

Trump has repeatedly claimed the U.S. attacks had “obliterated” the Iranian sites. Early intelligence reporting seen by CNN and the New York Times said that the destruction had been overstated. Later reports from the CIA said the sites were “severely damaged.” However, it is still unknown whether Iran’s supply of enriched uranium was destroyed as Trump says, or moved before the strike.

Image via Reuters