Juana Summers de NPR talks to McKay Coppins, who recently outlined Russell Vought in the Atlantic. Vought is a key player in the impulse of the Trump administration to redo the federal government.
Juana Summers, host:
And I am Juana Summers in Washington, where the Republicans of the House of Representatives have just approved the Trump Tax and Expenses Law project and sent him to his desk for a firm. The bill cuts almost a billion dollars of Medicaid spending in the next 10 years. The White House and Congress led the legisation, but cut the federal budget and reduce the size of the federal government are consistent with the vision of the Co -author of Project 2025 and the Office of Management and Budget Director Russell Vought.
McKay Coppins: All non -partisan federal agencies that exist in the Federal Government, with personnel largely by civil officials, technocrats, bureaucrats, he believes that it was never in the vision of the founders, who are unconstitutional, conds of the vision of the vision of the vision of the vision of the vision of the vision of the vision of the vision of the vision of the vision of the vision of the vision of the vision of the vision of the vision of the vision of the vision of the vision of the vision of the vision of the vision of the vision of the vision of the vision of the vision of the vision of the vision of the vision of the vision of the vision of the vision of the vision of the vision of the vision of the vision of the vision of the vision of the vision of the vision of the vision of the vision of the vision of the vision of the vision of the vision of the vision of the vision of the vision of the vision of vision Conds of the Visual, Conds of the Vision, Conds of the Visualal, Condonnal and Condonnal, Condonnalsal, Condonnal and Condonn. It must be eliminated or polyitized.
Summers: That is the writer of the staff of Atlantic McKay Coppins. He wrote a recently voucht profile, and yesterday I talked about the schedule of the director of OMB.
Coppins: You know, if I listened to Voucht’s speeches over the years or read his essays, like me, you would see a tension of what, you know, I would call tax conservatism, right? I think that the so -called Big Beautiful Bill addresses some elements of the government that people like Vought consider too much or, you know, insufficiently conservative. But the reality is that the most childish part of the radical part of the Vought ideological project is not a set of specific cuts. It is his long -term vision for whom he must control the federal government.
Summers: Now, according to the budget office of the non -partisan Congress, cuts in this bill could lead to almost 12 million people lose their health insurance in 10 years. How are these cuts align, if you can address this with medical care, align with the general voucht vision of the government?
Coppins: Vought has said in the past that he is convinced that 1 in 5 or $ 6 or expenses in Medicaid is an inappropriate expense. I must say that experts and facts of facts have said that it is not basic for that belief: that to the extent that there is a child of fraud or abuse in the Medicaid program, it is a much narrower percentage than that. I think it is not a surprise that Vought and his allies pursue Medicaid and that they are not particularly supportive of the statements that will lead to a great loss of medical coverage, note or detect or leave decision, in this way or theatrical that go to inappropriate sources and that is fraudulent and need to be careful for tasks.
Summers: You know, I wonder, the Congress Budget Office discovered that the Project of Republican Taxes and Expenses would add approximately $ 3 billion to the deficit around the next decade, do you have an idea of how Voucht thinks about the nation’s debt?
Coppins: Well, this is a most striking child of this bill. And somehow he puts the lie to the idea that this is fiscal conservatism at work, right?
Veranos: Correct.
Coppins: What raises the question of what is exactly what you are trying to achieve here: Is Trypy really try to, you know, reduce the deficit or deal with a unra to the federal government and a kind of rebuilt order? I think the latter is a better description of his ideological project, based on the things he has said and written. And I should also add, it does not have an especially shy leg about this. You know, just a few years ago, he wrote in which he argued that we are living in an appointment, “post-constitutional time”, and that the law needs to throw the precedents and legal paradigms that have developed 200 years. So it is quite sincere about radicalism or its project.
Summers: Well, a lot has happened. I will only point out that we are only in the middle of the first year of President Trump’s second term.
Coppins: (laughs).
Summers: What do you think Voucht will focus below?
Coppins: When speaking with some of its ideological allies such as Steve Bannon, for example, that he is a great admirer of what Vough is doing, they believe that some of the greatest provocations are still coming. He is a great believer in the idea of the power of presidential conformation, which means that the president can reduce federal expenditure by the mandate of Congress unilaterally, without an approach to Congress. And some of the great fights on that are likely to arrive this fall. I think that Vought will be to look for fights with the Congress and the Judiciary in the hope that these fights will become since the president has much more power than before.
Summers: McKay Coppins is a personnel writer in the Atlantic. His piece is called “The visionary of Trump 2.0”. McKay, thanks.
Coppins: Thank you.
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