‘Big Beautiful Bill’ spells big disaster

Flash floods in Texas have killed at least 82 people. The Texas state infrastructure is unprepared to deal with the effects of the flood after huge cuts to disaster relief by Trump administration. (Pic: rawpixel.com)

At least 100 people have died after flash floods swept across Texas last week—and dozens were still missing on Monday. 

President Donald Trump has declared the flood a “horrible tragedy”, while denying the climate disaster that caused it. 

Since his inauguration, Trump has fired hundreds of climate scientists and wiped away years of research. 

His cuts to federal funding have also wiped out disaster relief, which he labelled as “wasteful and ineffective.”

Ted Cruz, Republican senator for Texas, has claimed that climate change is “the perfect pseudo-scientific theory”.

The Texas state infrastructure is woefully unprepared to deal with the effects of the flood. 

The very people who should have been in place to warn of the floods and prepare for them were sacked in April. 

Trump’s policies will only make the climate crisis worse. 

His new Big Beautiful Bill will end federal support to cleaner energy options and allows for more gas and oil drilling rights. 

This will see massive tax cuts for the rich, a massive $45 billion go to Immigration and Customs Enforcement detention centres, and $14 billion towards deportation. 

Some 16 million people will lose access to healthcare, with approximately $900 billion of cuts coming in the next decade. 

The bill passed marginally by 218 votes to 214, but behind this victory there’s a crisis in the Republican party. 

The bill was debated for over 21 hours by the Senate and was only passed with concessions made.

Multiple Republican Senators and representatives have announced their retirement in the wake of it.

Resistance on the streets can take advantage of these divisions. 

Thousands of people took part in hundreds of demonstrations across the United States on 4 July, “Independence Day”. 

Victor Fernandez is migrant right activist in Los Angeles. He told Socialist Worker, “There is definitely a possibility for the movement to grow.

“People need to be convinced not only to be angry and show up, but to commit their time and energy to joining organisations or building new ones, as well as recruiting others.”

He added that the demonstrations “can’t just be anti-Trump.

Victor added, “If it’s just anti-Trump then the Democrats are going to use that. That’s where we have to come in.”