AYESHA RASCOE, HOST:
Congress met President Trump's deadline to pass his spending bill, and he signed that bill on July Fourth. But as many Americans celebrated the country's independence, others in cities across the U.S. protested President Trump's policies. NPR White House correspondent Deepa Shivaram joins us now. Good morning.
DEEPA SHIVARAM, BYLINE: Hey. Good morning, Ayesha.
RASCOE: So President Trump on Friday signed a spending bill that contains much of his domestic policy. We know that some of the provisions in the bill won't go into effect until the - after the 2026 midterms, if not later. What will Americans notice first in terms of what this bill delivered?
SHIVARAM: Yeah. Well, there's definitely a lot of components in this bill. It's a big tax bill. Huge domestic legislative win for the president. Like you mentioned, it's just a major part of his policy and a lot of campaign, you know, promises and things that he mentioned. But there are also some things that he, you know, kind of backed up on. So it was a big promise during the campaign that he wouldn't touch Medicaid. But this bill does, in fact, impact and affect Medicaid, which is the program that provides health care to about 70 million Americans who are low-income, disabled, elderly. And cuts to that program won't come in until after the midterm elections, like you mentioned. But there are still some effects that, you know, Americans might start to see, including how it'll impact rural hospitals around the country. That's something that folks in more rural communities might start to feel sooner.
And that, of course, affects, you know, some of this politically, right? Republicans in Congress are going to have to go sell this agenda, sell this bill in their own home districts because there have been, you know, a lot of apprehension from voters. People, even in ones who support the president, have felt a little, you know, some type of way about this bill. And so to see what members of Congress do next, going back to their home districts to try to sell this agenda might be something to watch and keep an eye on, especially for folks like someone like Representative Thomas Massie from Kentucky. He didn't vote for this bill. And the president has been really vocal, speaking out against Massie, saying that he's going to put a primary opponent up against Massie and support that primary opponent. So there's definitely a lot of politics of this playing out as well.
RASCOE: But is it going to be hard for some Republicans who really came out against this but ultimately, like, voted for this?
SHIVARAM: Yeah, yeah. There was definitely a number of Republicans who, you know, were really apprehensive about voting for this bill, were very vocally apprehensive about voting for this bill, and then who came around, right? And I think it sort of largely speaks to how much of a hold President Trump has on the Republican Party. He played a huge role. We know this, speaking to White House sources, you know, the big role that President Trump played in getting this bill passed. You know, talking to lawmakers, having meals with them, working the phones, trying to get them to the other side of this and voting yes. And so it is kind of interesting to see how that process just unfolded in the last, you know, week here to get all of these Republicans, you know, on board and voting for this legislation.
But yeah, absolutely, they're going to have to go home and answer some questions from their constituents about, you know, changes to health care and things that President Trump promised that he wouldn't touch. And so, you know, you mentioned some of the protests that have happened over the July Fourth weekend. It'll be interesting to see what kind of reception, you know, these lawmakers receive in some of these districts where folks might not be super on board with this bill that just got passed and signed into law.
RASCOE: President Trump, he got another big win this past week when the Supreme Court cleared the way for his administration to deport immigrants to South Sudan, even though they have no ties to the war-torn country, where the majority of the population is now experiencing what the U.N. describes as catastrophic hunger levels. These deportations are just one part of this larger strategy from the administration, right?
SHIVARAM: Yeah. I mean, look, immigration is something that President Trump really ran on in his campaign. One of his strongest issues. One that he talks about often and comes back to often. So this is something that, yeah, he definitely has a larger immigration strategy here that is a big part of his domestic agenda as well. I will say there is a new NPR/PBS News/Marist poll that came out this past week that showed President Trump's approval rating on immigration at about 43%, and that is where his overall approval rating roughly stands as well.
But I thought there were some interesting points in that poll, Ayesha, which is to say, if you kind of look through the numbers a little bit, 54% of respondents in that poll said that Immigration and Customs Enforcement, ICE, has gone too far in enforcing immigration laws. So it'll be interesting to see, you know, how folks might change their perceptions, potentially, as this administration ramps up its immigration agenda. How that's implemented will be interesting, especially because this bill that we've been talking about provides a huge boost to funding for ICE and for these immigration enforcement plans.
RASCOE: That's NPR White House correspondent Deepa Shivaram. Thank you, Deepa.
SHIVARAM: Thank you.
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