We Need to Talk
Some Great Work? I see it differently.
Normally, Slyvia and I use Michael Baumgartner’s newsletter to correct the misleading information Mr. Baumgartner publishes in his weekly newsletter. But this week brought us a special article from the Spokesman-Review that just screamed “rebut this!” So, for your viewing pleasure… enjoy this week’s episode of “Reality vs. Whatever Baumgartner Is Doing.”
Eastern WA CD5 Representative, Michael Baumgartner announced his second run for Congressional District 5 at Bloomsday on May 3, 2026
Spokesman-Review article written by Emry Dinman: Baumgartner kickoff Freshly showered and swapping his gray race T-shirt for a suit jacket, Baumgartner declared his re-election bid for a second term in Congress, arguing he had accomplished “some great work” in the first two years.
With his back to the local WSU medical school, in the same spot where he announced his first bid for Congress two years ago, Baumgartner touted reduced border crossings and “tremendous progress” in the fight against the “scourge of fentanyl.”
He also argued Republicans in Congress had avoided the “largest tax increases in history,” referring at least in part to provisions in the One Big Beautiful Bill Act that extended a set of tax provisions set to expire at the end of 2025, which Republicans originally approved at the start of Trump’s first term in 2017.
The Eastern Washington representative also pointed to his efforts specifically on behalf of the region, including an amendment to the farm bill to benefit the Columbia Basin irrigation project and funding for rural health care.
“People aren’t always going to agree with me, and whether folks voted for me or didn’t vote for me … I’m still a member of Congress for all of Eastern Washington, and it’s a true privilege to get to do that every day,” Baumgartner said.
We need to talk
“Some great work”
Excuse me, but back here on earth, things look very different. As Mikey ran the 50th Anniversary Bloomsday race, did it cross his mind that some of the people running beside him have sons and daughters deployed in an unconstitutional war he continues to support?
Did it occur to him that some had to find a ride just to make it to the starting line because gas prices are so high they can’t afford to fill their tanks?
Or that some runners no longer have healthcare at all, not because of personal choices, but because of Michael Baumgartner’s vote for the so‑called “BBBillionaires Bill,” the one he’s still somehow proud of, even as it strips resources from our community, he claims to represent?
Out here, these aren’t talking points. They’re daily realities. And while he’s celebrating a race, people in his own district are running out of options, out of support, and out of time.
Let’s start with our community’s lack of healthcare
The numbers are starting to come in, and they’re alarming
The early data on the BBBillionaire Bill tax‑cut package is painting a deeply troubling picture. In order to deliver even larger tax breaks to billionaires, the money had to come from somewhere — and that “somewhere” was us. It was programs that keep families afloat, keep children fed, and keep people healthy.
And now we’re seeing the consequences far before January 2027 when the BBBillionaire Bill goes into effect.
New York Times reported this week, five million people out of the 24 million who relied on the ACA for health coverage are now without insurance. No doubt this is just the beginning. That’s not an abstract statistic. That’s cancer screenings missed, prescriptions unaffordable, chronic conditions unmanaged, and families one medical emergency away from financial ruin.
At the same time, Secretary of Agriculture Brooke Rollins reported this week, 4.8 million people who depended on SNAP are now no longer on the program. That means fewer groceries in the cart. It means parents skipping meals so their kids can eat. It means children going to school hungry in one of the wealthiest countries on Earth.
Footnote: Republicans passed the BBB in July 2025, but none of the cuts were scheduled to take effect until January 2027. Why the delay? Because they know exactly how devastating these cuts will be to communities. They know that once people start feeling the damage they planned, those same people won’t vote for them again.
They tried to time the pain for after the next election.
But it looks like the anxious horse-of-pain may have gotten out of the barn a little early.
“Funding for rural health care”
Rural hospitals are collapsing, and his vote helped push them off the cliff
Rural hospitals and clinics across Eastern Washington aren’t just under pressure — they’re shutting down. Ritzville has already lost its full medical facility and is now operating only as an Urgent Care. Dayton, Garfield, and Odessa are dangerously close to closing. And all those closings, it’s just a trickledown effect to Spokane’s hospitals.
Baumgartner keeps insisting that communities are fine because the BBBillionaire Bill supposedly provides $50 billion to keep services running. But what he doesn’t say out loud is the part that matters most:
That $50 billion is spread across every community in the entire country — over ten years and hospitals and clinics have to apply for the funding; it’s not for sure deposit.
When you divide it out, it’s not a lifeline. It’s a thin coat of paint over a massive hole.
And that hole exists because the same bill cut roughly $137 billion from the budget that supports rural healthcare. Even I can do the math, and I don’t have a Harvard degree like MB does….and he will never let you forget it.
When a hospital closes in a small town, the question becomes painfully simple:
How far are people supposed to drive for care - while paying more than $5 a gallon for gas?
Parents with sick kids. Seniors with chronic conditions. Workers injured on the job. People facing heart attacks, strokes, or complications that can’t wait.
This is what it looks like when essential services disappear:
longer drives, higher costs, and fewer options for the very people who can least afford it.
These aren’t just “cuts.”
They’re losses - losses in health, stability, dignity, and opportunity.
“Farm Bill Amendments”
Even the farmers are complaining about the updated Farm Bill
“In Reality”
Benefit Disparity: Experts from the University of Illinois warn that the highly subsidized insurance favors high-risk areas (like West Texas), essentially acting as an “income transfer” rather than just a safety net.
Small Farm Struggles: Small farms (under 180 acres) make up 75% of U.S. operations but typically receive only 13% of government payments. The 2026 bill does not include a proposed “Office of Small Farms” to address this gap.
Timing Issues: Industry stakeholders like the American Farm Bureau Federation note that while the bill is historic, for many farmers facing immediate economic pressure, these long-term reforms may arrive “too late” to prevent business failure.
Environmental Cuts: The bill cuts roughly $1 billion from the Environmental Quality Incentives Program, which critics say leaves farmers with fewer tools to build long-term climate resilience.
“Avoiding largest tax increases in history,”
Calling this “avoiding the largest tax increase in history” isn’t just spin — it’s a full‑blown scare tactic dressed up as truth. It’s political marketing, not math.
1. They’re using a weaponized phrase, not a fact.
“Largest tax increase in history” is engineered to make people panic. It’s not neutral. It’s not honest. It’s a talking point designed to make you think your paycheck was about to be vaporized overnight.
2. It’s based on a 10‑year projection, not a real‑world event.
They take a decade of hypothetical revenue and stack it up like a doomsday tower, then pretend that number is something you’d feel instantly.
It’s not.
It never was.
But they count on people not knowing the difference.
3. Independent analysts have already debunked the drama.
Yes, taxes would have gone up for some households — but nowhere near the apocalyptic levels they’re screaming about.
And the biggest increases?
They would’ve hit the people who benefited the most from the cuts in the first place — higher‑income households.
Funny how that part never makes it into the slogan.
4. Extending the cuts doesn’t “cut taxes.” It freezes the status quo.
They’re not lowering your taxes.
They’re not giving you anything new.
They’re just keeping the current rates in place and acting like they saved you from a meteor strike.
It’s political cosplay — pretending to be your hero while doing the bare minimum.
5. And the part they really don’t want to talk about: the cost.
Keeping these cuts in place adds trillions to the deficit, since Trump has been in office the deficit has grown $2.2 TRILLION due to lack of billionaires paying their fair share.
Trillions that could have gone to healthcare, childcare, infrastructure, or literally anything that helps actual people.
But instead, they frame it as if they’re protecting you — when in reality, they’re protecting the same wealthy interests who always seem to come out ahead.
So yes, calling it “avoiding the largest tax increase in history” is spin.
It’s misleading.
It’s manipulative.
And it’s designed to make Americans grateful for something that mostly benefits the people who already have the most.
He didn’t “save taxpayers.” He saved billionaires.
We are a community of pride and we demand better representation
We keep voting for people like Baumgartner thinking they’ll stand up for this community, but the truth hits harder every year: nothing is being built for the people who actually live in Eastern Washington. It’s always take away, take away, take away —programs cut, resources drained, and families left scrambling to fill the gaps.
And here’s the part that makes it even more frustrating: recent national polling shows that most Americans want to sustain the programs that help people stay afloat. The public isn’t asking for cuts. They’re asking for stability, for support, for the basics that allow communities like ours to survive.
When we build up those who can’t, we honor the promise of this country: that our strength comes from each other, not from the powerful few. A nation rises when its people rise.
Yet here in Eastern Washington, we’re watching the opposite happen. Services shrink. Support disappears. And we’re told to be grateful for crumbs while the foundation under our feet keeps getting chipped away.
Our communities deserve leaders who invest in us, not ones who treat Eastern Washington like a place to extract from and ignore. People here are working hard, raising families, caring for neighbors, and trying to hold things together. We deserve representation that does the same.
Eastern Washington is paying the price for Baumgartner’s votes. He may be running Bloomsday, but the rest of us are running out of patience, out of money, and out of time.
We have the power!
Breathe. Resist. Rest. Repeat.
Sami - Spokane Indivisible Team