President Trump Signs HALT Fentanyl Act, Senate Passes $9 Billion in Spending Cuts Following AMAC Action Advocacy
The Trump administration and congressional Republicans delivered two major victories for the American people and AMAC’s more than 2 million members nationwide, as President Donald J. Trump signed the HALT Fentanyl Act into law and the Senate advanced a $9 billion rescissions package that targets wasteful spending and left-wing ideological programs.
In a powerful ceremony in Washington, President Trump signed the HALT Fentanyl Act, permanently placing fentanyl-related substances in Schedule I, designating them as among the most dangerous controlled substances. The law creates tough new penalties for trafficking and gives law enforcement the tools needed to prosecute fentanyl dealers and stop the flow of poison into our communities.
“The HALT Fentanyl Act is not just about strengthening law enforcement—it is about saving lives and protecting communities,” said AMAC CEO Rebecca Weber in a letter to Rep. Morgan Griffith (R-VA). “By permanently scheduling fentanyl analogues, we are sending a strong message that the United States will not tolerate the continued destruction caused by this drug.”
The bill earned strong bipartisan support and was backed by thousands of AMAC members who called for swift action to stop the fentanyl epidemic that killed nearly 73,000 Americans last year alone. As Weber noted, “The lives of countless Americans depend on this bill becoming law.”
The Senate also passed a $9 billion rescissions package by a 51-50 vote this week, with Vice President JD Vance casting the tie-breaking vote. The legislation rescinds funds from NPR and PBS, left-wing UN programs, and Green New Deal-style foreign initiatives—delivering on AMAC members’ demands for fiscal responsibility.
“This rescissions package will save the American taxpayers $9 billion,” said Senator Marsha Blackburn (R-TN). “With the national debt at unsustainable levels, it is essential to eliminate obvious waste.”
As AMAC Action Senior Vice President Andy Mangione made clear in a letter to the Senate, the legislation “represents a return to fiscal sanity and prioritizes the interests of AMAC members across the country over wasteful international entanglements and domestic ideological programs.”
“This is what delivering for the American people looks like,” Mangione said following the passage of both bills. “Whether it’s ending the fentanyl crisis or clawing back billions in reckless spending, President Trump and Republican leaders are listening to AMAC members—and taking action.”
AMAC Action will continue to stand with leaders who defend seniors, uphold law and order, and rein in runaway government waste.
MYTH VS. REALITY: One Big, Beautiful Bill Is Major Victory for American Seniors
Following the passage of President Donald Trump’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill” (OBBB) two weeks ago, opponents of the law have resorted to fearmongering in a desperate attempt to turn public sentiment against this transformative piece of legislation.
Instead of debating the bill on its merits, critics are spreading panic and misinformation – especially about how the bill will impact seniors. But despite all the lies and manipulation, older Americans are one of the groups from whom the One Big Beautiful Bill will benefit the most. It’s time to set the record straight.
Myth: Seniors in nursing homes will be hurt by OBBB
Reality: The OBBB exempts nursing homes and immediate care facilities from any provider tax changes. A provider tax is a state-assessed fee on nursing home revenues that triggers a larger federal Medicaid match. Because of these exemptions, the cash flow to long-term care facilities remains steady.
In other words, nothing in the legislation strips a single dollar from the bedside care seniors rely on.
Myth: OBBB will increase taxes on seniors
Reality: OBBB actually creates a brand-new $6,000 additional tax deduction for Americans 65 and older. According to the Council of Economic Advisers, OBBB will raise the share of seniors whose exemptions and deductions exceed their annual Social Security benefits to 88 percent, up from 64 percent under current law. That means nearly nine in ten seniors will owe nothing on Social Security income, and many will see their overall tax bill plunge.
Myth: Seniors who are still working will face higher taxes
Reality: OBBB cuts marginal tax rates across the board, boosts the standard deduction, and enlarges the child tax credit – all of which apply equally to older Americans who remain in the workforce. Lower brackets mean every extra hour a senior works is rewarded, not punished. Meanwhile, the higher standard deduction protects part-time earnings from ever touching the taxable column in the first place.
Myth: Senior small business owners will pay more under OBBB
Reality: The legislation slashes taxes for every pass-through business, whether the owner is 25 or 75. It also expands full expensing, so mom-and-pop shops can write off new equipment the year it’s purchased, freeing up capital to hire, raise wages, or simply extend the life of a family enterprise. Importantly, the OBBB also protects seniors working to pass their businesses to the next generation from the nightmare of the death tax. For seniors who built their businesses over decades, OBBB is a green light to keep growing instead of downsizing.
Myth: “Medicaid cuts” will kick vulnerable seniors off their health plans
Reality: Even after OBBB’s reforms, Medicaid spending is still projected to rise roughly 20 percent per year – hardly a cut. The bill kicks illegal aliens and able-bodied adults without dependents off the program, redirecting resources to the elderly and truly vulnerable. By closing loopholes that exploded under Biden-era mismanagement, OBBB shores up Medicaid so seniors don’t have to fight line-jumpers for care.
Myth: Seniors nearing retirement will have fewer health-care options
Reality: Far from limiting choice, OBBB super-charges Health Savings Accounts (HSAs) and explicitly allows seniors to use them for Direct Primary Care (DPC) memberships. That means retirees can pay a flat monthly fee for unlimited doctor visits, extended appointments, and tele-health access – without wrestling with insurance middlemen. More freedom, not less bureaucracy, is the real outcome.
MYTH: OBBB threatens rural hospital funding and will force closures
REALITY: Rural facilities represent only about 7 percent of total Medicaid hospital spending, proving they never shared in the Biden-era binge of waste, fraud, and abuse. OBBB fixes that imbalance by creating a dedicated $25 billion Rural Health Fund: $10 billion in FY 2028 and 2029, $2 billion in FY 2030 and 2031, and $1 billion in FY 2032. Funds flow not just to hospitals but also to rural health clinics and community mental health centers. The left’s “closure” talking point is a claim straight from hospital corporation lobbyists with zero zip codes outside urban America. OBBB targets dollars where they belong: bedsides, not boardrooms.
Democrats can keep screaming “cuts” and “catastrophe,” but the numbers don’t lie. OBBB locks in and widens the tax relief seniors first tasted under the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, turbo-charges opportunity for older Americans who still punch the clock, and reins in the reckless Medicaid giveaways that endangered the very programs retirees depend on.
In short, President Trump’s One Big Beautiful Bill isn’t a threat to seniors – it unleashes more opportunity for prosperity.
Policy and Legislation Support
H.R. 4317 – PBM Reform Act
Pharmacy Benefit Managers (PBMs) were originally designed to negotiate lower drug prices, yet over time, these middlemen have prioritized profit over patients, leading to higher prescription drug costs and reduced competition. The PBM Reform Act ends abusive “spread pricing” practices that rob both taxpayers and community pharmacies; introduces critical transparency measures under Medicare Part D; requires fair and reasonable pharmacy contracts that protect local access; and delinks PBM compensation from drug prices, removing perverse incentives that have harmed patients. Until the text of the bill is uploaded to Congress.gov, you can read it here. Click here to read AMAC Action’s letter of support.
Action ☆ Academy
Game of Loans
Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, explains in the 5-minute video Game of Loans how politicians and colleges have trapped students into ever-increasing debt with little to show for it. PragerU is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit that promotes American values in short educational videos for people of all ages.
Term of the Week: Marquis de Lafayette
“A French nobleman, political leader, and general of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. Enthusiastic for the ideals of the American Revolution, Lafayette served as a general in the American army during the Revolutionary War, fighting alongside his friend George Washington at the Battle of Yorktown and elsewhere. On returning to France, he was active in the early stages of the French Revolution.
A United States Army officer, speaking at the tomb of Lafayette after United States forces had arrived in support of France in World War I, said, ‘Lafayette, we are here.’ He meant that the United States, in aiding France in the war, was returning the favor that Lafayette and the French had done for the United States in the Revolutionary War. The officer is sometimes identified as General John Pershing.”
(Hirsch, E. D., et al. The Dictionary of Cultural Literacy. 2nd ed., Houghton Mifflin, 1993, p. 257.)
Class for July and August
Marxism, Socialism, and Communism
Learn about the horrors of communist regimes like the Soviet Union and China, and the rise of Cultural Marxism fueling today’s social and political tensions. In Hillsdale College’s six-part documentary series Marxism, Socialism, and Communism, professors discuss how Marxist ideas have shaped modern America—and give us the tools to understand and oppose their influence on our culture and politics.
Quote of the Week
“Wisdom is the right use of knowledge. To know is not to be wise. Many men know a great deal, and are all the greater fools for it. There is no fool so great a fool as a knowing fool. But to know how to use knowledge is to have wisdom.”
― Charles Spurgeon
Fight to save the America we love! If you’d like to become a volunteer AMAC Action Delegate, please contact us at (855) 809-6976 or [email protected].
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