Politics and views in the United States.

House Republicans send the budget megabill to the president as critics warn of deep cuts to Medicaid, SNAP, and public health. Concerns rise over declining international student enrollment and North Carolina may face economic implications from gerrymandering.

TRANSCRIPT

Welcome to 2025 Talks, where we're following our democracy in historic times.

We are very pleased that Congress has prioritized legislation that will make permanent the 20 percent small business deduction.

That is huge.

Nine out of 10 small businesses are pass-throughs.

They were facing a pretty significant tax increase.

Josh McLeod of the National Federation of Independent Business says the tax structure for most small businesses means they will benefit when President Donald Trump signs this one big beautiful bill for July 4th.

After narrowly surviving weeks of internal GOP tension and delay by Democrats, the mega bill is set to become law.

Hunger relief groups say the mega bill's $200 billion in snap cuts could cause lasting harm.

Rhonda Chaffin says the Second Harvest Food Bank of Middle Tennessee serves mostly rural families.

This is one of the most harmful bills to hunger relief simply because of the drastic cuts to a key program.

Feeding America estimates the proposal could eliminate up to 9 billion meals per year.

The public health community is also warning the bill could weaken disease prevention by cutting CDC funding.

Higher education leaders say the U.S. risks losing talent and billions in revenue as international students face new federal obstacles.

Students have been caught up in crackdowns, including a controversial linking of academic visa records to FBI databases.

Fisayo Okare is with migrant advocacy group documented and says immigration enforcement is being used to stifle free speech.

The human side has been hearing from international applicants who are hesitant to apply to US universities, particularly because of the pause on international student interviews worldwide for US visa.

One study by an education nonprofit focused on international students estimated that they contributed $6 billion and supported more than 50,000 jobs in New York State last year.

Small businesses say they're worried by a new registry collecting ownership data under 2021's Corporate Transparency Act.

While enforcement was paused this spring, more than 30 million small businesses will ultimately be expected to register with the Treasury Department, just as privacy concerns are magnified by DOJ data gathering.

A federal court in North Carolina is reviewing a gerrymandering lawsuit that alleges state lawmakers drew congressional maps to weaken black voting power in 2022, a move critics say also hurt the economy.

Business owner David Bilstrom argues that unfair elections shrink markets and undermine trust.

I see the correlation between unfair elections and attacks on parties and people being members of parties.

And the moment you start attacking, now you've constrained your ability to market to those same people.

So that just seems pretty silly to me.

I'm Farah Siddiqui for Pacifica Network and Public News Service.

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