On July 3, the House of Representatives passed Trump’s controversial bill, 118-114, which will increase the national deficit by almost $4 trillion, and cut services to help working class Americans, in order to give more tax cuts to the very wealthy.
The bill will eliminate $1.3 trillion from Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act exchanges, Medicare and food assistance. According to a press release from Rep. Nanette Barragán, 17 million Americans will lose their health care, and 40 million people will have their food assistance put at risk. The bill also increases ICE’s budget, as well as providing more funding for other immigration enforcement, providing about $350 billion. This includes $46 billion for a border wall, $45 billion for 100,000 migrant detention, and the hiring of an additional 10,000 ICE agents.
As previously reported by RLn, across the county, rural hospitals are slated to lose almost $70 billion total, according to a report from the National Rural Health Association. Hundreds of hospitals will close due to bidget cuts.
Every single House Democrat opposed the bill, but only two House Republicans, Thomas Massie and Brian Fitzpatrick, voted no.
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries spoke for nearly nine hours to delay the bill, breaking the house’s previous filibuster record.
Democratic National Committee Chair Ken Martin called the bill a massive scheme to steal from working class Americans, and said that millions will lose their jobs.
Gov. Gavin Newsom said the bill was a complete moral failure.
“The President and his MAGA enablers are ripping care from cancer patients, meals from children, and money from working families — just to give tax breaks to the ultra-rich. With this measure, Donald J. Trump’s legacy is now forever cemented: he has created a more unequal, more indebted, and more dangerous America. Shame on him,” Newsom said.
Barragán said that House Democrats fought like hell to stop the bill, and heard story after story of families afraid they’d lose their health care, and clinic directors worried they’d need to close their doors.
“We introduced amendment after amendment and stayed up all night in committee hearings to expose Republican lies and cruelty and demanded better for the American people,” Barragán said. “But in the end, Republicans in Congress chose to serve Trump and their donors over their country and constituents.”
The bill will now go to Trump’s desk for his signature.
Note: This story has been edited to the corrected number of 17 million from a previous version that stated 7 million Americans will lose their health care.