Statement by National NOW President Christian F. Nunes
Donald Trump got his wish today. He wanted to sign a “big bill” into law on July 4th, and he put together a jumble of tax giveaways to the rich and cuts to programs that are a lifeline for everyday Americans.
The bill passed today will slash nearly $1 trillion from Medicaid and cause 11.8 million Americans to become uninsured within a decade.
The people will feel the pain Trump and Congress have caused today–in all 50 states and every congressional District.
And women are going to once again feel a disproportionate impact of this historic onslaught.
The nearly $1 trillion in cuts to Medicaid the House approved today could force as many as 144 rural hospitals to close, shuttering labor-and-delivery units or drastically cutting back services that could mean catastrophic consequences for maternal and infant health.
Women make up the majority of adult Medicaid recipients, covering nearly half of adult women ages 19-49 and more than 60 percent of women ages 50-64. Medicaid is the irreplaceable lifeline that ensures women get the health care they need before, during and after a pregnancy—covering at least 41 percent of all births nationwide.
Even Louisiana—home state to House Speaker Mike Johnson—passed a bipartisan resolution in the state legislature calling for no cuts to Medicaid—something more than one in three Louisianans depend on. But Speaker Johnson and his caucus have sold out those citizens and put them at risk.
One study by the University of Pennsylvania and the Yale School of Public Health, even calculated that the cuts made by the bill will result in an estimated 51,311 preventable deaths per year!
And the bill makes cuts to SNAP and other core safety net programs that put food on the table in Republican and Democratic districts alike, causing 3.2 million people to lose benefits in an average month.
With this vote, the House abandoned its duty as a third branch of government and caved to fulfill the wishes of a tyrannical, out-of-control president by rushing to meet this arbitrary deadline that will prove enormously costly.
Let no one forget what Congress did today—especially the voters who now see more clearly than ever what’s at stake in the next election.
