Republicans in Congress are racing to pass President Donald Trump’s “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” which would extend his 2017 tax cuts and make significant spending cuts to Medicaid and food assistance totaling nearly $1 trillion.
The legislation, which is being advanced without any support from Democrats, is being slammed by critics who say it would overwhelmingly benefit wealthy Americans and corporations at the expense of steep cuts to social programs that millions rely on.
Most notably, recipients of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, could see their food benefits slashed or eliminated. This comes at a time when hunger and poverty in the United States continue to increase. The Republican spending bill also calls for nearly $700 billion in cuts to Medicaid over a decade, as access to affordable health care remains elusive for millions.
The bill is also unpopular with the public. According to a recent Morning Consult poll, 49% of Americans oppose the tax and spending bill, while 36% support it.
What’s more, Black Americans disproportionately rely on these critical safety net programs and, as a result, stand to be harmed the most by the proposed cuts.
“About one in five Medicaid enrollees are Black…20% of Black households have faced food insecurity in recent years, compared to 7% of white households,” said U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley, D-Mass., during a Tuesday press conference on Capitol Hill in protest of the Trump-backed GOP tax and spending package. “As the saying goes, when the rest of America gets a cold, Black folks get pneumonia, and this bill is certainly a testament to that.”
Portia Allen-Kyle, interim executive director of Color of Change, said the cuts to Medicaid, SNAP, and other programs will be “devastating” for Black and brown families.
“Costs are going up with wages remaining the same and going down…taking away these vital government services is taking away the ability to survive,” said the advocate.
Given the more than $4 trillion tax and spending cuts and its adding to the nation’s deficit, Allen-Kyle said President Trump and Republicans are furthering a “neo-segregationist agenda that seeks to consolidate power and consolidate wealth…at the expense of everybody else.”
“It’s time to cut the greed and not the people,” she said at Tuesday’s press conference. “They are so concerned…[about] waste, fraud and abuse. We are concerned with greed, theft and corruption that is at the center of this bill.”
U.S. Rep. Summer Lee, D-Pa., said the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act” resulted from wealthy donors using their money to influence the election that sent Donald Trump back to the White House and gave Republicans a slim majority in Congress.
“That is exactly why we have to get money out of politics, because…Republicans are more accountable to the corporate interests and the billionaires and lobbyists lining their pockets,” said the progressive lawmaker. “Rather than provide these folks with fair wages and affordable housing, Republicans are cutting the very benefits and social services in favor of these oligarchs.”
“We’ve lost the plot. We’ve lost democracy,” Lee added. “This is now about who has power and who they are willing to hurt to keep it, and it is working families and it’s the disenfranchised Black and brown communities that get hit the hardest every time.”
