One Big, Ugly Betrayal of Americans
By Sachi Gosal, Congress Watch Advocacy Intern and Katherine Jones, Equitable Economy Advocacy Organizer
The Republican reconciliation package, or as GOP lawmakers call it, the “One Big Beautiful Bill Act,” is actually an ugly betrayal for millions of Americans. This legislation guts affordable healthcare and nutrition assistance for seniors, veterans, people with disabilities, children, and low-income families to enact the largest transfer of wealth in American history.
The package, which bypassed the filibuster, passed Congress on July 3 and was signed into law by the President on July 4.
We have nicknamed the package the “Big, Ugly Law” or BUL since it makes massive cuts to vital government services, including Medicaid, the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (or SNAP, previously called “food stamps”), and rolls back clean energy credits, in order to hand trillions in tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans and corporations.
Medicaid is the nation’s largest public health system, providing healthcare to 70 million people. Covered individuals rely on Medicaid for everything from prescription medications to physical therapy to mental health services. However, Congressional Republicans slashed Medicaid by $930 billion. The bill creates stringent pre-determination and work requirements for Medicaid recipients and eliminates ACA enhanced tax credits, threatening to leave roughly 15 million people uninsured by 2034.
The bill also uses work requirements to cut $186 billion from SNAP, which provides food stamps for children, seniors, and other vulnerable populations. Millions of people are at risk of losing reliable food assistance, even though research shows that SNAP’s existing rigid work requirements don’t increase employment or earnings.
Though the reconciliation package has become law, the fight isn’t over yet. The drafters of the legislation intentionally set the gravest impacts to hit later down the road such as the Medicaid work requirements and the SNAP states’ cost shares.
Collectively, we have a chance ensure that lawmakers who supported the legislation understand that these harms are being committed against their own constituents. Please have your voice heard in this critical accountability work!
You can get more engaged right now by:
- Contacting the office of your U.S. Representative and Senators and hold them accountable if they supported the BUL.
- See how your Representative and Senators voted.
- Call your Representative or Senators at 202-224-3121 (Capitol Switchboard) to express your disappointment. (Or click here and search for your Representative by state, or to click here and search Senators by state.)
- Posting on social media about the harms of the reconciliation bill.
- Writing a letter to the editor (LTE) of your local paper about the Big, Ugly Law.
- Letting us know if you want to get more engaged, for example by sharing information with family and friends about the dangers of the BUL.
Onward!