This week, House and Senate Democrats invited Americans from across the country to the Capitol to slam MAGA Republicans in Congress as they move forward with their budget resolution that will put critical programs like Medicaid and SNAP benefits on the chopping block to pay for Donald Trump’s tax handouts for billionaires and mega-corporations. These cuts will have devastating consequences for Americans across the country, stripping lifesaving health care access from millions and leaving working families unable to put food on the table. 

Let’s be absolutely clear: While Democrats fight for working families, Trump and his MAGA minions will screw over hardworking Americans at every turn in order to benefit themselves and their billionaire friends. 

Here are some highlights from the events below:

Leader Hakeem Jeffries: “The Republican budget represents the largest Medicaid cut in American history. Children will be devastated. Families will be devastated. People with disabilities will be devastated. Seniors will be devastated. Hospitals will be devastated. Nursing homes will be devastated. Let me be clear, House Democrats will not provide a single vote to this reckless Republican budget … we are voting with the American people. … This is not a joke. This is not politics as usual, it is a matter of life and death.”

Whip Katherine Clark: “House Republicans have shown they will allow their own constituents to be crushed under the weight of their political ambition.”

Senator Chris Murphy: “You’re talking about $880 billion of cuts to Medicaid. … That means that sick kids die in this country. That means that hospitals in depressed communities and rural communities close their doors. That means that drug and addiction treatment centers disappear all across this country. That means that millions of working families who have insurance today because, by the way, 24% of Americans get their healthcare from Medicaid. … And for what? Because Elon Musk needs another billion dollars? … The scope of this greed is something that we have never ever seen before in this country and we should not accept it as normal in the United States of America.” 

Representative Becca Balint: “We are legislating, we are litigating, and we are agitating. … Everyone, everyone in this country deserves a fair shot, and the Republicans are not thinking about regular people ever, ever. It’s about who’s at the top, who can we give more money to while the rest of us are scrapping around for every little bit that we can get.” 

Representative Greg Casar: “This is not about making government more efficient for working people. The Republican plan is about making government more efficient for big corporations and billionaires who are screwing us over. We don’t need to cut Social Security. We can expand it. We don’t need to cut people’s health care. We can expand it.”

North Carolina Grandmother Mary Beth Cochran: “They are trying to slash Medicaid, which is the only reason my grandkids see a doctor, including my youngest who has ADHD, autism, and PTSD from surviving two floods in our area in the past three years. Our children should be able to get the basic necessities they need. … Families like mine are counting on Congress to put the needs of our children above the interests of the ultra-rich by voting no.”

Virginia Medicaid Recipient Katina Moss: “I am one of the more than 630,000 Virginians who will be kicked off Medicaid if Republicans in Congress get their way. … They want people like me to lose our health care in order to pay for Donald Trump’s tax cuts for the rich.”

Texas Veteran Alfredo Reyes: “I am scared right now because reality is I’m in the rapid rehousing program. After the end of this year, I’m gonna end up back in the street. That’s not right. And the one thing I can tell you is that the housing first does work. … I mean, I’m living proof of it. Since then — I was homeless for seven-and-a half years — since then, I now have a place to stay. I have a job. … I’m proud of it. … We all deserve that.” 

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