In response to Senate Republicans moving forward with their disastrous budget resolution that puts Americans last, DNC Chair Ken Martin released the following statement:

“Last night, MAGA Republicans voted six times to protect tax giveaways for the ultra-wealthy while putting critical programs for working families like Medicaid on the chopping block. Senate Republicans’ corrupt agenda sets the stage to gut health care coverage for tens of millions of Americans and give tax handouts to billionaires. It’s wrong – and hardworking families are taking notice. Mark my words: Republicans will be held accountable for their runaway greed.”

Republicans revealed their disastrous funding agenda focused on putting working families last by putting Medicare and Medicaid, SNAP, and the Affordable Care Act on the chopping block while repeatedly protecting handouts for the ultra-wealthy, voting to:

• Protect Trump’s massive tax handouts for the ultra-wealthy again and again and again and again and again throughout the night 

• Support Trump and Musk’s reckless mass firings and funding cuts, including firing desperately needed federal firefighters
• Put Medicaid and Medicare on the chopping block
• Use Medicaid funding to pay for tax cuts for billionaires 
• Gut access to maternal and pediatric health care through Medicaid 
• Let the Affordable Care Act tax credits expire for millions of Americans 
• Force kids to go hungry every day in classrooms across the country by putting  the National School Lunch and School Breakfast programs at risk 
• Refuse to support efforts to lower the cost of housing 
• Leave veterans exposed to toxic substances out in the cold by refusing to protect funding for the PACT Act 
• Gut SNAP benefits that help put food on the table for hundreds of millions of Americans 
• Refuse to lower prescription drug costs
• Risk IVF access for millions across the country 

Republicans are building on Trump’s reckless agenda of mass firings and funding cuts that has already gutted critical programs and agencies that Americans rely on every single day. So far Trump has: 

• Frozen millions of dollars already promised to farmers across the country 
• Paused $340 million worth of purchases from U.S. farmers 
• Gutted economic assistance programs for poor, rural Americans and froze plans to save rural small businesses, farmers, and communities over $20 million
• Fired officials working on Medicare and Medicaid initiatives aimed at improving care
• Risked shutting down Head Start preschools across the country, leaving parents stranded without child care
• Gutted funding to community health centers across the country, leaving millions of Americans without access to critical and life-saving treatment 
• Blocked the VA from hiring “badly needed” doctors and nurses, putting our veterans’ hard-earned benefits at risk while slashing critical mental health care services for veterans 
• Closed the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau after it put $19.7 BILLION back in Americans’ pockets 
• Threatened Medicaid payments, SNAP, and school breakfast programs that tens of millions of Americans rely on every single day 
• Risked seniors going hungry, pausing funding for Meals on Wheels
• Cut the HHS Strategic Preparedness and Response unit that is responsible for combating threats like bird flu 
• Ended the military’s successful sexual assault prevention training program 
• Risked Americans’ safety in the skies, firing hundreds of Federal Aviation Administration employees
• Forced small businesses across the country to lay off employees 
• Halted financial and medical assistance for Americans with disabilities 
• Stopped the onboarding of thousands of firefighters, placing vulnerable communities at risk on the eve of fire season 
• Gutted the World Trade Center Health Program, a “lifeline” to 9/11 first responders, threatening critical health care for 130,000 WTC Health Program members 
• Fired officials and scientists in charge of ensuring Americans’ food is safe 
• Fired staff in charge of ensuring Americans’ beloved pets’ drugs are healthy and safe
• Risked the future of U.S. global leadership in science and technology as we face growing competition from China  
• Threatened funding for homeless veterans’ shelters 
• Paused research on cures for childhood cancer

This latest attack on working families comes after Republicans doubled down on their plans to put Medicaid on the chopping block to pay for Trump’s handout for the ultra-wealthy, devastating working families, seniors, children, and rural Americans. 

Sahil Kapur: “Chuck Schumer offered an amendment to the Republican budget resolution to prohibit tax cuts for the wealthy if even $1 is cut from Medicaid.

“It was rejected 49-51.

“Democrats unanimously voted YES, joined by Collins and Hawley. Other Republicans voted NO.”

NPR: “Medicaid is under threat — again. Republicans … are pushing proposals that could sharply cut funding to the government health insurance program for poor and disabled Americans, as a way to finance President Trump’s agenda for tax cuts … 

“Since Trump took office, Republicans in Washington have discussed making changes to Medicaid, particularly by requiring that enrollees prove they are working. Because most enrollees already work, go to school, or serve as caregivers or have a disability, critics say such a requirement would simply add red tape to obtaining coverage, with little impact on employment.”

KFF Health News: “Republicans in Washington say they plan to use funding cuts and regulatory changes to dramatically shrink Medicaid, the nearly $900-billion-a-year government health insurance program that, along with the related Children’s Health Insurance Program, serves about 79 million mostly low-income or disabled Americans. …

“Advocates for poor people fear GOP funding cuts will leave more Americans without insurance, making it harder for them to get care.

“If the GOP’s plans to shrink Medicaid are realized, Democrats and health experts say, low-income people forced to buy private insurance would face challenges paying monthly premiums and the large copayments and deductibles common to commercial plans that typically don’t exist in Medicaid.”

Georgetown University Center for Children and Families: “Cuts to Medicaid Will Shift Costs to Families, Providers and Will Be Especially Harmful to Rural Communities”

“Medicaid covers almost 80 million people in total – roughly four times as many people as covered by the Affordable Care Act Marketplaces and considerably more than the roughly 48 million seniors covered by Medicare. This is particularly true in rural areas where a higher share of residents are covered by Medicaid. Rural areas face greater challenges in their health ecosystems as their residents have higher rates of chronic diseases, hospitals are operating on tighter margins, and provider shortages are more acute.”

New York Times: “Medicaid Cuts May Force Retirees Out of Nursing Homes”

Skilled Nursing News: “‘Devastating’: Medicaid Cuts in Republican Crosshairs, With Nursing Homes Seen as Bearing Major Pain”

“‘Any serious Medicaid cuts will have a major impact on long-term supports and services, broadly defined to include nursing homes, home health and personal care,’ [Brian] Ellsworth told Skilled Nursing News. ‘Those services comprise over a third of Medicaid spending nationally and would certainly be under the chopping block at the state level if serious cuts were made to Medicaid in Washington.’”

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