This morning, at a town hall in Iowa, Republican Senator Joni Ernst responded to her constituents’ concerns about Iowans suffering due to Medicaid and SNAP cuts in Trump and Senate Republicans’ budget bill by callously remarking, “well, we all are going to die.”

Trump’s budget plan is simple: Americans across the country will suffer without life-saving health care while billionaires get another tax handout. 

In response, DNC Chair Ken Martin released the following statement: 

“This morning, Joni Ernst said the quiet part out loud: Republicans don’t give a shit about whether their own constituents live or die as long as the richest few get richer, and that’s precisely why they’re ramming through a budget bill that would rip away health care and food from millions of Americans, including kids and seniors. Ernst and the Republican Party are putting American lives at risk to give a massive tax handout to billionaires while working families struggle to put food on the table and get basic medical care. This isn’t just what Joni Ernst believes — it’s what the entire Republican Party stands for.” 

Republicans are advancing Trump’s disastrous budget bill that would gut Medicaid and slash food assistance programs, leaving working families without health care or a way to put meals on the table. 

The Hill: “Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Wednesday afternoon advanced legislation containing cuts to Medicaid and health care provisions — some of the most controversial and contentious provisions that will be included in the ‘big, beautiful bill’ of President Trump’s ambitious legislative agenda.

Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: “CBO’s early estimates show that at least 13.7 million people would lose coverage and become uninsured because of the Medicaid cuts and the ACA marketplace restrictions in this committee legislation, as well as the fact that the budget legislation does not extend expiring marketplace premium tax credit improvements.”

West Virginia Watch: “Medicaid cuts could hurt older adults who rely on home care, nursing homes” 

ProPublica: “The Trump Administration Cracked Down on Medicaid. Kids Lost Insurance.”

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

Politico: “House Agriculture Committee approves $300 billion in nutrition spending cuts”

Center for Budget Policies and Priorities: “Millions of Low-Income Households Would Lose Food Aid Under Proposed House Republican SNAP Cuts”

“Regardless of how Republican lawmakers enact a cut of this magnitude, this would slash more than 20 percent from a program that helps more than 40 million people, including 1 in 5 children, afford groceries.”

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