‘Single Worst Piece of Legislation I’ve Seen in my Lifetime’
Picking themselves up after Republican budget becomes law, Democrats look to 2026
Democrats spent the July 4 holiday weekend picking themselves up and plotting their way forward after Donald Trump signed into law the massive Republican budget bill that will gut crucial federal programs and hand tax breaks to mostly the wealthiest Americans.
As he had hoped, Trump signed his signature legislative initiative into law on Independence Day, after congressional Republicans gave it final approval by narrow margins.
The nearly 1,000-page legislation will cut about $1 trillion from the federal Medicaid program, which will cause more than 10 million Americans to lose healthcare coverage. It also will pare the federal federal food assistance program known as SNAP. In exchange, it cuts taxes — mostly for the ultra-wealthy and corporations.
Democrats, who stood united against the bill, now are turning to using it as a political weapon against Republicans in next year’s midterm elections, in which control of both chambers of Congress will be at stake.
“Look, the bottom line here is that Trump lied and people are going to die. They will die as a result of not having health care,” said Rep Debbie Wasserman Schultz (D-Fla). “I can tell you, as a breast cancer survivor, when I was diagnosed with breast cancer at 41 years old and found the lump myself, God forbid — and I remember thinking this because I was diagnosed right as we were debating the Affordable Care Act — God forbid I didn’t have health insurance and couldn’t go right to the doctor to see what was wrong.
“And there are millions of people who won’t be able to go to a doctor, and they will get so sick that they will face the emergency room as their primary access point for care, or they will just die as a result of totally preventable illness because Republicans, Trump and the MAGA extremists, yanked it away from them,” she added. “And kids, disabled veterans and seniors will go hungry, guaranteed. So we’re going to share those stories and we’re going to make them pay.”
The rare popular Democratic governor of a red state — Gov Andy Beshear, of Kentucky — outlined how the new law will hurt his state.
“Well, this law is devastating. It’s the single worst piece of legislation I have seen in my lifetime, and it is a congressional Republican and presidential attack on rural America,” Beshear said. “In my state alone, 200,000 people are going to lose their coverage. Those are 200,000 Kentuckians that deserve to see a doctor when they're sick; 20,000 health care workers are going to lose their jobs.
“And we have got up to 35 rural hospitals — they're typically the second biggest employer in their communities — that may close their doors. And what that means is, our economy takes a huge hit,” Beshear added. “And then, whether you have private insurance or Medicaid, if you live in rural America, you have to drive hours just to see the doctor that used to be in your community. It is awful.
“And that is before we even talk about the cuts to SNAP, which means that seniors and children will go hungry at night and wake up hungry in the morning. I cannot believe that Congress was willing to pass this. I mean, it's awful.”
Sen Amy Klobuchar (D-Minn) was unusually personal ahead of the weekend, singling out her Republican colleague, Sen Lisa Murkowski of Alaska, who offered the decisive vote to pass the legislation in the Senate.
“I was very disappointed in that, putting it mildly. I think the people that are really going to be disappointed are the veterans, as we go into 4th of July tomorrow,” Klobuchar said. “We’re going to have their SNAP benefits either eliminated or reduced. I think the people that are going to be really upset are the people who are going to be thrown off their health care. That’s 17 million people.
“And the worst of the whole thing is that a number of the changes that were made to help Alaska actually dragged in a whole bunch of bad stuff. And my favorite example is on SNAP. It’s $200 billion in cuts for food assistance,” she added.
One House Democrat suggested that Democrats could even make changes to the law to make it less harmful, if they win a majority in Congress next year.
The start date for many of these cuts is in 2027, after the midterm elections, explained Rep Raja Krisnamoorthi (D-Ill).
“So if we take back control of Congress, we can help to slow down the implementation of those cuts and maybe even reverse them. So there’s a lot riding on these elections,” he said.
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