Tonight my Republican colleagues in the House brought their budget resolution to the floor for a vote, and it narrowly passed 217-215.
I voted against it – along with every single other Democrat – because it’s a reckless and dangerous proposal that would gut critical programs like Medicaid, all to fund trillions of dollars in tax cuts for the wealthy.
Cutting Medicaid is so egregious that even Donald Trump on the campaign trail promised not to touch it. He lied (shocking, I know).
The proposed cuts are deeply unpopular, and not just with Democrats — because millions of Americans of all political persuasions, all across the country rely on Medicaid to get the health care they need without going broke (including 1 in 6 people in San Diego County).
So why are Republicans doing this?
It’s simple: Because Trump promised the wealthiest folks in our country (and CEOs of massive corporations) that he’d give them huge tax cuts – and House Republicans have made it clear that they’ll do whatever Trump wants, no matter how devastating it is for their constituents.
So what’s next? The budget will head to the Senate, and here in the House Democratic Caucus, we will continue to fight every day for legislation that will help American families, not hurt them. We’ll file our own legislation, work to persuade moderate Republicans, conduct congressional oversight work, and support the critical court strategies of our allies and partners filing lawsuits against this administration.
What can you do? Well, here’s something really important:
We’ve learned in the first month of this new administration that public opinion can make an impact – just look at how quickly they reversed the public grants freeze after a massive public outcry.
So one of the most important things we can do right now is make sure everyone knows and speaks out about the harmful impacts of these GOP proposals.
Will you sign my public petition standing against the GOP budget’s cruel and dangerous Medicaid cuts?
And after you do that, will you forward this email to at least three people who can join in as well?
Thank you for using your voice. It can be easy to feel powerless amid all of this chaos, but we have to keep doing what we can each day to resist.
I’ll be right by your side in this work.
More updates to come soon,
Sara
