Dear John,

The MAGA Republicans are preparing to strip women of critical support. Quietly. Systematically. By the end of May.

The Budget Reconciliation Bill —an innocuous name for a cruel knife—is being framed as “all or nothing” legislation by the Republican-led Congress.  It’s a vehicle designed to pass the entire Trump agenda without needing Democratic votes.  It cannot be filibustered in the Senate, making it a high-stakes fast-moving process.

There’s not a moment to lose in calling your Member of Congress. House Speaker Mike Johnson has set Memorial Day (May 26) as the deadline to pass the bill out of the House.

Behind closed doors, behind fuzzy language made to dull our senses, men in suits are slicing the spine from Medicaid and SNAP (food assistance). Two programs holding up the trembling architecture of care in America.  The outcome will affect  women’s lives. Children’s futures. Dignity in old age.

Trump and the MAGA spin doctors  say the aim of this bill is to impose fiscal discipline. But they lie.

Their goal is tax cuts.   $2 trillion in yet more gifts for the super-wealthy and corporations.  In exchange, they will rip the roof off the house and let the rain pour in on the rest of us.

It’s aimed at slashing funds for our mothers, grandmothers, aunts in nursing homes. Our children at the kitchen table, waiting for dinner or for their school lunch.  Women’s  bodies –pregnant, aging, ailing—needing medical care.

Here is what they won’t say out loud:

-> What Medicaid Really Is

 

Medicaid is not a luxury.  It’s not some spare layer of government fluff.  It’s the foundation of care for women and children in America.

 

Pregnant Women

  • Medicaid covers nearly half of all births in the U.S.
  • It provides prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum support, and access to midwives and OB/GYNs.
  • Without it, pregnancy becomes more dangerous. Complications become more fatal.

Children

 

  • Over 40 million children depend on Medicaid.
  • That’s vaccines, vision screenings, asthma care, dental visits.
  • That’s treatment for chronic illness. That’s the difference between health and harm.

Women

  • Medicaid funds mammograms, Pap smears, cancer screenings—the essential, preventative care that saves lives.
  • For women juggling caregiving and work, it’s often the only coverage they have.
  • And when the system fails them, it’s Medicaid that catches them.

Older Women

  • 63% of nursing home residents rely on Medicaid.
  • Most are women. Women who raised children, paid taxes, worked until their backs bent. Most are alone. Women now called a burden. Most will not survive without it.
  • The average nursing home bill varies by state from: $3,000–$8,200/month.
  • Without Medicaid, that bill lands on the family or friends or the woman is kicked out of the nursing home.

-> What SNAP Really Is

 

SNAP isn’t charity. It is food survival.  42 million people—mostly women and their children—receive SNAP.   It buys school breakfasts and lunches. Groceries for toddlers. It is the first and only line of defense between a family and hunger.

 

And what do Trump and the MAGA Republicans plan to do? Impose work requirements.  Impose cuts disguised as “efficiencies.”

They will call it reform.
They will say it’s responsible.
They will never say it’s your kids or your neighborhood’s kids or hundreds of kids in your community who will go without school breakfasts and lunches – or dinner.

 

The Republicans are Using False and “Soothing” Language to Wage This War

 

But the damage will be real, and it is coming.

 

Once again, they are counting on women to bear the brunt and to clean up after them.


To give up jobs, delay retirements, drain savings.  To absorb the cost of their cruelty in our bodies, our lives, our silences.

 

This time, we won’t bend. This time, we won’t go quietly.

 

TAKE ACTION NOW.  Today!

 

They will not hear you in Washington.  So call the local office of your Member of Congress – Republican and Democrat alike. They need to hear from you.

 

HOW TO CALL:

  1. Visit house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative
  2. Enter your ZIP code
  3. Click the email icon under your Rep’s photo
  4. Locate the local office number
  5. Call. Immediately.

WHAT TO SAY:

“Hi, my name is [Your Name], and I’m a constituent.
I’m calling to demand that Representative ______ vote against the Republican budget bill that guts Medicaid and SNAP.

These programs protect women, children, and seniors in our community.
I will not forget a vote that takes food from the mouths of children and throws the elderly out of nursing homes.

I am watching. My neighbors are watching. And we are organizing.”

Say it. Then say it again. Then hand the phone to someone else.

Let your voice be the flood they didn’t expect.
Let it rise through the wires.
Let it haunt them.

Women are Awake.  Women are Alert.

We are the Majority!

 

Trump, Musk, and the Republican majority in Congress are attempting to stack the deck against women, kids and the elderly.  They’ve played their game in the dark telling lie after lie.

 

We are the majority.  And we will not back down.  Together we can expose and defeat them. 

 

Please make your call today.

Eleanor Smeal, President

Kathy Spillar, Executive Director

P.S.  As soon as we’ve dealt with the House on this horrific bill we’ll then turn to the Senate.  The House is working on a May 26 deadline.  The Senate’s schedule is a vote between the 4th of July and sometime in August before the Debt Ceiling Deadline arrives.  We’ll keep you posted. 

Right now, the most important step you can take is to Call your U.S. Representative.

 

Feminist Majority
1600 Wilson Blvd
Arlington, VA 22209
United States

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