Republicans passed Trump’s big ugly budget bill last week.
I voted no. Then, I wrote an op-ed for the Delaware News Journal to shine a bright light on the devastating impact this legislation will have on our neighbors and to explain who it really serves.
I hope you’ll take a few minutes to read my op-ed and help me continue sounding the alarm. The more people learn about MAGA’s cruelty and deceit, the harder it’ll be for them to get away with it.
— Sarah
This is the agony the Republican budget hurls at Delaware
Sarah McBride
July 3, 2025
I’m writing from Washington, D.C., where just hours ago, Congressional Republicans passed a sweeping budget that will have devastating consequences for families across Delaware. The legislation — crafted behind closed doors and rushed through because of an arbitrary deadline set by President Donald Trump — slashes healthcare, food assistance and vital services, all to just partially finance $2 trillion in tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans.
The bill’s passage isn’t just disappointing — it’s dangerous for all of our neighbors.
How does the Republican budget endanger Delaware?
Here in Delaware, the impacts will be immediate and severe. According to the latest estimates, more than 54,000 Delawareans are expected to lose health care coverage. Roughly 37,000 of our neighbors — many of them children, seniors, and veterans — are at risk of losing some or all of their SNAP benefits. And at least one of our major hospitals serving rural communities faces the very real existential risk due to the bill’s deep Medicaid cuts.
That means longer travel times for emergency care, fewer doctors available for routine checkups, and rising costs for everyone — even those with private insurance.
This is not healthcare, it’s Trumpcare. And Trumpcare means that 17 million Americans lose their access to affordable healthcare. It means importing the worst parts of the private health care system into public programs like Medicaid and Medicare — layers of red tape, excessive paperwork and heightened administrative costs. This makes it even harder for Delawareans and American citizens to receive adequate care.
This is not a theoretical policy debate. These are real people’s lives. I’ve met with them: the single parent in Milford balancing two jobs to keep her kids covered, the retired teacher in Seaford relying on Medicaid to afford assisted living, the hospital administrators losing sleep over whether their facility can continue serving their communities.
This bill hands tax breaks to billionaires, and hands the bill to Medicaid and Medicare patients. It shifts costs onto hungry families, offloads responsibility onto state governments, and threatens the growth of future generations.
And it wasn’t just Democrats sounding the alarm over this bill.
Republican Sen. Thom Tillis of North Carolina voted no on the bill because it broke the promise that Trump made — a promise to not cut Medicaid. Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska refused to support the legislation until GOP leadership offered her state special carve outs, a clear signal that she understands just how much harm this bill would do to rural hospitals and working families.
We will keep fighting, Delaware.
Over the past several months, working alongside Sen. Coons and Sen. Lisa Blunt Rochester, we visited small communities across our state, elevating the voices of Delawareans who would be impacted by this bill. We focused on the impact and not the partisan politics of it all. I spoke to my colleagues and took to the floor of the House of Representatives to share the stories of Medicaid recipients from our state. On the House floor, I said what so many of us are thinking: people will die because of this bill. And I meant it.
I stood arm in arm with my colleagues for over 24 hours to vote no when the bill first came to the House floor. And at several points, I offered an amendment to blunt the worst provisions of the bill that would create red tape so thick it amounts to a backdoor cut to Medicare.
Republicans blocked my amendment and the hundreds that my colleagues submitted.
But I didn’t stop fighting for my constituents. I joined hundreds of my colleagues in signing a discharge petition to bring the Protecting Medicaid and SNAP Act to the floor — legislation that would prevent these cuts from taking effect. And, on Wednesday this week, I joined dozens of my colleagues on the House floor to motion for an amendment that would block any cuts to Medicaid or SNAP. Each time, Republicans objected to the request.
My colleagues and I were ready for as many sleepless nights as necessary to try to stop this bill. In the end, almost all of my Republican colleagues caved to Trump, paving the way for passage.
Budgets are moral documents. I believe budgets should reflect our values: dignity, fairness, opportunity. Every child should have a doctor. Every senior should age with support. Every family should be able to count on support and care in their time of need. Every dollar we spend is a reflection of those values.
But this budget betrays those values. This budget tells Delawareans: You’re on your own. That if you’re a working parent struggling to get prenatal care, a retiree counting on Medicare, or a farmer an hour from the nearest specialist — you simply don’t matter as much as the wealthy donor or powerful lobbyist. It is trickle-down cruelty.
I reject that vision. Delawareans have always rejected that vision. Our job is to make life easier, not harder for the people we represent. Delaware families work hard. They play by the rules. They expect their elected leaders to do the same. That’s why I’ll continue working — alongside our senators, our governor, and our General Assembly — to protect Delaware from the damage in this budget and to offer better alternatives, rooted in stability, dignity, and opportunity for every person in our state.
Thank you for reading! Sarah is working every day to push back against Trump’s billionaire agenda, hold Republicans accountable for the harm they’re causing, and deliver real solutions to make life more affordable for working families. None of that is possible without this grassroots team. |
