On a day where the air quality over Phoenix exceeded normal safety standards, The MAGA Republican Controlled U.S. Senate passed a bill that will:
- Take people off Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. One out of every three children, according to the Children’s Action Alliance gets their health care through Medicaid.
- Starve children who rely on SNAP/Food stamps. 924,000 families. In Arizona, according to the Children’s Action Alliance needed SNAP aid to help get groceries and put food on their table. 18.5 percent of children in Arizona suffer from food insecurity.
- Decrease Pell Grants and make student loans cumbersome to pay back.
- Increase pollution across this nation’s air, waterways, and terrain. It is also a job killer to thousands of blue and green collar jobs across the nation.
- Construct concentration camps for people deemed unworthy or not white enough to stay in the United States.
All so billionaires like Jeff ‘$50 million Venice Wedding’ Bezos can get a tax cut he and others like him do not need.
While the measure does have items that frankly Democrats can and should politically support and build on like the overrated no tax on tips, the meager increase in the child tax cut and creation of an underfunded savings account program for newborns (ironically enough, these pro people clauses are the only tax measures designed to sunset by the next Presidential election,) this legislation should be renamed the Angel of Death Bill because of all the people that will die because of this cruel reverse Robin Hood redistribution of wealth from the nations poorest to the country’s richest.
Arizona’s Democratic Congressional Leaders were quick to react to the MAGA Trickle Down Economics on Steroids Angel of Death Measure.
Anticipating the victory for the Angel of Death Bill, Representative Yassamin Ansari held a two hour sit down on the Capitol Lawn, going over all the provisions that will hurt and kill people.
Earlier on CNN, she said that it was important to continue the fight because “people’s lives are literally on the line.”
Senator Mark Kelly issued a statement that read:
“The choice in today’s vote was clear: support working families or give handouts to billionaires.
“Trump and Congressional Republicans chose the billionaires. While families across Arizona are trying to afford groceries or take their kids to the doctor, this bill gives another tax break to the ultra-wealthy—so they can buy another private jet.
“We offered amendment after amendment to make this bill better, to make rich people pay their fair share while giving tax cuts to the middle class, to keep health care coverage and food assistance for working people, to protect clean energy jobs. Republicans rejected every single one of them.”
“I hoped more of my Republican colleagues would have the guts to stand up to Donald Trump and now they’ll have to explain it to the people they represent.”
“This bill isn’t law yet. It still has to pass the House. So, if you’re an American who’s tired of watching Washington work for the wealthy instead of you—pick up the phone. Call your representative.”
Senator Ruben Gallego wrote in a post:
“Congrats to Senate Republicans on passing their disastrous budget.
They just voted to rip Medicaid and food assistance from millions so billionaires can get another yacht.
Hell of a legacy.”
In a series of posts, Representative Greg Stanton wrote:
“Trump’s budget bill is a disaster for Arizona. The reason Republicans have been rushing this bill through Congress? Because it’s terribly unpopular. It’s more than 900 pages of cuts to services working people count on, all to give tax breaks to the wealthiest 1%. Oh, and it adds TRILLIONS to our national debt. Let me break it down:”
- “First, it guts Medicaid–the largest cut in history. 750,000 Arizonans will lose their health coverage and costs will go up for just about everybody else. Republican politicians can call it “reform.” They’re full of it, and the American people know a con when they see one.
- Republicans are taking food assistance from the most vulnerable Arizonans, forcing kids, seniors, people with disabilities, and veterans to go hungry. One food bank in Arizona told me, ‘We are simply not equipped to handle the giant increase in demand.’ Again: this is all to fund tax breaks for billionaires.
- This bill eats at the heart of Arizona’s multi-billion dollar clean energy economy. What’s at risk? Thousands of good-paying manufacturing & construction jobs and cheap electricity–not to mention American competitiveness in the industries of the future.
- Here’s the bottom line: Donald Trump promised to lower costs on day one. He lied. This One Big, Ugly Bill is a terrible deal for Arizona. This scam has to come back before the House next, and I promise you we’re going to fight like hell to stop it.”
January Contreras, the head of the Children’s Action Alliance, commented to Blog for Arizona:
“I’m grateful that Arizona’s two senators stood with Arizonans, but it’s shameful how the U.S. Senate decided to turn their backs on the American people as costs of living and economic uncertainty are increasing. In a rushed process, the most effective health care and anti-hunger programs in the nation are being gutted.”
In a press release in anticipation of the Senate vote outcome, the Children’s Action Alliance earlier released a statement that read:
“The federal budget bill is moving through Congress, bringing threats to the health and safety of children and families. This bill cuts billions from health care coverage and food assistance without acknowledging the true consequences of these cuts. This is simply going too far, too fast.”
“Make your voice heard today and tomorrow.”
“Nutrition and health care coverage are essential basics that children and families need to thrive, yet both are at risk in the budget bill. Historic cuts to Medicaid, which is the Arizona Health Care Cost Containment System (AHCCCS) in Arizona, would leave Arizonans without health care. Changes in the Affordable Care Act (ACA) would make private purchase marketplace plans unaffordable for many. Assistance with buying groceries is also at risk for struggling Arizonans as massive cuts are proposed to the nation’s most effective anti-hunger program, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP).”
Key Concerns About the Budget’s Impact on Children and Families
“More than 300,000 Arizonans will lose their health care due to Medicaid/AHCCCS cuts and loss of Affordable Care Act marketplace coverage. This will cause financial strain on Arizona’s overall health care system, and is likely to lead to higher costs for everyone and less health care providers, including rural hospitals, staying in business.
For the first time ever, Congress puts the survival of SNAP at risk by shifting program costs to states like Arizona that may not allocate the state funds needed to keep the program running. Enacting severe cuts may also reduce how many people can be served. More than 900,000 Arizonans turned to SNAP at some point in 2024 to help with groceries.”
Third Way released a statement that conveyed:
“The Senate bill will make Americans poorer and sicker. At a moment when Americans are begging for relief from high prices, Republicans are responding by snatching away health care coverage from 16 million Americans, hiking energy bills for everyone, and blowing up our national debt.
“The bill delivers the largest Medicaid cut in history, while also slashing both Medicare and the Affordable Care Act. The consequences for hospitals and nursing homes, especially those in rural and vulnerable communities, will be devastating, with some forced to close. Millions of Americans will go without the care they need or go into debt for essential medical care.
“Republicans pair those cuts with huge new taxes on clean energy, the fastest and cheapest way to meet America’s growing energy demand. The bill will make it virtually impossible to generate the energy our economy needs.“
“The best-case scenario for this new tax means working families pay significantly more for energy, and blackouts become the norm as the grid struggles to meet demand. In the worst-case scenario, manufacturing, data centers, and other energy-intensive businesses move overseas because America can’t keep its lights on.”
“If that’s not bad enough, the bill also adds at least $4 trillion to the national debt, pushing us ever closer to a debt crisis and bankruptcy that could make borrowing to buy a home, a car, or anything else either unaffordable or impossible.
“Ultimately, the GOP’s talk of fiscal responsibility is just that—all talk. This bill is a knife through the heart of America’s economy. It is self-sabotage, and every American will face the consequences.”
Neera Tanden, the leader of The Center for American Progress relayed in a press release following Senate passage:
“If you want to understand why Americans think Washington is broken and not working for them, one needs to look no further than the monstrosity Senate Republicans just passed. This legislation, which was negotiated behind closed doors and brought forward with no time for members and the public to read it, deals a crushing blow to the working class while lining the pockets of the ultrawealthy. In making the largest cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program ever, defunding Planned Parenthood, and gutting tax credits to produce more energy, this bill will increase the cost of living, including for health care, food, and utilities; kill millions of jobs; leave 17 million Americans without health coverage; explode the national debt; and force states to raise taxes or further reduce benefits Americans rely on to meet their basic needs.”
“For the well-being of countless Americans, the House must reject the Senate bill—which is somehow even more extreme and fiscally reckless than the radical budget framework that the House previously passed.”
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