On the Big Bad Budget
Today, the House Republicans joined the Senate Republicans in passing a budget that delivers savage cuts to Medicaid - kicking 10-16 million Americans off of healthcare (mostly women, children, and people with disabilities), gutting rural hospitals which rely on Medicaid payments, and increasing costs for everyone, who will be forced to pay for these losses through higher health care costs and less access. The Republican budget will mean the closure of up to 200 family planning clinics (through a refusal to fund clinics that may also offer abortion), which will limit the ability for low-income and rural Americans to access cancer- and STI-screening, mammograms, birth control, and other health care. It will cut food access by nearly 20 percent - the deepest cuts in history. It will separate families by pouring billions into the ICE budget.
The Republican budget is a precision attack on women and low-income people. It will dramatically undermine the gains in gender equity in recent decades, and will result in untold harm and the death of hundreds of thousands of Americans.
And all this pain is in service to enormous tax cuts for the ultra-rich.
This budget is a tragedy, and it will have tragic outcomes. It is also a choice. Republicans in Congress are choosing to rubber-stamp the excesses of the Trump administration. Instead of providing a check on the Executive branch as our Constitution intends, the Legislative Branch - and now the Judiciary in decisions such as Trump. V. CASA, which states that lower courts cannot stop the illegal actions of the executive - have acted as Yes Men rather than decision-makers in their own right.
We are proud that Maine’s entire federal delegation - Senators Collins and King, and Representatives Pingree and Golden - stood united in the face of this shocking budget. But its passage will still have profound consequences on the daily lives of Mainers and of every American. And so too will the refusal of spineless elected officials to put the health and wellbeing of regular people over the desires of an unrestrained predator, as it signals there may yet be worse to come.
Here are a few ways you can take action:
Thank our Congressional delegation for standing up for Maine people in the face of this disastrous budget.
Sign up to stay connected with our Maine-level work, where we can soften the blow of these harmful cuts through fair taxation and a human-centered budget.
Make a gift or volunteer - with us, or with any local organization that speaks to your heart and builds the community and connection that we will need as we move into the future.
It is now up to Maine’s elected officials, and all of us as activists, advocates, and voters. We must preserve our institutions, invest in Mainers to counter these extreme cuts, and look ahead to electing representatives who will take seriously their duty to build, not break, the people and institutions they serve.
