With U.S. President Donald Trump’s July 4 deadline looming, Senate Republicans just sold out working class families by passing Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill”—all to please their billionaire backers. Inside this devastating bill are a host of tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy, paid for with cuts to Medicaid, SNAP, and other essential programs. It would also effectively eliminate the middle class in America as we know it.

To Republicans, and even some Democrats, in Congress these programs are just a line item on a budget. To myself, communities of color, and millions of Americans at risk, they are the difference between having healthcare and living in fear of sickness or injury because we couldn’t afford the care we needed to survive.

When I gave birth to my first child, I lost Medicaid coverage not long after she was born. This meant that in the critical months of my child’s early life, I was not able to see a doctor if something went wrong. It wasn’t until I found a job that offered me healthcare that this changed. In the wealthiest nation in the world, tying critical moments of need in someone’s life, such as postpartum care, to their employment status is unconscionable. Medicaid coverage has since expanded to cover postpartum care for a longer period of time, but this bill would be taking a massive step backward from ensuring all people have access to the care they need.

The GOP has made one thing clear: If they are left in charge, working class families will always come last.

Medicaid covers 41% of all births and nearly half of children with special healthcare needs. The cuts proposed in the newest version of the bill that Republican Senators just passed will push mothers out of postpartum care, shut down rural hospitals, and leave families uninsured. That pain will hardly go unnoticed by people in blue and red states alike, and leaders who support these cuts put the lives of their constituents, as well as their own political futures, at risk. Mothering Justice is committed to fighting against anyone who might support this horrendous bill—regardless of party.

If passed into law, this bill would cut over $1 trillion from Medicaid—the largest cut to Medicaid in history. That is $1 trillion that has been going to healthcare for America’ most vulnerable families sacrificed for the sake of tax cuts for billionaires. In Michigan alone, the Citizen’s Research Council of Michigan estimates that over 200,000 people will lose direct insurance coverage, and the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates nearly 12 million Americans will lose their coverage over the next decade. Even those with private insurance could lose access to services when hospitals and providers struggle to stay open following cuts to Medicaid. The results are not just devastating, they’re catastrophic.

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