House Republicans are moving forward with a new budget plan that would give $4.5 trillion in tax cuts, mostly benefiting the wealthiest Americans, while cutting $2 trillion from Medicaid, federal nutrition programs, and other crucial services. The proposed bill could pass with a simple majority vote in both chambers of Congress.
Last week, Senate Republicans also shared their budget proposal, which includes major cuts to Medicaid, the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), and other programs that help working-class families.
Alex Jacquez, the chief of policy and advocacy at the Groundwork Collaborative, criticized the plan, saying, “Instead of tackling rising prices and delivering relief for American families, House Republicans are charging ahead with trillions of dollars in deeply unpopular tax breaks for billionaires like Donald Trump and Elon Musk. And, they’re paying for their billionaire handouts by ransacking healthcare, food assistance, and other vital programs that American workers and families rely on.”
The House Budget Committee’s proposal calls for the energy and commerce committee to reduce the deficit by at least $880 billion over the next 10 years, with a focus on Medicaid, which the committee oversees. It also instructs the agriculture committee to cut at least $230 billion in spending on SNAP from 2025 to 2034.
Bobby Kogan, a former Senate Budget Committee staffer, criticized the proposal: “They want to do a giant tax cut that disproportionately helps the rich while taking away people’s health insurance and food, all while still adding trillions to the debt.”
The House GOP’s budget plan also includes $2 trillion in cuts to “mandatory spending” over the next decade, which impacts programs like Medicaid, Medicare, Social Security, and SNAP. While Social Security benefits can’t be cut through this process, Supplemental Security Income (SSI) could be affected.
Republicans are considering new work requirements for Medicaid and SNAP, which could result in millions of low-income people losing their benefits.
Anthony Wright, executive director of Families USA, warned, “We don’t need to know the mechanisms of how Medicaid would be cut to know the impact would be catastrophic: The sheer size of the proposed cuts means millions of Americans losing coverage, hospitals and clinics plunged into budget shortfalls, and healthcare services we all depend on being eliminated.”
“This budget resolution is a five-alarm fire alert for our healthcare,” Wright added. “House Republican leadership put a giant bullseye on Medicaid, with the intent to strip Americans of their healthcare benefits to pay for tax cuts for billionaires and big corporations.”
Kobie Christian, a spokesperson for the progressive group Unrig Our Economy, also slammed the proposal: “House Republicans showed us that what they value is more tax breaks for greedy billionaires and giant corporations with everyday people paying the price.”
Christian continued, “At a time when everyday Americans face increasingly higher prices, Speaker Johnson and his team want to write billionaires a check and force working-class people to foot the bill for their outrageous tax breaks for corporations and the ultra-wealthy. Everyday Americans will not stand for these games—it’s time for Republicans in Congress to end their campaign that puts the ultra-wealthy first on the backs of the rest of us.”
