The passage of Trump’s “Big Ugly Bill” is set to be the single biggest blow to America’s working families in generations. Republicans’ willingness to bend over for Donald Trump and sell out their constituents will have disastrous consequences for years to come. While the impacts of these budget decisions begin to roll out, state Democrats are fighting back and working tirelessly to blunt the impact of the harm set in motion by Trump and his allies.
Devastating cuts to Medicaid are one of the cruelest aspects of the Republicans’ budget bill. These cuts will leave states responsible for making up $1 trillion in cut federal funding, a task that MAGA Republicans know is impossible. Once the federal cuts take effect, nearly four million Americans across nine states will lose health care coverage, due to trigger laws instantly revoking popular Medicaid expansion programs. These initial effects are only the beginning. One in five Americans – including half of the nation’s children – rely on Medicaid for essential health services, but Republicans chose to abandon them in order to give the wealthiest 1% enormous tax giveaways adding up to trillions of dollars.
It’s a deliberate, coordinated attack on working people, on seniors, on people with disabilities, and on parents raising children on very tight budgets.
– DLCC Board Member and Illinois Speaker Pro Tempore Kam Buckner
When Trump and DC Republicans passed these devastating cuts that will directly harm seniors, rescind care for veterans, close hospitals, and cost communities jobs, state Republican leadership was absent. Instead of standing up against their party leaders, who pushed to gut Medicaid and SNAP, they rubber-stamped a reckless handout to the wealthy that will cost thousands of lives and cheered on the plan as “tremendous.” They’re complicit and stand in stark contrast to state Democrats who are sounding the alarm, fighting to protect families, and mitigating the damage.
I look at my Republican colleagues here when they know that they put a trigger law in place that would then mean that 650,000 North Carolinians would lose their insurance… And let’s be clear, people will die.
– North Carolina Senate Democratic Leader Sydney Batch
There’s a clear split in how state Republicans versus state Democrats are governing in the wake of this law as legislatures try to pick up the pieces. State Democrats have worked for years to protect their constituents, and they will continue fighting to protect health care access, feed hungry children, and expand services that help working families get by. It’s clear that who’s in your statehouse matters more than ever. The stakes for 2025 and beyond are high, especially in chambers with close Democratic majorities. On DLCC’s target map this cycle, there are five chambers in four states – Virginia, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Minnesota – that are decided by a single legislative seat this election. That means five seats are standing between Trump and 40 million Americans’ futures. Now is the time to take back control and defend our statehouses by electing more Democrats.
The states really are that line of defense where we can defend the good government that people deserve, where we can stick up for individual rights.
– Michigan Senate Majority Leader Winnie Brinks
While Republicans gamble with people’s lives, Democratic state legislators are working around the clock to take the worst of these cuts head-on. We must hold state Republicans accountable for leaving working families in the dust and elect Democrats who will work to strengthen communities. As the DLCC strategizes year-round to build Democratic power and win majorities, we will continue to uplift the voices of legislators leading in state houses across the nation.
