Right now, the Senate is considering a budget that would have the largest cuts in history to Medicaid and to SNAP food assistance, as well as more cuts to retirement benefits for federal workers.
Health care, food assistance, dignity in retirement—these programs are a cornerstone of a secure existence for working people. Here’s why:
No Cuts to Medicaid
- Medicaid is the single largest source of health care coverage in the United States.
- It is the primary payer for 63% of nursing home residents.
- It pays for 42% of births in the United States each year and provides health care for nearly half of all children in our country.
- Medicaid funding cuts would cause hospitals, clinics, nursing homes and home health agencies to close or downsize, especially in rural and lower-income communities. One analysis shows that cuts could cause 477,000 health care jobs to be lost in 2026 alone.
- Medicaid cuts would cause millions of people to lose their health care, including kids and our most vulnerable Americans, and cuts would raise health care and insurance costs for everyone else.
No Cuts to Food Assistance
- 42 million people use SNAP food assistance per month, or almost 13% total of U.S. residents. Working families depend on SNAP to get by and to provide nutritious, healthy food for their children to grow and thrive.
- Cuts to food assistance jeopardize thousands of jobs in food processing, school cafeterias, retail and agriculture.
- Pushing the costs of food assistance to states with already strained budgets threatens many other services and jobs that our families and communities rely on.
No Cuts to Workers’ Retirement Benefits or Union Rights
- Like all workers, federal employees deserve a fair and dignified retirement after a lifetime of hard work. But earlier versions of the budget deal have contained cuts to federal workers’ retirement benefits and cuts to their current take-home pay.
- Other provisions in versions of the budget deal have required new federal workers to choose between at-will status and lower employee pension contributions, or to be charged a fee to file a claim with the Merit Systems Protection Board to protect their rights.
- Federal workers who run the programs and services we all depend on—and who are already facing job losses and historic union-busting—should not have to pay for tax breaks for billionaires.
No Weakening of Artificial Intelligence (AI) Protections for Workers
- Lawmakers snuck a provision into the House budget deal that blocks the enforcement of all existing or future state and local AI regulations for the next 10 years.
- State lawmakers across the country have come together to pass legislation that regulates dangerous and irresponsible artificial intelligence (AI)—creating guardrails that protect workers’ jobs, safety and civil liberties, and prevent discrimination or the theft of artists’ work. This provision would stop that good work.
- This provision is so broad it would even prevent states from enforcing safety regulations related to automated systems, like public transit systems.
- This provision is an irresponsible gift to Big Tech companies and employers to maximize their profits and control. Especially since Congress has not acted to protect workers, states must be allowed to pass regulations to stop the unsafe, unethical, antidemocratic and antiworker use of AI in the workplace.
Gutting essential services like Medicaid, SNAP food assistance and federal worker benefits won’t help working families—especially to pay for more tax breaks for billionaires and giant corporations. And the domino effects of cutting these huge and vital programs would be severe and wide-reaching.
We need you to speak out today. Tell the Senate this budget would be a disaster for working families and for our nation.
Call your senator at 231-400-0602 to tell them, “No cuts that hurt working families!” Or click HERE.
