Washington, DC – Fatima Goss Graves, president of the National Women’s Law Center Action Fund, released the following statement after the House voted to pass the Senate version of Trump’s Big Beautiful Bill Act (H.R.1). The bill now heads to Trump’s desk for his signature.
“Every person in this country should be furious that this devastating betrayal of a bill will soon become law. Our communities will be sicker and hungrier, with women and children bearing the brunt of the suffering. Many Planned Parenthood clinics will close, taking away vital health care in already underserved communities. And state budgets will be stretched to the breaking point — just so that billionaires can get another tax break.
“While we may not have stopped Republican leadership from using their majority to strong-arm this bill through Congress, we raised the alarm about how this legislation will harm millions of women, families, and communities across the country.
“And we drew attention to some particularly awful measures that have since been stripped out of the bill, including bans on gender affirming care and a provision that would have effectively eliminated the judicial branch’s ability to promptly address lawless behavior by the federal government.
“I am so grateful for every person who raised their voice in this fight. This is not the end. We will keep working to ensure that the public doesn’t soon forget who is responsible for this deadly and disastrous legislation.”
See below for the measures in the final bill that will most harm women and families:
Tax Cuts That Overwhelmingly Benefit Billionaires and Big Corporations
This bill prioritizes tax cuts that overwhelmingly benefit the wealthiest individuals and big corporations, while restricting vital tax credits that are critical for women, children, and families. These tax cuts for the wealthiest will cost trillions of dollars in revenue that could have been invested in women, families, and communities.
- Makes permanent the 2017 reduction in the top marginal individual income tax rate, which benefits the top 5% of households by income. Extending this rate cut alone costs $600 billion over 10 years.
- Excludes 2.6 million citizens and lawful permanent resident children from accessing the Child Tax Credit because they live in families in which one or both parents do not have Social Security Numbers.
Defunding Planned Parenthood
It’s already prohibited to use federal funding for abortion care, but congressional Republicans went a step further by including a measure in this bill to defund Planned Parenthood, jeopardizing the closure of nearly 200 health centers.
- Ninety percent of those closures would occur in states where abortion is legal, potentially shutting down as many as one in four abortion providers nationwide.
- Rural and underserved communities will be hardest hit by this measure, devastating communities that already face severe barriers to health care.
- New data reveals that a majority (60%) of Planned Parenthood health centers at risk of closure are located in medically underserved areas, primary care health professional shortage areas, or rural areas.
Historic Cuts to Medicaid
The Republican reconciliation bill would devastate our country’s health care system by making a $1 trillion cut to the Medicaid program — the largest ever — leading to catastrophic coverage loss for millions of Medicaid enrollees.
- 17 million people will lose health insurance.
- This includes people who will lose coverage because of the expiration of the enhanced Affordable Care Act premium tax credits, which help low-income people afford care.
- This includes people who will lose coverage because of the expiration of the enhanced Affordable Care Act premium tax credits, which help low-income people afford care.
- The bill imposes ineffective work reporting requirements as a condition for Medicaid eligibility for individuals ages 19-64 (with certain exemptions).
- Previous case studies have shown that work reporting requirements do not lead to higher employment rates. The true purpose of these burdensome requirements is to kick more people off Medicaid.
- Previous case studies have shown that work reporting requirements do not lead to higher employment rates. The true purpose of these burdensome requirements is to kick more people off Medicaid.
- States also will be restricted in their ability to impose health care “provider taxes” that help them fund a portion of their Medicaid programs.
- This restriction could increase the likelihood of Medicaid shortfalls and lead to closures of hospital systems, reductions in Medicaid eligibility, and fewer covered benefits.
Historic Cuts to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)
SNAP helps almost 42 million people put food on the table every month and improves health and education outcomes, reduces poverty, and boosts the economy. This budget bill slashes billions of dollars from SNAP.
- These cuts will cause 22.3 million families to lose some or all SNAP benefits.
- Shifts administrative and benefit costs to states, which will force states to cut other programs and services, raise taxes, or cut access to SNAP.
- Freezes future increases to benefits so that they do not keep pace with rising food costs over time.
- Imposes additional SNAP time limits on parents/guardians of school-aged children over the age of 13, and strips current time limit exemptions from veterans, people experiencing homelessness, and young people who have aged out of foster care.
- SNAP cuts in the bill will also threaten child nutrition programs and the free and reduced price school lunch programs.
Attacks on Immigrant Families
The bill allocates $150 billion to fund Trump’s mass deportation agenda and makes it more difficult for lawfully present individuals to access nutrition and health supports, including SNAP, the Affordable Care Act, Medicare, Medicaid, and the Children’s Health insurance Program.
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