Pressley, House Dems Opposed Bill That Will Gut Healthcare, Housing & Food Assistance While Emboldening Musk-Trump Assault on Our Democracy

WASHINGTON – Today, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) issued the following statement after the Senate’s passage of Republicans’ shameful government spending bill, which will harm vulnerable families as Elon Musk and Donald Trump continue their unprecedented hostile government takeover.

Rep. Pressley voted against the legislation in the House and had implored her Senate colleagues to hold the line, reject the false choice, and instead support a clean, 30-day stopgap funding measure to allow for bipartisan negotiations on a longer-term funding bill.

“The Republicans’ budget bill that just passed the Senate is nothing short of devastating. Every Representative and Senator who voted to support it has let down the communities that elected them to be their voice in Congress. Rather than listen to the pleas from constituents in town halls across the country, Republicans chose to ignore them. When our communities begin to feel the harm of this reckless budget, there will be no one to blame but Republicans licking the boots of Donald Trump and Elon Musk and the handful of Democrats who chose not to fight. Tonight, I am thinking of the kids in pediatric cancer trials, the parents trying to stretch their dollars to cover groceries, the federal workers wronged by this cruel Trump White House, and all of the people across the country who are failed by this budget.”

“I voted NO on this bad-faith budget bill. I refuse to be complicit in Republicans’ attack on our most vulnerable, and I’m grateful to the overwhelming number of Democratic colleagues in both chambers who held the line and joined us in opposing this disgraceful legislation. I will always center the people, and I will continue standing in the gap and fighting this Administration like lives depend on it, because they do.”

Republicans’ harmful funding bill will:

• Fail to lower the cost of housing and instead cuts rent subsidies for low-income and working Americans by more than $700 million, leaving landlords to foot the bill for or evict more than 32,000 households including veterans, survivors of domestic violence, seniors, and families with disabilities.
   
• Allow Elon Musk and President Trump to fire thousands of employees at the Social Security Administration, which would result in closures of Social Security offices, increased wait times, and unacceptable backlogs for Americans trying to access their earned benefits.
   
• Enable Elon Musk to direct contracts to his companies like Starlink and SpaceX, while unvetted SpaceX employees have burrowed in the FAA, with no requirement for public transparency, fair competition, or Congressional approval – all while mission-critical jobs have been cut at the FAA and Elon Musk’s spaceships exploded during two failed space launches since January, causing major disruptions to air travelers.
   
• Cut Army Corps of Engineers construction projects that keep commerce safely flowing on our waterways, manage flood risk, and restore ecosystems by $1.4 billion, or 44 percent, and Elon Musk and President Trump, not Congress, will determine all project funding levels.
   
• Renege on veterans’ medical care and create future uncertainty. More veterans are enrolled in VA care than ever. While the bill includes $6 billion in mandatory funds to address an immediate funding shortfall, it fails to include $22.8 billion in fiscal year 2026 advanced funding for the Toxic Exposures Fund to care for veterans exposed to burn pits, Agent Orange, and other toxic substances that House Republicans included in their own funding bill last year. It also frees Elon Musk and President Trump to redirect funding meant for homelessness assistance grants, mental health care, rural health, opioid and substance abuse programs, some oncology programs, and caregivers support, however they see fit.
   

The bill cuts funding for nondefense programs and services by $13 billion while increasing defense spending by $6 billion compared to fiscal year 2024 enacted levels. 

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