Cruel Legislation Now Heads Back to House of Representatives

WASHINGTON – Today, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) issued the following statement on the Senate’s passage of Republicans’ cruel reconciliation bill, which would gut Medicaid and SNAP, and rip healthcare and food assistance away from millions of people, including in Massachusetts. In May, Rep. Pressley delivered an impassioned speech on the House floor in which she made a direct appeal to her Republican colleagues to oppose this cruel and harmful bill.

“This is a somber moment. This legislation is deeply harmful and every Senator that voted for it should be ashamed of themselves. I implore my House colleagues to reject this unpopular bill and listen to the cries of people across this country who stand to be harmed,” said Congresswoman Pressley. “Trump and Republicans are trying to ram through this bill aligned with their dystopian vision for this country where billionaires get money they don’t need, while millions of people are poorer, sicker, hungrier, and lack access to critical reproductive healthcare. This Big, Ugly Bill is not an inevitability, and we’ll keep fighting with every tool we have to stop it in its tracks.”

Congresswoman Pressley has been an outspoken critic of this harmful legislation since its inception.

• Ahead of the third anniversary if the Dobbs decision, Rep. Pressley and her colleagues stood in solidarity with Planned Parenthood and condemned the proposed cuts to reproductive healthcare under Republicans’ Big, Ugly Bill.
• Rep. Pressley and author Darrick Hamilton authored a Washington Post op-ed in which they discussed the regressive, ineffective “Trump Accounts” provision of Republicans’ reconciliation bill and urged Congress to instead embrace Baby Bonds to advance economic justice.
• Rep. Pressley rallied with advocates from Caring Across Generations, Care Can’t Wait, and partner organizations to protest Trump’s and Republicans’ Big Ugly Bill that proposes disastrous cuts to Medicaid, SNAP, and other essential programs and would leave communities sicker, poorer, and more vulnerable.
• Ahead of the House’s vote on the bill, Rep. Pressley delivered an impassioned speech on the House floor in which she made a direct appeal to her Republican colleagues to oppose this cruel and harmful bill.
• Rep. Pressley delivered a floor speech in which she slammed the bill’s proposed Medicaid cuts, which would decimate reproductive healthcare in America and worsen maternal health outcomes.
• Rep. Pressley co-hosted a press conference with Color of Change to oppose the Republicans’ cruel and harmful budget reconciliation package, which would gut critical programs like Medicaid and SNAP.
• Rep. Pressley rallied with caregivers, advocates, and fellow lawmakers at a 24-hour vigil to protect Medicaid from Republicans’ cruel budget cuts that would devastate communities across this country.
• In the House Oversight Committee’s markup of the Republican reconciliation bill, Rep. Pressley demanded Republicans answer to the families who would go hungry by way of this reconciliation bill – and she was met with silence.
• In the House Financial Services Committee’s markup of the Republican reconciliation bill, Rep. Pressley condemned the bill’s proposed cuts to Medicaid and shared the story of Mary Marinelli, a 70-year-old hospice nurse from a Republican district in Michigan whose family depends on Medicaid to care for their autistic son.
• In an impassioned speech on the House floor, Rep. Pressley slammed Republicans’ cruel and callous budget resolution that would slash Medicaid and other critical government services to pay for trillions of dollars in tax giveaways for Donald Trump’s billionaire donors.

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