Pressley Implored Colleagues to Reject Cruel Legislation and Helped Stall a Vote on the House Floor

Press Conference Video (YouTube)

WASHINGTON – Today, Congresswoman Ayanna Pressley (MA-07) issued the following statement on the final passage of Republicans’ Big, Ugly Bill that will rip healthcare and food assistance away from millions of people, including in Massachusetts, push reproductive healthcare further out of reach nationwide, and fuel Trump’s unlawful mass deportation agenda.

Yesterday, Rep. Pressley joined colleagues at a press conference imploring the House to reject this cruel, harmful legislation, and the Congresswoman also joined the Congressional Black Caucus and over 100 colleagues in stalling a vote on the House floor. Rep. Pressley also filed an amendment to the bill this week with Rep. Diana DeGette to protect and expand reproductive healthcare.

“Republicans have passed a bill that will be a death sentence—denying millions medical care, denying children food, and violently deporting immigrant families to destabilized countries,” said Congresswoman Pressley. “This is unforgivable. I remain yours in service to every family who calls the Massachusetts 7th home, and I will never stop fighting for you.”

In Massachusetts, this bill is estimated to cause:

• Over 320,000 people to lose health insurance
• At least 103,000 to lose food assistance
• 63,334 students to lose their Pell grants
• 11,000 manufacturing and energy jobs to be cut
• $1,400 in yearly premium increases for people covered by the ACA in the MA-07
• $290 more per year in increased energy bills

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

• Rep. Pressley joined colleagues at a press conference imploring the House to reject the cruel and harmful legislation.
• Rep. Pressley joined the Congressional Black Caucus and over 100 colleagues in stalling a vote on the Big, Ugly Bill.  
• Rep. Pressley and Rep. Diana DeGette, Co-Chairs of the Reproductive Freedom Caucus, filed an amendment to the bill to protect and expand reproductive healthcare.
• Rep. Pressley issued a statement condemning the Senate’s passage of the Big, Ugly Bill and vowing to continue fighting it using every tool available.
• 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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