Bonamici Condemns GOP Tax Bill That Would Devastate Medicaid, SNAP

WASHINGTON, DC [5/22/25] – Today Congresswoman Suzanne Bonamici condemned the House Republican reconciliation bill, which passed the house on a partisan vote.

Bonamici denounced the legislation on the House floor ahead of the vote. The video can be found here, and the full remarks are below.

“The news today is about a bill. It’s a big bill. The Republican’s big, bad bill, which is cruel, cold-hearted, and completely unnecessary. And it’s not even fiscally responsible; it’s actually going to add to the deficit.

“This massive bill, which is more than a thousand pages, was – and is being – negotiated behind closed doors. The debate started at 1 o’clock in the morning in the darkness of night. This bill is going to strip health care and food assistance from millions of Americans so billionaires can get trillions of dollars in tax breaks. Mr. Speaker, who’s afraid of the big, bad bill? Well a lot of people are, and for good reason.

“Make no mistake, if you rip health care away from millions of Americans, people will die. Right now, this is the largest Medicaid cut in history. In fact, the headline today summarizing the score on this bill from the Congressional Budget Office said, ‘Wealthy gain, low-income people lose from GOP megabill.’ They’re right. There are about 1.4 million Oregonians on Medicaid, including 1 in 3 children. I challenge my colleagues to go to a pediatric cancer wing and tell a child with leukemia and their parents that they can’t afford life-saving treatment. If you don’t have the courage to tell them to their face, then don’t support this bill. 

“This bill takes food from hungry children. SNAP helps more than 775,000 Oregonians, 50 percent of whom are children, to put food on their table. This bill would lead to a significant reduction in food benefits for families. 

‘I tell you, billionaires can eat caviar in their mansions, on their yachts, and while launching celebrities in rockets on vanity tours of space, but everyday Americans will be left unsure about whether they’ll have enough to feed their families.  

“The top 20 percent of income earners will get at least 68 percent of the benefits in this bill while Oregonians and Americans who benefit from Medicaid and SNAP will be left to suffer.  

“Because of this big bad bill for billionaires, student loan borrowers could be in debt until they die. Many students who get Pell grants will be harmed. This bill will raise monthly student loan payments for working and middle-class borrowers, affecting 15 million people across the country. That includes more than 50,000 Oregonian students and families who with this bill will have limited options for repayment relief. And no question – unless they are from a wealthy family, this bill will close the doors of opportunity for the next generation to access affordable college education. 

“Families will pay more for groceries, gas, insurance, and utilities, but oil companies and corporate executives will be getting tax breaks.

“This bill will hike the average household electricity bill by about 10 percent, forcing families to pay more while corporate polluters get a windfall. Nationwide, families would pay an extra $6 billion.  Republicans are going to make it easier for corporate polluters to poison our water and air. We’ll see an increase in the number of wildfires and floods that devastate communities, and that will lead to continued skyrocketing insurance premiums and property damage. 

“Farmers and ranchers are collateral damage. This bill greenlights more drilling and mining that will spoil water supplies used for irrigation and livestock – poisoning the land while fossil fuel CEOs profit. 

“Public lands belong to all Americans – not billionaire donors. But Donald Trump and congressional Republicans are going to privatize, drill, and destroy them for profit and that will eviscerate the very spaces that make us ‘America the beautiful.’  

“And finally, tucked into this bill is a 10-year block on state regulation of artificial intelligence, which might make sense if we had policies at the federal level for safety, security, and bias, but we don’t. And the public will face unchecked harm.

“For all these reasons and more, I oppose this misguided legislation and urge my every one of my colleagues to vote no.”

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