This GOP bill is the mother of all attacks on the American people

With President Donald Trump’s July 4 deadline looming, Republicans are set to sell out working class families by passing Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” — all to please their billionaire backers. Inside this devastating bill are a host of tax cuts for the ultra-wealthy, paid for with cuts to Medicaid, SNAP, and other essential programs. It would also effectively eliminate the middle class in America as we know it.

To Republicans, and even some Democrats, these programs are just a line item on a budget. To myself, communities of color, and millions of Americans at risk, they are the difference between having healthcare and living in fear of sickness or injury because we can't afford the care we need to survive.

When I gave birth to my first child, I lost Medicaid coverage not long after she was born. This meant that in the critical months of my child’s early life, I was not able to see a doctor if something went wrong. It wasn’t until I found a job that offered me healthcare that this changed.

In the wealthiest nation in the world, tying critical moments of need in someone’s life, such as postpartum care, to their employment status is unconscionable. Medicaid coverage has since expanded to cover postpartum care for a longer period of time, but this bill would be taking a massive step backward from ensuring all people have access to the care they need.

Medicaid covers 41% of all births and nearly half of children with special healthcare needs. The cuts in the Republican bill will push mothers out of postpartum care, shut down rural hospitals, and leave families uninsured. That pain will hardly go unnoticed by people in blue and red states alike, and leaders who support these cuts put the lives of their constituents, as well as their own political futures, at risk.

Passed into law, this bill would cut over $1 trillion from Medicaid — the largest cut to Medicaid in history. That is $1 trillion that has been going to healthcare for America’ most vulnerable families, sacrificed for the sake of tax cuts for billionaires.

In Michigan alone, the Citizen’s Research Council of Michigan estimates that over 200,000 people will lose direct insurance coverage, and the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimates nearly 12 million Americans will lose their coverage over the next decade.

Even those with private insurance could lose access to services when hospitals and providers struggle to stay open following cuts to Medicaid. The results are not just devastating, they’re catastrophic.

Health insurance isn’t the only program on the Republicans’ chopping block. SNAP keeps 4.5 million young children fed, and the proposed cuts will deepen food insecurity, especially in Black and Latino households already facing hunger at two to three times the national rate.

In Michigan alone, SNAP cuts would create a $467 million hole in our economy. Trump will still accept luxury planes and lawmakers will still fly in private jets paid for with foreign money, but children will lose access to pediatric care and families will lose their only grocery options, deepening poverty in this country instead of fighting it.

Also buried in the “Big Beautiful Bill” are work requirements and red tape that deny qualified applicants access to essential programs.

Historically, when work requirements for Medicaid recipients have been implemented at the state level, many working recipients lose their insurance due to the administrative hurdles of proving their employment. Republicans’ proposals would bury families in paperwork and procedural hurdles that disproportionately harm single moms, people with disabilities, and those without internet or stable housing. They are not efficiency measures — they are systemic tools of exclusion.

And cuts to SNAP and Medicaid don’t just hurt the people who rely on the program to feed their families. Small businesses, grocers, and local economies rely on SNAP dollars to thrive and support the community.

The proposed changes will likely raise costs for states and taxpayers around the country, all for the sake of lining billionaire’s pockets. Under the guise of reducing federal spending, the bill’s proposal burdens states with millions of additional, unnecessary administrative costs, forcing state governments to allocate funds to consulting fees and enforcement of work requirements rather than healthcare.

While Republicans prioritize tax breaks for billionaires, they’re simultaneously stripping away basic healthcare and support systems from those who need them most.

Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill” should actually be called the “Big Betrayal Bill” — because if it’s passed into law, the wealth gap in this country will widen to astronomical levels. Mothers of color and working families across the country did not elect their representatives to protect the ultra-wealthy. The GOP has made one thing clear: If they are left in charge, working class families will always come last.

Mothering Justice is committed to fighting against anyone who might support this horrendous bill — regardless of party. Now is the time to call your member of Congress and let them know you will not stand for the federal government stealing money from working class families. Tell those we elected to power that they must use every tool at their disposal to stop this bill from being passed into law.

• Danielle Atkinson is the fonder and national executive director of Mothering Justice