The billionaire oligarchs are dancing in the street. It's time to get to work

The reconciliation bill that Republicans passed in the U.S. Senate by one vote on Tuesday will give the top 1% a trillion dollars in tax breaks. At a time of unprecedented income and wealth inequality, the very rich just got much richer.

Pathetically, these tax breaks for the wealthy are paid for by a trillion dollars in cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. The result of those cuts will be that over 16 million Americans will lose their health insurance and an estimated 50,000 will die unnecessarily each year. These cuts will also be devastating to rural hospitals, nursing homes and community health centers.

But that’s not all. While the very rich celebrate their good fortune in fancy restaurants, this bill cuts nutrition programs for hungry kids and, because of cuts to education, will make it harder for working class young people to afford college.

And for those of us concerned about climate change, this bill makes a very ominous situation even worse. It delivers massive reductions in funding for energy efficiency and sustainable energy while giving even more corporate welfare to the fossil fuel industry.

The Republicans who passed this bill must pay a political price. Starting now, we must work overtime to make certain that these corporate controlled politicians are defeated in 2026.