RELEASE: House Republicans’ Budget Bill Guts Basic Needs Programs for the Most Vulnerable Americans to Give Tax Breaks to the Rich 

Washington, D.C. — Yesterday, House Republicans unveiled the final parts of their partisan tax and budget bill. A new Center for American Progress column breaks down how the House Republican budget plan would dramatically reshape America for the worse: implementing the largest cuts to both Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in history. 

The proposed budget, if implemented, would kick millions off their health insurance and take food away from hungry children. On top of this, it would raise household electricity costs and saddle middle-class and poor students in even greater student loan debt to afford a higher education. This plan will make it harder for everyday Americans to make ends meet while the richest Americans, households in the top 0.1 percent, enjoy a multi-hundred-thousand-dollar tax break on average. 

This new column examines how, if implemented, this would be the largest transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich in a single law in U.S. history. Some of the notable damaging actions of the proposed House Republican budget include: 

1. 1. The largest Medicaid cuts in history. More than 1 in 5 Americans rely on Medicaid to cover their health needs. If implemented, more than 8 million people will lose coverage. It could also lead to thousands of lives cut short each year. 
   2. The largest SNAP cuts in history. Around 1 in 8 Americans receive nutrition assistance through SNAP, and nearly 62 percent of SNAP households have children. Shifting costs to the state will leave states that have already underfunded SNAP programs with less or even no access to nutrition assistance. 
   3. Cutting federal investment in wind and solar leading to higher electricity costs. Their proposal will leave the U.S. building significantly less wind and solar over the next decade, adding to annual household electric utility bills. 
   4. Increasing costs for students. Roughly 1 in 8 Americans have federal student loans. The House Republican plan will eliminate subsidized loans for undergraduates, change repayment systems to increase payments for the lowest-income borrowers, and implement changes to Pell Grant requirements that will all lead to increased costs for students to attend higher education and pay for school. 
   5. Tax breaks for the rich at the expense of the poor. House Republicans are seeking to extend most of the 2017 Trump tax law, giving millionaires a $68,000 tax cut and giving households in the top 0.1 percent a $300,000 tax cut while raising taxes or doing nothing for 33 million households. 

“If this bill is implemented, it will single-handedly be the largest transfer of wealth from the poor to the rich in a single law in U.S. history,” said Bobby Kogan, senior director of federal budget policy and author of the column. “This bill would leave our country worse off: increasing preventable deaths, taking food away from hungry kids, and putting our nation on the fast track towards a significantly worse fiscal trajectory.” 

Read the column: “The House Republicans Budget Bill Guts Basic Needs Programs for the Most Vulnerable Americans to Give Tax Breaks to the Rich” by Bobby Kogan 

For more information or to speak with an expert, please contact Sara Nadeau at [email protected].