Iowa Republicans Vote to Gut Medicaid, SNAP to Pay for Trump’s Tax Cuts for Billionaires
DES MOINES – Today, Iowa Republicans Mariannette Miller-Meeks, Zach Nunn, Randy Feenstra and Ashley Hinson cast votes to support a budget bill that includes the largest cut to health care and food assistance in American history so they can toe the party line to fund tax cuts for billionaires and the top one percent.
As members of the House Ways and Means, Agriculture and Energy and Commerce Committees, Iowa Republicans voted today on pieces of a budget bill that will:
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Cut health care spending and kick 7.6 million Americans off their insurance, according to the Congressional Budget Office
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Kick millions of Americans off Medicaid – a program on which more than 700,000 Iowans as well as community and rural hospitals rely
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Gut the SNAP food assistance program, which 270,000 Iowans use and the Iowa economy depends
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Every $1 in SNAP benefits generates $1.50 in economic activity – for farmers, truckers, and grocers
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Provide a huge tax break to the wealthiest 1 percent that will add $6 trillion to the national debt
“Iowa Republicans are showing themselves to be the party of fiscal irresponsibility. Iowa’s Congressional delegation voted to provide huge tax breaks to the wealthiest 1 percent while jeopardizing the Iowa economy and the health care of hundreds of thousands of Iowa’s children, elderly and people living with disabilities,” said Iowa Democratic Party Chair Rita Hart. “Do they not understand that Iowa’s rural hospitals rely on programs like Medicaid to keep their doors open and programs like SNAP are proven to put more money into the Iowa economy? It’s Republican actions like this one that has Iowa sitting at 49th in the nation in economic growth and 48th in personal income growth. It will be a real shame if Iowa’s Republicans keep voting the party line for this budget bill that will make life more difficult and more expensive for Iowans.”
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