She condemns cuts to working- and middle-class families.
Rep April McClain Delaney (6th Md)
Washington DC (KM) President Donald Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” a massive spending and tax cut measure,, was approved on Thursday by the House of Representatives. Republicans passed the bill with 214 out of their 218 members of their party. All 212 Democrats voted against, including 6th District Representative April McClain Delaney. She said in a statement she is “outraged” by the House majority’s reconciliation package which she says are “devastating proposals that will unleash a tsunami of cuts on working- and middle-calls families , children and especially those in rural communities,’
US House Speaker Mike Johnson says it will make the country” stronger, safer and more prosperous than ever before.”
The legislation will take money from the social safety net and investments in clean energy to finance trillions of dollars in new spending, tax cuts, immigration enforcement and national defense.. It also cuts Medicaid, something President Trump promised wouldn’t touch during the campaign. The Congressional Budget Office says these cuts in Medicaid will mean 12 million Americans will be losing health coverage.
Representative McClain Delaney says these cuts in Medicaid will affect her constituents the 6th District, which consists of a part of Montgomery County, and all of Frederick, Washington, Allegany and Garrett Counties. “One in seven families are insured by Medicaid,” she says. “32,000 people are just proposed to lose coverage under Medicaid and SHIP.”
SHIP is the State Health Insurance Program which provides help with medical costs.
But McClain Delaney also says it won’t be just patients who are hurting. “And I’ve been talking to hospitals and health care clinics across Western Maryland, including most recently the Family Healthcare of Hagerstown. and they have over 60 percent of their patients use Medicaid to access care,” she says.
“I’m really concerned because rural hospitals will lose about 21 cents of every Medicaid dollar that they receive through this bill. And that is really gong to crater a lot of health care resources for Western Maryland,” adds McClain Delaney.
Those who rely on SNAP—Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program–will also suffer, says McClain Delaney. Citizens rely on SNAP to supplement their grocery budget. “For every dollar of SNAP, you give a $1.50 back into our economy,” she says. “It’s really penny foolish and pound foolish. By doing this, it’s actually not doing any good, and it’s actually a heck of a lot of hurt.”
In a statement, McClain Delaney says she introduced several amendments to lessen the impact of The SNAP cuts on families, and limit the bill’s negative affects on the national debt. But House Republicans rejected them.
McClain Delaney says this bill raises the national debt by about $3.8 trillion. “And to me that’s a big deal. We have to deal with it because we’ve got to deal with our fiscal trajectory and our debt crisis. And it’s going to affect our ability to invest in our future, our infrastructure, our national security, what have you,” she says.
By Kevin McManus