The so-called “Big Beautiful Bill” required a tie-breaking vote to pass the Senate, and there are numerous concerns over its potential impact on people’s health.
The main parts of the more than 900-page bill renew the tax cuts President Donald Trump signed into law in his first term and pay for them with steep cuts to Medicaid, food aid programs, and clean energy funding.
“I’m going to be voting no on this bill, because it’s going to rip healthcare away from millions of Americans,” Congresswoman Debbie Dingell said on Tuesday. “More people are going to end up in the emergency room, seniors. It reduces staffing in nursing homes that help take care of seniors or those with disabilities or are in need of a helping hand.”
According to the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office, over the next 10 years, the legislation would result in a decrease of approximately $4.5 trillion in revenues, while cutting spending by $1.2 trillion, and increasing the national debt by $3.3 trillion.
While no Democrats supported the bill in either the House or the Senate, Republicans, such as Congressman John James, praised it.
“When President Trump first introduced the Child Tax Credit, it was a game changer for working families,” James tweeted on Tuesday. It should be noted that the Child Tax Credit was first introduced by President Bill Clinton in 1997.
It has since been amended four times, most recently by President Biden in 2021.
“Now, we have the opportunity to lock in and boost the doubled Child Tax Credit for more than 40 million families with the One Big Beautiful Bill,” James said.
Monique Stanton, the CEO of the Michigan League for Public Policy, states that the cuts in the bill will affect everyone, regardless of whether they voted for the bill or not.
“We have polling that shows over 80% of Michiganders believe that funding for Medicaid either needs to stay the same or increase,” Stanton said. “There’s wide support for this, and this is so this is not a red or blue issue.”
The Bill now returns to the House, where a vote on it is likely to occur within 12 to 24 hours.
Dingell says it’s a vote that her Republican colleagues will have to live with.
“One of my dear friends said how hard this vote was for her, and as much as I love her, think about how hard it is because somebody’s going to lose their home or have to make a decision about whether their child can continue to go to the doctor,” Dingell said.