Press Releases

WASHINGTON, DC – Today, Congresswoman Lori Trahan (MA-03) voted NO on the Republican reconciliation package supported by President Donald Trump, citing the bill’s catastrophic impacts on working families, seniors, and children with disabilities across the Commonwealth.

“Donald Trump’s bill isn’t about helping working families – it’s about giving the wealthiest 1 percent another massive tax break while ripping away health care, food, education, and essential services from millions of Americans,” said Congresswoman Trahan. “In Massachusetts, the cost of Trump’s betrayal will be devastating. Seniors will lose care, children with disabilities will lose critical support, and working families will struggle just to put food on the table and keep the lights on, all so millionaires and billionaires can pocket tens or even hundreds of thousands more each year in tax breaks.”

Donald Trump’s “Big, Ugly Bill” will deliver nearly $1 trillion in tax cuts to the wealthiest 1 percent of Americans, including an average tax break of at least $80,000, while the bottom 20 percent of families will lose money due to the steep cuts in the bill. Specifically, the legislation will:

• Kick 17 million Americans off their health care, including 326,262 people in Massachusetts. The bill slashes more than $1 trillion from health care programs, enacts the largest Medicaid cut ever, and triggers $500 billion in Medicare cuts. Independent estimates project more than 51,000 preventable deaths as a direct result of these cuts.

• Close hospitals and nursing homes across the country. Up to 300 hospitals, many serving rural and underserved areas, could be forced to cut staff and services or shut down entirely. An estimated one in four nursing homes could close.

• Defund Planned Parenthood, stripping millions of women of access to cancer screenings, birth control, and basic preventive care.

• Deliver the largest cut to nutritional assistance in U.S. history, slashing SNAP by 20 percent. As many as 5 million people could lose food assistance, with tens of millions of children at risk of losing school breakfast and lunch programs.

• Increase energy costs for working families and seniors, with cuts to clean energy programs causing families to pay an average of $400 more per year. Low-income seniors will face even greater challenges affording heating and electricity.

• Kill more than 1 million jobs, with 840,000 clean energy jobs lost over the next 5 years and nearly 800,000 more over the next decade.

• Undermine public schools while making college and higher education more expensive. The bill creates a permanent, unlimited tax credit for private school vouchers, draining funds from public schools and attacking protections for student borrowers.

• Make dangerous weapons cheaper and more accessible, by eliminating taxes on silencers, short-barreled rifles, and short-barreled shotguns – taxes that have been in place since 1934 to protect public safety.

• Add $4 trillion to the national debt, including $700 billion in new interest payments alone, driving the debt to 128% of GDP by 2034 and threatening long-term economic stability.

“This is a reverse Robin Hood plan,” said Congresswoman Trahan. “It takes from the most vulnerable to give to the ultra-wealthy, and it will do lasting damage to the health, safety, and economic security of our communities. I voted no, because Massachusetts families deserve better.”

The reconciliation bill passed today 218-214 with all Democrats and just two Republicans voting NO.

###