The United States Senate today passed a budget bill that will worsen hunger and strip health care coverage from millions of families — to partially offset trillions in tax cuts — while still greatly increasing the national deficit. The bill now goes to the House, where we urge the Arkansas delegation to vote against it. This legislation goes beyond the provisions in the House version of the bill and includes the largest cuts to Medicaid and the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in history and takes away food assistance and health coverage from lawfully present immigrants. In response, Keesa Smith-Brantley, Executive Director of Arkansas Advocates for Children and Families, issued the following statement:

“We are deeply disturbed by many of the provisions included in the Senate’s version of the budget reconciliation bill. If it passes, the impact of these aggressive cuts will be especially dire in rural states like Arkansas.

This bill increases costs for low-income Arkansans by taking away health care coverage and the SNAP benefits they use to buy food for their children.

Although it’s touted as a win for everyone, the tax cuts included in the bill favor the wealthiest individuals and corporations. It provides working-class Americans with relatively small tax cuts that would, in many cases, be more than overshadowed by the reduction or even loss of essential services like Medicaid and SNAP, along with the continually increasing costs of everyday goods. Its approximately $1 trillion in Medicaid cuts threaten our state’s overall health system because they could lead to hospital closures that would affect everyone, regardless of what type of insurance they have.

The federal government has a responsibility to address hunger, poverty, and access to health care in our country. This bill dramatically reduces the government’s ability to do so. If it passes, Arkansas will lose years of progress, and the United States will be farther from achieving a shared vision of prosperity for everyone. We need our Congressional delegation to stand up for Arkansas and reject this reckless plan that will devastate our fellow Arkansans.”

Additional Information About the Reconciliation Bill

• An estimated 17 million people would lose health coverage nationally. We estimate that 140,000 Arkansans would lose health coverage if this bill becomes law, including those who lose Medicaid and private insurance coverage because of the loss of enhanced tax credits that make Marketplace coverage affordable for lower-income families.
• Nearly $186 billion in cuts to SNAP, which would take away or cut food assistance for millions of people, including at least 2 million children — and could end the program entirely in some states. A proposed cost shift to states would leave Arkansas footing the bill for more than $55 million in an unfunded mandate. Our state elected officials would be left to find cuts elsewhere or even end SNAP altogether.
• It includes a tax plan that would increase deficits by $3.3 trillion over 10 years, providing an average tax cut of $48,000 to Arkansas households earning more than $669,000 a year in 2027, while low-income households receive an average of just $60 from the tax cuts — and bear the brunt of cuts to Medicaid and SNAP. More than 243,000 Arkansas children in the state’s lowest-income families would be left out of the increased Child Tax Credit.

Learn more about the impact of the about the impact of this rapidly changing legislation here.

And tell your Congressional representative you want them to VOTE NO on this bill.