Rep. Glenn Grothman Votes to Advance Trump’s Billionaire-First Budget at the Expense of Wisconsin’s Working Families

Last night, while Wisconsinites were sleeping, Rep. Glenn Grothman, who sits on the House Budget Committee, voted to advance Republicans’ billionaire-first budget bill that will gut Medicaid and slash food assistance programs that millions of Wisconsinites rely on for affordable, quality health care and to put food on the table.

In response to House Republicans on the Budget Committee advancing their disastrous budget, DNC Chair Ken Martin released the following statement: “After failing the first time they tried it, Donald Trump and the GOP are still pushing their disaster of a budget plan that would devastate Wisconsin families. The Republican budget is a toxic attack on Wisconsinites that would rip away health care and force children to go hungry to pay for tax breaks for billionaires. Let’s be clear: nothing in this unpopular and dangerous budget is ‘America First’ — it’s a ‘billionaire first’ handout to the ultra-wealthy.” House Republicans on the Budget Committee voted to advance their disastrous funding agenda to make Trump’s tax scam permanent and fund “more [tax] breaks” for the ultra-wealthy. Axios: “Budget panel sends Trump’s ‘big, beautiful bill’ to House floor”

USA Today: “Low-income families would lose, wealthier ones would gain under GOP tax proposals”

“Low-income families stand to lose hundreds if not thousands of dollars in income while wealthy ones will gain even more, according to a new analysis of Congressional Republican tax and budget proposals. …

“The report estimated that families with a modified adjusted gross income of less than $10,000 would lose over $2,700 (or nearly a 15% reduction in income). Families who make between $10,000 and $20,000 would lose over $800, or about 4.4% reduction in income, while families who make between $20,000 and $30,000 would lose $400, or about 1.5% reduction in income.

“In comparison, families with higher incomes would benefit from the extension of the 2017 tax cuts.”

Axios: “The draft legislation would extend the cuts in the 2017 tax bill, and it adds on some more breaks.

“Some will benefit the wealthiest, including a permanent increase to the deduction for pass-through income to 22% from 20%, plus a hike for the estate tax exemption, which would shield more inheritances from taxes.” To pay for their tax giveaways for billionaires, House Republicans voted to gut Medicaid and slash food assistance for nearly 1.9 million Wisconsinites. Politico: “The House Energy and Commerce Committee, in a 30-to-24 party-line vote, advanced the health care section of the GOP’s sweeping tax bill that would slash Medicaid spending by hundreds of billions of dollars.”

Politico: “The House Agriculture Committee voted 29-25 along party lines to advance legislation that would cut as much as $300 billion in food aid spending to pay for Republicans’ domestic policy megabill.” Republicans’ plan, including gutting Medicaid, will put health care on the chopping block for 1,188,337 Wisconsinites and devastate Wisconsin children, seniors, and rural communities. Center on Budget and Policy Priorities: “CBO’s early estimates show that at least 13.7 million people would lose coverage and become uninsured because of the Medicaid cuts and the ACA marketplace restrictions in this committee legislation, as well as the fact that the budget legislation does not extend expiring marketplace premium tax credit improvements.”

West Virginia Watch: “Medicaid cuts could hurt older adults who rely on home care, nursing homes”

ProPublica: “The Trump Administration Cracked Down on Medicaid. Kids Lost Insurance.”

Georgetown University Center for Children and Families: “Cuts to Medicaid Will Shift Costs to Families, Providers and Will Be Especially Harmful to Rural Communities” Republicans pushed the largest cuts to food assistance in American history, jeopardizing a program that over 700,000 Wisconsinites rely on and forcing families and children to go hungry. Politico: “The GOP proposal would create the largest overhaul in decades to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which helps more than 42 million people in the U.S. pay for food, by forcing states to share the cost of SNAP benefits.”

Center for Budget Policies and Priorities: “Millions of Low-Income Households Would Lose Food Aid Under Proposed House Republican SNAP Cuts”

“Regardless of how Republican lawmakers enact a cut of this magnitude, this would slash more than 20 percent from a program that helps more than 40 million people, including 1 in 5 children, afford groceries.”

NBC News: “Anti-hunger advocates slam House Republicans’ proposed budget cut to SNAP as ‘unconscionable’”

NOTE: This press release was submitted to Urban Milwaukee and was not written by an Urban Milwaukee writer. While it is believed to be reliable, Urban Milwaukee does not guarantee its accuracy or completeness.