Jessica Mathews / Associated Press / news@whmi.com


Governor Gretchen Whitmer is sounding off after Congressional House Republicans passed a big bill of tax breaks and program cuts following an all-night session.

House Republicans stayed up all night to pass their multi-trillion-dollar tax breaks package. Speaker Mike Johnson defied the skeptics within his ranks and muscled President Donald Trump’s priority bill to approval Thursday. Last-minute concessions and a stern warning from Trump appeared to win over the hold outs to salvage what he calls the “big, beautiful bill.” The outcome caps an intense time on Capitol Hill - with days of private negotiations and public committee hearings.

Democrats, without the votes to stop Trump’s package, tried to stall it.

The Congressional Budget Office says the tax provisions would add $3.8 trillion to federal deficits. All told, the non-partisan Congressional Budget Office estimates 8.6 million fewer people would have health care coverage and 3 million less people a month would have SNAP food stamps benefits with the proposed changes.

The CBO said the tax provisions would increase federal deficits by $3.8 trillion over the decade, while the changes to Medicaid, food stamps and other services would tally $1 trillion in reduced spending. It stated further the lowest-income households in the U.S. would see their resources drop, while the highest ones would see a boost.

  

Michigan Governor Gretchen Whitmer asserted the bill guts Medicaid and SNAP to cut taxes for the wealthy and released the following statement:

“Michigan families need help right now to pay the bills and put food on the table, but today’s vote by Republicans in the U.S. House will terminate health care for millions of Americans, rip away food assistance from working families, and jack up costs on the middle class while giving a huge tax cut to the wealthy.

These cuts will hurt the most vulnerable Michiganders, from three in five nursing home residents, people living with disabilities, and pregnant women. They will increase hunger and harm local retailers, forcing more Michiganders to go to bed with a pit in their stomach. We cannot accept this level of cruelty towards people who need help, and I encourage all the Republicans in our congressional delegation including Rep. John James, Rep. Tom Barrett, and Rep. Huizenga who voted for these cuts to reckon with the devastating impact this bill will have on their fellow Michiganders.

We cannot backfill this massive hole in our budget with state funding alone. We need our representatives in Washington to fight for us. We must work together to help families in Michigan succeed, and the way to do that is by investing in the fundamentals that they all need—roads, schools, food, health care, and child care. We’ve proven that here in Michigan, if you work together, you can get a lot done. Instead of passing a huge bill on a party-line vote to make people poorer and sicker, let’s work together to make a real difference in people’s lives and lift them up.”



Meanwhile people protested outside of Congressman Barrett's office today in downtown Lansing – carrying signs that read “Hands Off! Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid” and “Barrett = Broken Oath”.