FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: May 21, 2025
CONTACT: Unai Montes, press@peoplesaction.org, 202-660-0605 (bilingual)
As the Trump administration seeks deep cuts to Medicaid and other essential services to fund tax breaks for the wealthy, People’s Action Institute members were joined by U.S. Representatives Greg Casar (D-Texas), Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.) to denounce these cuts and the lies President Trump and Congressional Republicans tell constituents about the harm they will cause.
Livestream from today’s press conference on Capitol Hill can be found here.
Livestreams of People’s Action Institute’s visits to Capitol Hill can be found here.
Photos from today’s events for public use can be found here.
Getty Images which can be licensed for use are available here and upon request.
WASHINGTON, D.C. – Even as the Trump administration sought to drive tax cuts through Congress in the dead of night, more than 50 Americans from 20 congressional districts across 11 states organized by People’s Action sister organization, People’s Action Institute, came to Washington, D.C. to demand their representatives stop the deep cuts to Medicaid and other essential services the Trump administration is seeking to fund these tax breaks for billionaires.
Grassroots member-led and community-based People’s Action and People’s Action Institute member organizations from across the country formed the delegation of Medicaid recipients and advocates who confronted Congressmembers, including Michigan United, Progressive Maryland, Maine People’s Alliance, Community Voices Heard Power, Citizen Action of New York, VOCAL-NY, VOCAL-TX, VOCAL-KY, Center for Health Progress in Colorado, Hoosier Action, Pennsylvania Stands Up and West Virginia Citizen Action Group. They were joined in the Capitol by allies from Popular Democracy and the National Domestic Workers’ Alliance (NDWA).
While the House of Representatives’ Rules Committee convened at one o’clock in the morning to debate the Trump tax breaks and cuts to essential services, which the Congressional Budget Office affirmed will increase the federal deficit by $3.8 trillion or more, representatives from People’s Action Institute member organizations gathered on the steps of the U.S. Capitol with U.S. Reps. Maxwell Frost (D-Florida), Mike Thompson (D-California), and Minority Whip Katherine Clark (D-Mass.), then at a press conference in the morning with U.S. Representatives Greg Casar (D-Texas), Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Melanie Stansbury (D-N.M.) to denounce the cuts and the harm they will cause to constituents.
“We knew that this Trump Republican plan would be the biggest Medicaid cut in American history,” said Casar. “But what we found out last night, when we brought this to the light, is that this bill also includes the biggest Medicare cut in American history.”
“Millions of Americans will lose their health care and millions more will face huge increases in the price of their health care,” Casar added.
U.S. Representative Tlaib emphasized that Congressional Republicans are being urged by Trump to lie to their constituents and conceal the true harm the cuts to essential services will cause to working families.
“You are cutting nearly a trillion dollars of Medicaid, so stop lying to the American people! Stop right now!” said Tlaib, highlighting the CBO’s assessment that nearly 14 million people will lose health care because of the cuts. “They’re so upset that the Congressional Budget Office said they’re going to increase the deficit by $4 trillion. So all of you are pretending that you’re not gonna hurt the residents that sent you here, all because of your donors, corporations, and polluters.”
“Why are they doing this?” asked Stansbury, who serves as the ranking member of the DOGE Subcommittee. “So that they can not only give cash tax breaks to billionaires, but so they don’t have to pay estate taxes on their $22,000,000 mansions. So that they don’t have to pay for taxes on tanning beds. It literally says that inside the bill!”
The press conference included powerful testimony from People’s Action and People’s Action Institute members about the harm these cuts will cause to their families. They traveled from across the country to meet with their representatives and demand that they vote against the cuts.
“Medicaid is literally lifesaving for people,” said Elijah Burton, a member of Michigan United who drove with his disabled father and mother to demand his representatives vote against the cuts. “My wife and I have been foster parents for a few years, and we fostered many kids in our home. And a lot of those children rely on Medicaid when they come to us. The millions of kids in foster care right now need Medicaid, and we cannot take care and lives away from people. That’s what these Medicaid cuts are doing, is taking people’s lives.” The Burtons are constituents of Republican Representative Tom Barrett from Holt, MI (MI-7).
“When we say Medicaid is a lifeline for millions of people in our country, that’s not an exaggeration,” said Crystal Parker from Progressive Maryland, who was diagnosed with a debilitating kidney condition as a child. “Our message is don’t take healthcare from our children, from our newborns, from our elders. Our country has the providers, the facilities, the medicine, and the knowledge to make sure the health needs for every single child are met.”
“It is very cruel to go after people’s essential health care. People need these services in order to provide for their families; I need these services and to help me provide for my family,” said Jaxenia Weeks from Citizen Action of New York, who traveled from Staten Island to meet with her representative, Nicole Malliotakis (R-N.Y.), who supports the cuts. “I find it very concerning that the federal government is acting this way. This is not a government acting with empathy. They are putting their people in harm’s way to give a tax cut to the richest people in this country.”
Before and after the press conference with the Congressional Progressive Caucus, People’s Action and People’s Action Institute members sought to meet with their Congressional representatives to urge them to vote against the cuts. Many constituents travelled to Washington because they have been unable to get their Member of Congress to hold a town hall or to meet with them at home. These include: Republican Representatives Jeff Hurd (R-Col.), John James (R-Mich.), Mike Lawler (R-N.Y.), Riley Moore (R-W.V.), Andy Harris (R-Md.), and Rob Bresnahan (R-Penn.). The urgency of this issue and the difficulty in securing town hall or one-on-one meetings in-district forced Medicaid recipients to travel herculean distances. Among the handful who did meet with constituents were U.S. Senators Todd Young (R-In.) and Susan Collins (R-Maine).
For more information, visit: https://peoplesactioninstitute.org/