FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 1, 2025
CONTACT: Unai Montes, press@peoplesaction.org, 202-660-0605 (bilingual)
People’s Action and People’s Action Institute Denounce the 50 U.S. Senators and Tie-Breaker, VP J.D. Vance, Who Voted To Take Health Care From Millions To Give a Tax Cut to Greedy Corporations and CEOs, Commit to Organize to Stop the Bill in the House
WASHINGTON, D.C. – People’s Action and People’s Action Institute Executive Director Sulma Arias issued the following statement in response to the federal budget reconciliation package that advanced out of the U.S. Senate and will soon be voted upon in the House of Representatives:
“Promises made; promises broken. President Trump said his party wouldn’t cut Medicaid. And then they voted to do just that.
“Trump and Senate Republicans tried to hide the fact that they planned to cut Medicaid. We warned the public that they were lying, and after this vote, there can be no doubt. Medicaid is a lifeline for millions; when politicians take it away, they kill people. Through this budget, the billionaires and the bullies plan to do exactly that so they can steal these funds for themselves.”
“There’s enough for all of us if corporations and billionaires don’t steal it all–and that’s exactly what they’re trying to do. Passed through a series of dark-of-night deals, this bill will take money for our health care, food, and housing and give it to the ultra-wealthy few.”
“Tens of thousands of people will die because of this budget, hundreds of thousands of people will be saddled with crippling medical debt, and virtually every other American aside from the wealthy few will be worse off. Through their MAGA allies, billionaires and corporations are undertaking the largest upward theft of wealth in history.”
“This killer budget is part of the violence being directed at our communities all over the country. Everywhere you look, the Trump regime and the billionaires behind them are showing us they are willing to hurt us to hoard more wealth and power for themselves.”
“Health experts estimated that the version of the bill passed by the House in May will cause 51,000 preventable deaths; the Medicaid cuts alone will cause almost 30,000 additional deaths a year and saddle more than 750,000 people with catastrophic health care costs. The version moving through the Senate appears to be worse, shockingly, than the version passed by the House.”
“This bill supercharges Trump’s vicious abductions of our loved ones and his attack on our freedoms in our cities. According to the conservative CATO Institute, almost a quarter of the price tag of the bill passed by the House is for mass deportation. Trump is already stealing money from other agencies and the military to fund his crackdown–and now he wants to steal our health care, housing, and food money to make it much, much worse.”
“We will hold Trump and the MAGA Republicans accountable for the harm they’ve done to us by passing this bill on behalf of the billionaires and the bullies. The American people oppose this attack on our families, our freedoms, and our futures by a 2-to-1 margin, and we will make sure they know who voted to pass it.”
“All over the country, our members stood up to fight this bill. In visits to D.C. and events all over the country, People’s Action’s and People’s Action Institute members said ‘no’ to this violent budget. We will keep standing up for our communities against the corporations and billionaires who benefited from this attack on our families, our freedoms, and our future.”
“Each member of the House of Representatives must now make a choice between the well-being of their constituents and their corporate donors. It’s either medicine for the sick and food for the hungry or tax cuts for billionaires and yachts for CEOs.”
“We will organize to stop this MAGA murder bill in the House of Representatives. We will organize to hold the members of the U.S. Senate and House accountable for their votes.”
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About Sulma Arias:
Sulma Arias brings over 20 years of organizing experience to her role as Executive Director for People’s Action Institute and People’s Action. Sulma’s organizing work spans many issues, including immigrant rights, voting rights, and economic justice, and her practice has always centered directly-impacted people to build power. Sulma has worked closely with local and national organizations to build and advance strategic campaigns that build power. Sulma also has extensive experience training organizers, growing organizing capacity and building strong community-led organizations nationwide.
About People’s Action Institute:
For over five decades, People’s Action Institute and our affiliates have fought for reforms that recognize poor and working people’s dignity and make material and political improvements to millions of lives. Our victories include the Community Reinvestment Act, Superfund, the Affordable Care Act, the Dodd-Frank Financial Reform Act and the MAT Act.
We engage in issue campaigns, public education and training to advance a long-term agenda for racial, economic and gender justice. Our focus now is on deepening community organizing so we can build lasting power across the country.
About People’s Action:
People’s Action is a proud national network of 38 member-based, power-building organizations in 29 states with more than a million members and tens of thousands of national volunteers. We are from every background, speak many languages, and live in small towns, cities and rural areas. We are all of us!