Chair Meng Slams GOP Tax Scam that Guts Health Care, Food Assistance

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Today, Rep. Grace Meng, Chair of the Congressional Asian Pacific American Caucus, released a statement following House passage of the One Big, Ugly Bill that cuts vital programs that serve millions of hardworking Americans to give tax breaks to billionaires: 

“House Republicans just passed a bill that will be remembered as one of the worst betrayals to the middle class and those working hard to join it. The GOP Tax Scam includes the largest cuts to health care and food assistance in history — kicking nearly 14 million Americans off of Medicaid, slashing Medicare by $500 billion, cutting America’s most important anti-hunger program by more than 25 percent, and putting 18 million kids at risk of losing their school meals, all to pay for tax breaks for billionaires. Not to mention that this bill would also add $2.3 trillion to the national deficit.  

“At a time when so many families are struggling to make ends meet, Congressional Republicans have made clear their loyalty lies with their billionaire donors and not hardworking Americans. This fight is not over. CAPAC will use every tool at our disposal to protect the vital programs that Americans rely on — including millions in the Asian American, Native Hawaiian, and Pacific Islander community — from these cruel and harmful cuts.” 

In February, Congressional Republicans passed a budget plan directing the House Energy and Commerce Committee, the committee responsible for overseeing Medicaid, to make $880 billion in cuts. In March, the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office (CBO) confirmed the cuts Republicans are proposing can only be found by slashing Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program. 

A recent analysis from the CBO found that the House Energy and Commerce Committee Republicans’ bill would leave at least 13.7 million Americans uninsured. Additionally, the bill would cut the federal matching rate for Medicaid expansion for 14 states that use their own funds to provide comprehensive health care coverage, leaving millions of Americans in a coverage gap through no fault of their own. 

 Nearly 80 million Americans – including 4.5 million Asian Americans, Native Hawaiians, and Pacific Islanders – are enrolled in Medicaid and the Children’s Health Insurance Program (CHIP), making it the largest public health insurance program in the United States.  

The nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office also found that the Republican bill will increase the debt by $2.3 trillion over 10 years, triggering as much as $500 billion in Medicare cuts starting as soon as 2026.

Additionally, nearly one in ten Asian Americans and one in four Native Hawaiians and Pacific Islanders receive food assistance through the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, which supports more than 42 million Americans. These cuts will have catastrophic impacts on SNAP eligibility and benefit amounts, eliminating more than 25% of all federal spending on the program for the next 10 years, and impacting 16 million children, 8 million seniors, 4 million people with disabilities, and 1.2 million veterans. 

For the 47 million Americans that experienced food insecurity in 2023, these cuts will continue to strain existing food assistance programs. The Republican budget scheme also disadvantages 17 million children — including one in seven Asian Americans — who currently receive less than the full Child Tax Credit or no credit at all because their families’ incomes are too low.  

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