Trump and Senate GOP Vote to Rip Away Health Care and Food Assistance From Tennesseans

On July 1, Senators Marsha Blackburn and Bill Hagerty once again failed to stand up for Tennesseans, and voted to pass Donald Trump's disastrous billionaire-first budget. This budget will actively transfer money from the poorest Americans to the richest. It won’t make life better for Tennesseans; robbing them of health insurance, removing food from the table, and killing good-paying jobs — all to line the pockets of the GOP’s billionaire donors. It is an attack on working families across Tennessee and the RepublicanCongress and the President need to be held accountable. According to an analysis of Congressional Republican tax and budget proposals, “Low-income families stand tolose hundreds if not thousands of dollars in income while wealthy families will gain even more.” (USA Today)

Republicans cut over $1 trillion from Medicaid — the largest cut to Medicaid in American history.  Currently Tennessee spends $12.6 billion annually on Medicaid (TennCare) services. Seventy-one percent of that is federally funded. This provides coverage for 1,524,000 Tennesseans.

In Tennessee TennCare covers:

• 46% of births

• 42% of children

• 36% of working age adults with disabilities

• 57% of nursing home residents

Defying the popular myth 68% of adults on TennCare are employed because they don’t receive insurance from their employers. Also, 52% of Medicaid spending goes to people age 65+ and people with disabilities though they account for only 29% of enrollees.

Who of these people do you want to kick off TennCare?  Who of them are not deserving of healthcare?  Children? Working age adults with disabilities? Nursing home residents?

In addition, this “Big Bad Bill” removes $295 billion from SNAP; a program that helps feed 711,200 Tennesseans (10% of the population.)  More than 66% of SNAP participants are in families with children, 37% are in families with older or disabled adults and more than 33% are in working families. Most of the participants (87%) are below the poverty line. The average SNAP benefit is $6.25 per participant per day.

Six dollars a day to feed a person. Sounds like a bargain.

This bill is a transfer of wealth from the poorest Americans to the wealthiest Americans and is the most regressive budget in at least 40 years. The poorest 20% of Americans will lose 3.8% of their income while the richest 20% will see their incomes increase by 3.7%. This bill our Senators voted for not only takes away $1.3 trillion in food assistance and health coverage while giving that same amount in tax breaks to the wealthy. In addition it adds at least $3.25 trillion to the national debt, increases energy bills by hundreds of dollars per household, makes it harder for poor students to attend collegeand more.

If you believe this bill is bad for you and your fellow Tennesseans take time to call Representative Diana Harshbarger (202) 225-6356 and express your concerns.