House to Vote on Massive Medicaid and SNAP Cuts

Congress is set to vote on a bill that will put up to 107,000 Iowans’, including seniors’, kids’, and veterans’ access to healthcare at risk. The GOP bill includes a section that Congresswoman Miller-Meeks and Republicans on the House Energy and Commerce Committee voted for that will cut nearly one trillion dollars from Medicaid—ripping healthcare from children, working families, seniors, and veterans in order to fund tax breaks for billionaires and large corporations. This bill also includes provisions that Congressman Zach Nunn and the House Agriculture Committee voted on that will cut nearly $300 billion from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP)—taking food from children, working families, seniors, and veterans in order to fund tax breaks for billionaires and large corporations.

Eric Kusiak, a nurse manager in Miller-Meeks’ district, explains that cuts to Medicaid will make healthcare worse for all Iowans.  

"Medicaid cuts will hurt all of us," Kusiak said. "We know tax breaks for billionaires do not trickle down. But cuts to Medicaid will ripple across every community. By ripping away at Medicaid, Republicans in Congress could crowd emergency rooms, close rural hospitals, drain family budgets, overwork providers and nurses, and reduce care for veterans, seniors and children. Rep. Miller-Meeks has one more chance to vote the bill down and stand up for what Iowans really need.”    

Evan Schultz lives in Des Moines and works as a peer support specialist at Central Iowa Center for Independent Living, but relies on SNAP and Medicaid due to Quadriplegia.

“Congressman Nunn needs to think about vulnerable Iowans, and what happens when their support systems are ripped out from under them,” Schultz said. “Thanks to Medicaid, I have access to care that helps me live on my own. Supported by SSDI and SNAP, I’m able to work, support others in need of disability care, and contribute to my community. I have so many neighbors living on the thin line between support systems and poverty and many of them, unlike me, do not have family support to fall back on in a pinch. There are a lot more people like us than Congress likes to acknowledge. I worry about them and where we will end up if Congressman Nunn continues to support cuts to Medicaid and SNAP.”