Rep. Courtney Votes NO on Partisan Budget Bill

WASHINGTON, DC – This morning, following six-hours of overnight debate on the House Floor, Congressman Joe Courtney (CT-02) released the following statement after voting NO on the House GOP’s partisan 10-year budget bill:   

“At a time when so many families are struggling with the high cost of living, this budget bill should have been an opportunity for a very divided Congress to work together to lower the cost of food, housing, and health care. Instead, the House Republican majority did the opposite. Speaker Johnson jammed through a hyper-partisan bill overnight which attacks Medicaid, Medicare, and food assistance all in order to extend and expand expensive tax breaks for millionaires and billionaires. Incredibly, the net result is that the party that proclaims to be fiscally conservative passed the largest deficit increase in U.S. history. 

“In eastern Connecticut I’ve heard directly from hospitals, nursing homes, and community health centers about the real-life impacts of this bill’s cuts to Medicaid. Non-partisan budget analysts determined that 13 million Americans will lose their health coverage. Locally, thousands of people in Connecticut’s 2^nd District will become uninsured which will hurt our hospitals and primary health networks, too.

“There’s a better bipartisan way forward for our country. Balance the tax system so the top 1% and top .01% pay their fair share, reduce the national debt, and strengthen health care and food programs so Americans who are struggling with the high cost of living can get by.” 

Watch a video of Rep. Courtney explaining what’s included in the GOP budget bill, here.

BACKGROUND

The House GOP partisan budget bill, H.R. 1, guts health care: 

• The bill cuts Medicaid program funding by nearly $700 billion, according to the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office.  

• Dozens of health care organizations, including the American Hospital Association, the Children’s Hospital Association, the Catholic Health Association, America’s Essential Hospitals, and the Federation of American Hospitals have come out in strong opposition to the Medicaid cuts in bill.  

• Additionally, 4.2 million people would lose health care coverage through the Affordable Care Act under the bill, according to the Center on Budget on Policy Priorities.

• In Connecticut’s 2^nd District, 6,700 people would lose ACA coverage and 21,116 people would lose Medicaid coverage, for a total of 27,816 of CT-02 residents losing health care coverage, according to analysis by the Joint Economic Committee.

• The bill would result in arbitrary limits on care and delays for the services people need, and completely strip millions of Americans of health coverage with no alternative options. 

• The massive deficit increases in the bill would also trigger $535 billion in cuts to Medicare over 10 years through statutory Pay as You Go, according to the Congressional Budget Office. This would mean 2-4% reductions in payments to Medicare providers.

The budget bill cuts food programs:

• The bill cuts funding for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) by $267 billion, according to the Congressional Budget Office, with states expected to make up the gap in funding.

• In Connecticut, 95,000 residents are expected to lose some or all of their SNAP benefits, according to the Center for American Progress. 

• This comes at a time when Americans continue to face high food costs, and many items are expected to cost even more under President Trump’s tariff policies. 

• The Trump Administration has also clawed back funding for USDA programs that support operations at Connecticut food banks and meal centers.

The budget bill gives a huge tax break to the wealthiest Americans, little to the rest:

• The bill extends the 2017 Trump tax cuts which heavily favored the top 1% and did little to benefit low- and middle-income Americans event as it exploded deficits. 

• The bill limits any "middle class tax cuts" to just a few years in budget gimmicks, while ensuring that broad corporate tax cuts are permanent. 

• Under the bill, people who earn less than $30,000/year will see their taxes go up, according to the nonpartisan Joint Committee on Taxation. 

The budget bill balloons the national debt: 

• The bill would add $3.8 trillion to the national debt, according to the nonpartisan Congressional budget office. 

• This comes at a time when the national debt is close to $40 trillion, and the United States is paying monthly interest payments of close to $89 billion/month.

• On Friday, the credit rating agency Moody’s downgraded the credit rating of the US government from “Aaa” to “Aa1,” marking the first time ever that all three major credit ratings agencies have assessed U.S. credit as being less than the top rating. 

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