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'People Will Suffer, People Will Die': GOP Nears Final Passage of Largest Medicaid Cuts in US History
"The top 1% are salivating over getting an extra $300,000 a year because of this dangerous bill," said one House Democrat. "Billionaires win."
Jul 03, 2025
House Republicans are on the verge of passing legislation that is projected to strip health coverage and food aid from millions of people across the United States, all to pay for tax breaks that will flow disproportionately to a small sliver of rich Americans.
The final vote on the sprawling budget reconciliation package, which narrowly passed the Senate on Tuesday, is expected Thursday after hours of jockeying among Republican leaders and holdovers in the GOP's ranks overnight. Republicans finally cleared a procedural hurdle to begin debate on the measure after 3 am ET on Thursday.
"If Republicans are so proud of their Big Bad Betrayal Bill... why did they begin debate at 3:28 am?" asked Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.). "Why are they hiding from the American people?"
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-N.Y.) delayed the final vote on the bill with an hours-long—and, as of this writing, still ongoing—speech that featured stories from constituents who are horrified that they will soon lose health coverage or food aid.
"This isn't abstract, taking away healthcare from the American people," said Jeffries. "It's concrete, it's real, it has devastating implications."
Watch Jeffries' remarks live:
The unpopular legislation that set to clear the House Thursday is substantially more expensive than the version the chamber's Republicans approved in May, and it includes roughly $300 billion more in cuts to Medicaid. The bill now heads to the desk of U.S. President Donald Trump, who has repeatedly pledged not to cut Medicaid.
Analysts estimate that over the next 10 years, roughly 17 million Americans will lose health coverage under the GOP package, both due to the measure's Medicaid cuts and its failure to extend Affordable Care Act subsidies set to expire at the end of the year.
The bill's assault on Medicaid—including its restriction on states' use of provider taxes to fund their programs—is expected to ravage rural hospitals, notwithstanding Republicans' last-ditch attempt to put a Band-Aid on the massive wound they're set to create.
The legislation would also trigger more than $500 billion in automatic cuts to Medicare due to its multitrillion-dollar addition to the deficit.
One recent study estimated that the bill's healthcare cuts would result in more than 51,000 additional, preventable deaths across the U.S. each year.
"The decision we have been entrusted by the American people to make will have ramifications for millions of our fellow Americans, and indeed for our country, for decades to come," Rep. Brendan Boyle (D-Pa.), the top Democrat on the House Budget Committee, said in floor remarks early Thursday.
"In just a few short hours, some of them on Medicaid will be waking up and turning on the news to find out if what we did here tonight means they're about to lose it," said Boyle. "Some of the people who get their healthcare from the ACA exchanges will be turning on their TV to find out what we've done in these next few minutes, and if they will still be able to have healthcare... The kids who rely on SNAP, the nutrition assistance program, they may not quite understand it, but make no mistake about it—what we are about to do in the next few minutes here will have a profound effect on their lives."
As Ranking Member @HouseBudgetDems, I'm on the House floor right now to lead the fight against Trump's Big Bill for Billionaires.
This bill is an attack on my neighbors — and I'm not going to let Republicans kick 17 million Americans off their health care without a fight. pic.twitter.com/MeBkYKd8f2
— Rep. Brendan Boyle (@CongBoyle) July 3, 2025
The GOP bill proposes $186 billion in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program cuts over the next decade, which analysts say will imperil benefits for millions—including many children. The Center on Budget and Policy Priorities estimates that around 1 million children "would see food assistance to their families cut substantially or terminated" due to the legislation's SNAP cuts, including its expanded work requirements.
The measure's unprecedented cuts to the safety net, as well as clean energy programs, will only partially offset its trillions of dollars in tax cuts. According to the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP), more than 70% of the legislation's net tax breaks "would go to the richest fifth of Americans in 2026, only 10% would go to the middle fifth of Americans, and less than 1% would go to the poorest fifth."
"The effects of President Trump's tariff policies alone offset most of the tax cuts for the bottom 80% of Americans," ITEP found. "For the bottom 40% of Americans, the tariffs impose a cost that is greater than the tax cuts they would receive under this legislation."
Rep. Gabe Amo (D-R.I.) said in a floor speech early Thursday that "budgets are statements of values," and Republicans "are showing they have none."
"People will suffer, people will die, and it will be the hands of Republicans who vote yes," said Amo. "The top 1% are salivating over getting an extra $300,000 a year because of this dangerous bill. Billionaires win."
Back speaking on the House floor at 3:45am because budgets are a statement of values — with this big, ugly bill Republicans have none.
Americans will suffer. Americans will die. And it will be at the hands of the Republicans who vote yes.
This budget is shameful. I’m a hell no! pic.twitter.com/K5Ri5lGzzs
— Congressman Gabe Amo (@RepGabeAmo) July 3, 2025
Ahead of the bill's final passage, state leaders warned that the cuts pushed by Republican lawmakers could be deeply destructive to their residents and economies.
"Voices across North Carolina are sounding the alarm—our hospitals, healthcare providers, county leaders, state leaders, business leaders, workers, nonprofits, and, most importantly, the people who rely on these essential services and industries every day," North Carolina Gov. Josh Stein wrote in a letter to his state's congressional delegation on Wednesday. "Many North Carolinians are worried about feeding their families, being able to continue seeing their doctor, or keeping their jobs. We are united in our concern that this reconciliation bill would undo decades of bipartisan progress and harm the health, well-being, and economic security of our individuals, families, and communities."
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'An Avoidable Disaster': Israeli Blockade of Gaza Could Starve Hundreds of Premature Babies
The Associated Press reported Wednesday that 580 premature infants are at risk of death due to "depleted" reserves of baby formula.
Jun 26, 2025
Israel's blockade of aid is starving hundreds of premature babies, according to new reports that cite Gaza health officials, doctors, and aid groups.
The Associated Press reported Wednesday that 580 premature infants are at risk of death, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, due to a shortage of medical-grade formula entering the strip.
Despite a recent policy change by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to allow "minimal aid" into the strip following a total blockade of food, water, shelter, and medication, it has proven far too little to keep hospitals running and keep people fed. It has proven especially deadly for children.
The AP report quotes Dr. Ahmed al-Farah, head of the pediatrics and obstetrics department at Nasser Hospital in Khan Younis, one of the few functional medical facilities left in Gaza.
Last week, al-Farah warned that the hospital's stock of milk was "completely depleted," and that unless aid was delivered immediately, the babies would face "an avoidable disaster." The widely publicized call was answered with the shipment of 20 boxes of formula from the U.S. aid group Rahma Worldwide.
Al-Farah said this was enough to meet the needs of 10 babies for two weeks, but warned that in the long run it would be far too little, especially with no guarantee of aid in the future.
"This is not enough at all," he told the AP. "It solved the problem temporarily, but what we need is a permeant solution: Lift the siege."
Many other hospitals reported shortages of formula that had not been answered, such as Al-Rantisi Hospital in Gaza City, which was completely out of stock.
Fortified milk has become increasingly necessary in Gaza due to the increasing number of premature births. In May, the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) reported that as a result of widespread hunger, 1 in 5 children is now born pre-term or underweight. That malnutrition has also left many new mothers unable to breastfeed.
Dr. Asaad Nawajha, a pediatric specialist at Nasser Hospital, told Middle East Eye that the blockade has proven catastrophic for the health of both children and their mothers.
"This all goes back to the [harsh] conditions mothers endure amid this vicious war on the Gaza Strip," Nawajha said. "Due to the lack of nutritious items entering the Gaza Strip, both mothers and children have been exposed to illnesses resulting from malnutrition."
The Israeli government's Coordinator of Government Activities in the Territories (COGAT) has insisted that the amount of aid allowed into Gaza is sufficient to provide for the population.
On June 22, COGAT announced that 430 aid trucks had been allowed to enter the strip during the preceding week. However, this is but a fraction of the more than 600 trucks per day that the United Nations is necessary to meet their needs.
Many people who have come to aid sites administered by the Gaza Humanitarian Foundation (GHF), to obtain the meager supplies available, have been met with deadly violence from the Israeli military.
Since May 27, at least 549 Palestinians have been killed and more than 4,000 injured by Israeli forces at these sites, according to the U.N. Office for Coordinated Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and the Gaza Ministry of Health. The Gaza Media Office reports at least 19 fatal incidents at these GHF sites over the span of just one month.
Many of the victims have been children. According to a study released Thursday by the humanitarian group Save the Children, children have been killed at 10 of those 19 incidents.
"No child should be killed searching for food," said Ahmad Alhendawi, Save the Children's regional director for the Middle East, North Africa, and Eastern Europe. "This is not a humanitarian operation—it’s a death trap."
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RFK Jr. Ripped Over 'Reckless and Deadly' Halt on US Support for Global Child Vaccine Program
"Kennedy is either misinformed or lying," said one critical physician, "but either way, children will die as a result."
Jun 25, 2025
In an incendiary stunner delivered via a prerecorded video statement played Wednesday to attendees of the global vaccine summit in Brussels, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. announced that the United States is suspending financial contributions to the lifesaving organization as it aims to vaccinate hundreds of millions of children around the world.
Kennedy—described by a coalition of green groups during his quixotic 2024 presidential campaign as "a dangerous conspiracy theorist and science denier whose agenda would be a disaster for our communities and the planet"—accused Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance of having "ignored the science" on childhood vaccination.
"The U.S. is turning its back on women and children at risk of death and disability."
"When vaccine safety issues have come before Gavi, Gavi has treated them not as a patient health problem, but as a public relations problem," Kennedy alleged in his video message, without providing any evidence to support his claim. "In its zeal to promote universal vaccination, it has neglected the key issue of vaccine safety."
"I'll tell you how to start taking vaccine safety seriously: Consider the best science available, even when the science contradicts established paradigms," he added. "Until that happens, the United States won't contribute more to Gavi."
Gavi responded to Kennedy's allegations in a statement asserting that the organization's "utmost concern is the health and safety of children."
"Any decision made by Gavi with regards to its vaccine portfolio is made in alignment with recommendations by [the World Health Organization's] Strategic Advisory Group of Experts on Immunization (SAGE), a group of independent experts that reviews all available data through a rigorous, transparent, and independent process," Gavi added. "This ensures Gavi investments are grounded in the best available science and public health priorities."
@drneilstone.bsky.social
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— Physicians for a Healthy Democracy (@physiciandemocracy.medsky.social) June 25, 2025 at 9:15 AM
Gavi's Health and Prosperity through Immunization summit—which is co-hosted by the European Union and the Gates Foundation, with Global Citizen as a key partner—seeks to secure $9 billion to fund the immunization of 500 million more children, a move Gavi says will prevent 8-9 million deaths over the next five years.
"Over the past 25 years, Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance has helped to immunize more than a billion children, meaning one-eighth of humanity has received a vaccine funded by Gavi," the organization said. "Today we help give half the world's children access to vaccines every single year."
"The scale is massive, and so is the impact," Gavi added. "Since we were founded in 2000 child mortality in the lower-income countries we work with has halved, with Gavi's vaccines averting more than 18 million deaths."
Since taking office in January, Kennedy—a prolific purveyor of conspiracy theories including one that vaccines cause autism—has restricted Covid-19 vaccine access and fired everyone on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's (CDC) vaccine advisory panel and replaced them with his own controversial picks.
On Wednesday, Kennedy announced that the panel will review the long-standing U.S. childhood vaccination schedule, raising concerns about possible ideology-driven revisions. This, as a new study published in the peer-reviewed British medical journal The Lancet sounded the alarm over flagging global childhood vaccination rates driven by inequality, Covid-era disruptions, and misinformation.
Dr. Tom Frieden, who led the CDC during the Obama administration, said on the social media site Bluesky that "Secretary Kennedy's statement to Gavi, the Vaccine Alliance, is literally sickening."
"Sickening because millions of children's lives are in the balance because of Mr. Kennedy's fringe beliefs and misinformation on vaccines," Frieden added. "Sickening because the U.S. is turning its back on women and children at risk of death and disability. And sickening because it reflects the invasion of anti-vaccination falsehoods into life-and-death programs."
Dr. Ashish Jha, former President Joe Biden's coronavirus response coordinator, slammed Kennedy's decision as "terrible but totally predictable."
"Gavi helps poor kids around the world get vaccinated against polio and measles and other life-threatening diseases," Jha said. "This is just mind-bogglingly awful."
Gavi works in close partnership (operationally and financially) with governments around the world to distribute life-saving vaccines to children. Their work has saved nearly 20 million lives since 2000.Kennedy is either misinformed or lying, but either way children will die as a result.
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— Dr. Stephanie Psaki (@spsaki.bsky.social) June 25, 2025 at 8:17 AM
Canadian health law and policy expert Timothy Caulfield said on the social media site X: "Just horrible. Sickening. Evil."
"This decision will kill children," Caulfield added. "We all knew RFK Jr. was the worst person for this job. He's lived up to the hype. The f*cking worst."
Liza Barrie, director of Public Citizen's Global Vaccines Access Campaign, called Kennedy's suspension of Gavi funding "reckless and deadly."Barrie continued:
The Trump administration is turning its back on a program that has helped vaccinate more than a billion children and save over 17 million lives—while Kennedy spreads lies about science, safety, and one of the world's most effective public health efforts. The facts are clear. Gavi exists to get vaccines to children who need them most. It works with governments in lower-income countries, health workers, and communities to stop deadly diseases. Because of Gavi, millions of children who would have died are alive today.
Kennedy claims that Gavi ignored science are entirely false. Gavi's recommendations are grounded in global evidence and reviewed by independent experts. His suggestion otherwise fuels the same disinformation that has already led to deadly measles outbreaks and the resurgence of vaccine-preventable diseases, including polio.
"This isn't about protecting children. It's about abandoning them," Barrie added. "Choosing to walk away from a program that saves lives—knowing full well what the consequences will be—isn't just reckless. It's cruel."
Barrie urged Congress to protect the funding for Gavi already allocated in this year's federal budget, "which the Trump administration is now trying to claw back through its rescission proposal."
"The United States must not walk away from global vaccine access," Barrie stressed. "Not now, not ever. Turning away would be a choice to let disease spread and let children die."
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