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A projection stating that "Medicaid Is Not A Piggy Bank For Billionaires" is projected on the front of the Republican National Committee headquarters on June 26, 2025 in Washington, DC.
(Photo by Jemal Countess/Getty Images for Protect Our Care)
The Billionaire Oligarchs Are Dancing in the Street
The Republicans who passed this bill must pay a political price. It's time to get to work.
Jul 02, 2025
Editor's note: U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders released the following after Republicans in the U.S. Senate approved their "big ugly bill" on Tuesday, July 1, 2025.
The reconciliation bill that Republicans passed in the U.S. Senate by one vote on Tuesday will give the top 1% a trillion dollars in tax breaks. At a time of unprecedented income and wealth inequality, the very rich just got much richer.
Pathetically, these tax breaks for the wealthy are paid for by a trillion dollars in cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. The result of those cuts will be that over 16 million Americans will lose their health insurance and an estimated 50,000 will die unnecessarily each year. These cuts will also be devastating to rural hospitals, nursing homes and community health centers.
But that’s not all. While the very rich celebrate their good fortune in fancy restaurants, this bill cuts nutrition programs for hungry kids and, because of cuts to education, will make it harder for working class young people to afford college.
And for those of us concerned about climate change, this bill makes a very ominous situation even worse. It delivers massive reductions in funding for energy efficiency and sustainable energy while giving even more corporate welfare to the fossil fuel industry.
The Republicans who passed this bill must pay a political price. Starting now, we must work overtime to make certain that these corporate controlled politicians are defeated in 2026.
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
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Bernie Sanders
Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2006 after serving 16 years in the House of Representatives. Sanders ran to become the Democratic Party presidential nominee in both 2016 and 2020 and remains the longest-serving independent member of Congress in American history. Elected Mayor of Burlington, Vermont in 1981, he served four terms. Before his 1990 election as Vermont's at-large member in Congress, Sanders lectured at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and at Hamilton College in upstate New York.
Editor's note: U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders released the following after Republicans in the U.S. Senate approved their "big ugly bill" on Tuesday, July 1, 2025.
The reconciliation bill that Republicans passed in the U.S. Senate by one vote on Tuesday will give the top 1% a trillion dollars in tax breaks. At a time of unprecedented income and wealth inequality, the very rich just got much richer.
Pathetically, these tax breaks for the wealthy are paid for by a trillion dollars in cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. The result of those cuts will be that over 16 million Americans will lose their health insurance and an estimated 50,000 will die unnecessarily each year. These cuts will also be devastating to rural hospitals, nursing homes and community health centers.
But that’s not all. While the very rich celebrate their good fortune in fancy restaurants, this bill cuts nutrition programs for hungry kids and, because of cuts to education, will make it harder for working class young people to afford college.
And for those of us concerned about climate change, this bill makes a very ominous situation even worse. It delivers massive reductions in funding for energy efficiency and sustainable energy while giving even more corporate welfare to the fossil fuel industry.
The Republicans who passed this bill must pay a political price. Starting now, we must work overtime to make certain that these corporate controlled politicians are defeated in 2026.
From Your Site Articles
- Sanders Pitches $3.5 Trillion Spending Bill to Thousands at Indiana Town Hall ›
- Sanders Calls Trump-GOP Budget Bill 'Most Dangerous Piece of Legislation' in Modern US History ›
- Now Is the Time, Finally, for Congress to Stand Up for Working Families ›
- Opinion | How States and Cities Can Take Care of Those Left Behind by the GOP’s Big Ugly Bill | Common Dreams ›
Bernie Sanders
Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) was elected to the U.S. Senate in 2006 after serving 16 years in the House of Representatives. Sanders ran to become the Democratic Party presidential nominee in both 2016 and 2020 and remains the longest-serving independent member of Congress in American history. Elected Mayor of Burlington, Vermont in 1981, he served four terms. Before his 1990 election as Vermont's at-large member in Congress, Sanders lectured at the John F. Kennedy School of Government at Harvard and at Hamilton College in upstate New York.
Editor's note: U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders released the following after Republicans in the U.S. Senate approved their "big ugly bill" on Tuesday, July 1, 2025.
The reconciliation bill that Republicans passed in the U.S. Senate by one vote on Tuesday will give the top 1% a trillion dollars in tax breaks. At a time of unprecedented income and wealth inequality, the very rich just got much richer.
Pathetically, these tax breaks for the wealthy are paid for by a trillion dollars in cuts to Medicaid and the Affordable Care Act. The result of those cuts will be that over 16 million Americans will lose their health insurance and an estimated 50,000 will die unnecessarily each year. These cuts will also be devastating to rural hospitals, nursing homes and community health centers.
But that’s not all. While the very rich celebrate their good fortune in fancy restaurants, this bill cuts nutrition programs for hungry kids and, because of cuts to education, will make it harder for working class young people to afford college.
And for those of us concerned about climate change, this bill makes a very ominous situation even worse. It delivers massive reductions in funding for energy efficiency and sustainable energy while giving even more corporate welfare to the fossil fuel industry.
The Republicans who passed this bill must pay a political price. Starting now, we must work overtime to make certain that these corporate controlled politicians are defeated in 2026.
From Your Site Articles
- Sanders Pitches $3.5 Trillion Spending Bill to Thousands at Indiana Town Hall ›
- Sanders Calls Trump-GOP Budget Bill 'Most Dangerous Piece of Legislation' in Modern US History ›
- Now Is the Time, Finally, for Congress to Stand Up for Working Families ›
- Opinion | How States and Cities Can Take Care of Those Left Behind by the GOP’s Big Ugly Bill | Common Dreams ›
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