WASHINGTON (WHDH) – Early Thursday morning the U.S. House of Representatives narrowly passed a multitrillion-dollar tax breaks package by a vote of 215-214. Championed by President Donald Trump, the bill extends tax cuts and makes changes to multiple programs, which the nonpartisan Congressional Budget Office estimated will result in 8.6 million people losing health care coverage, 3 million people losing SNAP food stamps benefits, all while adding $3.8 trillion to the federal deficit over the next decade.
The bill will now go to the U.S. Senate.
Members of the Massachusetts delegation to Congress responded following passage of the legislation Thursday:
Richard Neal, MA-1
“House Republicans just voted to rip health care away from nearly 14 million Americans, cut $500 billion from Medicare, take jobs and manufacturing out of their own districts, and hand billions to the ultra-wealthy. Cowering from the American people doesn’t change what workers and families get in this bill: pennies and higher costs.
“Americans are asking for real relief: lower prices, affordable health care, support for their children and their families. But instead, they’re getting a textbook of broken promises that raises their costs and strips them of their basic needs—all to line the pockets of those at the top once again.
“This isn’t over yet. We’ll see if the Republican Senate has the same indifference to the people’s needs.”
Ayanna Pressley, MA-7
“Today, under the cover of night, House Republicans rammed through a cruel, callous, and morally bankrupt bill that would gut Medicaid, slash food assistance, and kick 14 million people off their healthcare—all to shower toy spaceship billionaires like Donald Trump and Elon Musk with hundreds of billions more in tax giveaways. This legislation would make communities in the Massachusetts 7th and across the country poorer, sicker, hungrier, and more vulnerable.
“This bill would rip food out of the mouths of families…